A few months ago, I did few guest lectures in Kasetsart University in Bangkok. The talks themselves weren’t very long, only about 30 minutes a piece. A bit more nerve racking because they were a group of young adults I didn’t know. I thought it went fairly well, I made sure it did because quite bluntly, I wanted the bragging rights of being a “university guest lecturer” (I honesty think I’m the only person that cs myself that) at age 24.

Allow me to briefly explain the process of me bringing this achievement to fruition. Firstly, I lectured based on survey research I did on the English competency of Thai Uni students. About 400 respondents total across 4 Bangkok universities, 2 of these colleges were far flung and required 1 hr 30 min. by bus to reach. Of course not everyone willing to participate so more then 400 students were asked. After that which took 2 months, I compiled and analyzed the results and put it into a presentation. Next it involved knocking on the doors of 100 professors, seeing which ones would be willing to have me. In the end, I got one professor kind enough to take me up and that’s the one that mattered.

I did this without realizing, in hindsight I realize now that I focused on the one time things go right rather then the 100 times it went south. Because there is a problem with the way our society is structured. From childhood we are scolded if we fail an assignment or worse yet one of our however many classes we are held back. So we work for, say one semester for a set goal (a good grade). In adulthood, it transition to working 80 hours for a paycheck. The problem comes when you are exploring a venture that’s more idiosyncratic (freelance/entrepreneurial) where there is no set reward nor a guarantee that there is a payout in the end. In such instances, it requires patience.

Something I need to work on as I don’t work in no job no more.

Kingston S. Lim

May 1, 2020

Guadalajara, Mexico

• 

• 

Above is the link to the research presentation if you’re interested.