I enjoy coaching and mentoring people with their careers, so naturally I always think of how I’d coach and mentor a younger version of me. What would I tell myself in grade school, junior high, or high school? What childhood events shaped my decisions that eventually led to my current skill set as a knowledge worker or entrepreneur?
Missed Opportunities in Academics
Do you ever think, “If only I would have known better, then I could have saved myself from…”? We all wish we could go back in time, changing our personal history or decisions we made. I often think, “I wish I would have learned to appreciate algebra in junior high because I would have realized by math was important in its applications to the internet or other math-based careers.” I also think, “Why couldn’t I have been more like my brother growing up? He loved reading books.” I could discovered my passion for business books much earlier in life.
The Coaching and Mentoring of Mini-Me
Letters to a Young, Bi-Racial Entrepreneur chronicles my coaching and mentoring of a younger version of me. While I may regret some of the outcomes in my life, I would never wish to change these outcomes because I believe things happen for a reason. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I could change the past. However, I wish I could have been more curious growing up, hoping to broaden my interests in math, science, foreign languages, art, and history. This curiosity could have led me to become more efficient and effective as a knowledge worker or entrepreneur. While I eventually discovered my interests in these areas, it took me years to reach this point.
Letters to a Young, Bi-Racial Entrepreneur documents my early childhood from Pre-K and Kindergarten through my senior year, combined with my career advice on how I could have made improvements, developed new interests, or avoided certain mistakes. My advice could have lead to better outcomes, more efficient paths, and more effective skills.
Excuse to Blog about 70s Pop Culture
It also chronicles the pop culture of the time, my family’s influence on my behaviors, and reveals my struggle with race issues. As a latchkey kid, I spent hours alone after school watching TV and playing with my toys. Today, I realize these TV shows and play influenced my skill set development and personality traits as an adult. As the youngest sibling, I was greatly influenced by my brother, who’s six years older than I am. Without his knowledge, he molded my personality. What more should I have learned from him, if only I could have observed his strengths in more detail? Being half Alaska Native and Japanese wasn’t easy growing up, especially when I appeared more “Japanese” rather than Alaska Native, causing the younger version of me to suffer through temporary internalized racism.
Career Management Advice for Kids and Teens
While Letters to a Young, Bi-Racial Entrepreneur was a vehicle for me to reflect on my childhood, the typical knowledge worker or entrepreneur can use it as practical advice for career management. It may prompt self-reflection or meditation on what they could have done differently in their childhood to become a more success adult. For me, I wouldn’t change any of the outcomes in my life. While I consider myself a late bloomer by not blossoming into my career into my mid-30s, I don’t regret my early 20s, which were spent learning about spirituality at the cost of delaying my career. However, if I could change things, I would have added the basic trait of curiosity—a passion for learning all subjects in school—that could have broadened my skill set as an adult. If I had children today, I would most likely give them advice based on Letters to a Young, Bi-Racial Entrepreneur.
Letters to a Young, Bi-Racial Entrepreneur is meant to provoke reflection on the path not taken, identifying any regrets with your current situation. By looking at your childhood, you get a window into how you were going to grow up or how you could have grown into a better adult. What could you change? What should you change? Or would you change anything?
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