New Motto

Before 16, before grandma passed away, I had a very Chinese working mentality: Work hard now; accumulate the necessary experience and cash in order to live life to its full during retirement. The shock of the fragility of life made me think, arriving at an early teen, naïve yet energetic motto: ‘work hard, play harder’. This motto accompanied me through the late teens and early twenties, allowing me to accumulate an exciting portfolio of travelling experiences, party mayhems, and friends to keep for life. Coming to China has been a great shock to the system. The habit, working mentality, culture of people is extremely different. I miss the UK life with all my heart and soul. So it is ‘Back to basics. Live happily ever after'.

Life is one big project. Like a company that has mission, vision and value. If one changes the topline mission to life, then the subsequent action at the strategic and operational level will also require alteration. ‘Work hard, play harder’ is an easy motto to translate to an operational level: you work hard, earn lots of money, and spend it on things that make you happy, and the cycle goes round. ‘Live happily ever after’ is another story altogether. To start, I need to adjust my frame of mind...