Finding the Meaning of Life in the Far East
(readapted from the original that was posted in Dec 2012; these lessons continue to resonate as I build on my own experience and take career-changing decisions, hence my decision to share)
Hong Kong itself is a captivating monster that is suitable only for those who enjoy the so-called “big-city life”. Skyscrapers’ lights flood the city’s skyline and beautifully synchronize in an harmonic light & sound show displayed daily at 8 on the clock. On the streets, rivers of crowds can be found everywhere at almost anytime, while people, cars, buses and trams chaotically coordinate and no accident ever happens.
Hong Kong is a small and powerful capitalist oasis on the coastal edge of a country where everything is controlled by the government. The University of Hong Kong, where I was studying, is fully embedded into the global community. It receives donations from and partners with powerful organizations like Citibank or The Hong Kong Jockey Club, as well as attracting a very competitive pool of students from all over East Asia.
The city has its own dark side too. People are overall continuously stressed and depressed given the deeply-rooted culture of heavy work. On average, a person working in a company that belongs to the most important sectors of the city, such as financial services, spends eleven to twelve hours at the office. Unsurprisingly, multinationals exploit this working culture. KPMG, for example, is often described as a high-end sweatshop for recent undergraduates: 12 hours a day and a salary of approximately €1,000 a month. Probably the darkest side of the city is the cost of living. It has become almost unaffordable for the average Hong Konger to find a suitable place to live. In fact, this is the most expensive city in the world in terms of office space, retail space and real estate.
One of the most interesting experiences, probably of my life so far, was a class given by a very experienced professor. His CV includes fellowships in MIT Sloan and Stanford. He was humble, nonetheless, and his discourse was far off from a typical business class. Throughout the ten weeks, he enticed us to think of the meaning of our lives. At first it seemed cliche-esque but after a while it started to make sense, and the deep thoughts began to resonate with a hidden question in me: “what is your purpose?”.
I think his lessons are worth sharing, so I decided to summarize them here. First, he started off by asking us to write within exactly 15 words our personal value proposition: what distinguishes each of us from the rest. It was then when most (90% of the class) of us had to thoroughly think of our personal value, not in monetary terms but rather in which is our purpose of existing.
Tough question, right? Secondly, he asked us to think over why we want to follow a specific path in our lives. “Why do you want to be a CEO? Why do you study what you study? Why do you want to work in X company?” were the questions most often heard. This led to his last lesson, when he asked us to revisit the concept of the “meaning of life”. I realized this concept is not static, but dynamic: it changes over time, depends on our temporary context, and it rooted in defining a purpose for ourselves.
Thinking about these questions was conceptually a challenge. I realized that rarely does a 20 year-old think critically of where s/he wants to be in 10 years time, without falling into one of the numerous cliché pitfalls (having a family, buying a house, etc). Answering these questions, though, was even a greater challange because it requires a great deal of self-awareness and a deep understanding of yourself, your ambitions, your goals. It entails realizing that common life milestones (graduating from college, getting an MBA, or buying a house) should be mere consequences of a larger plan for achieving something bigger. The reason is that none of these examples are an answer to the existential why? question. It is only then when everything ties in nicely and you can draw a line (though blurry and by no means perfectly straight) between yourself today and yourself in the future.
Over the 10 weeks of his course, (which by the way was aimed at understanding business innovation), I allowed myself to seat back and reflect on this major questions. The outcome is that not only do I know where I want to be in 10 or 20 years from now, but also how and why I want to do it, as well as explaining each of my reasons. In a sense, I could say I found the meaning of (my) life in Hong Kong.
If you want to go through this useful exercise, let me give you a tip: if your answer to this big questions like “why do you study?” includes words and phrases such as successful or better/good life, you probably haven’t thought enough. (Un)fortunately, you can allow yourself the rest of your life to think and answer these questions ;-)
