Welcome back (to) Akwaaba, Tung

Exactly 3 years ago, I wrote a piece called “on self-confidence”. Very well-written and still so true. Here’s the most important bit:

In 2020, my value ranking probably looks like this:

1. Impact

2. Learning

3. New Experience

4. Network

5. Free Time

6. Money

As a “student” on a full scholarship, I didn’t care too much about making money. I was a lot more interested in how to do work that’s meaningful (Impact) or work that has the steepest learning curve (Learning). I made money, with the primary goal to afford New Experiences with the people I love (Network), and NEVER at the cost of too much free time.

This Value Ranking helps me tell a very coherent story of Who I am? What are the things that are important to me? And in which order? I call this my “Value Story”.

I lived by this story religiously in 2020. Every big decision I made that year was based on the priorities set in this narrative. My self-confidence that year came from me knowing EXACTLY who I am, what I want, and my belief that I can accomplish it.

Reading that, I felt like it’s a good time to reflect on this question:

Compared to the Tung 3 years ago, what have I gained? And what have I lost?

• a house

• a life partner

• 14 kilos / a better body

• a lot of good business mindsets and skills from my job

• many great friends and memories in a new city

• a much better, stable income from 9-5 that allows me to enjoy nights and weekends

• a business, a purpose, a dream to die for

• self-confidence or ignorance haha

• the habit of writing and sharing everything I learned/realized with the world - now I’m a chicken who’s lost the momentum to share things online, living in the shadows of my past writing

• most importantly, i think I lost my perpetual learning muscle with my writing habit - not just a habit of reading, but a constant hunger for knowledge. i remember that period building MO when I was consuming books, blogs, podcasts, lectures like a machine - taking notes - drafting ideas - repeat. And because i was always so excited by the new knowledge i consumed, writing and sharing became so easy and natural.

What I miss most about my life 3 years ago is writing in public. I missed having a place to share what I learned with someone. There’s no way I can’t gain this back. The only thing stopping me from doing this is fear. And I know I just need to write and ship it.

So here we go, I’m committed to getting back to writing. I will be writing weekly on this blog again about my learning. It will be in either English or Vietnamese, whatever is speaking to me then.

My name is Nguyen Quang Tung (Tung). I was born and raised in Hanoi, but never felt like I’m a “true” Hanoian.

At 17, I got a scholarship to attend a boarding school in China, UWC Changshu. Those 2 years changed my life. My friends taught me so much about how vast and diverse the world is. I was the only Vietnamese there for 2 years and because of that, I learned more about Vietnam than the previous 17 years I spent in Vietnam.

Then I attended a small liberal arts college in Minnesota - a state known for its cold weather, that giant Mall, and kind people. There, I discovered my passion for entrepreneurship as a way to make impact.

The cold also made me take a gap semester in my second year to go on a ship across 4 continents (Semester At Sea). That’s where I started writing - which is the biggest gain from that trip.

Then, Covid hit. I took a gap year, stayed in Vietnam, and built what would end up being my first full-time job after college - MỞ. I had this deep belief in the social aspect of learning - that if you can unlock this, you will create something much more exciting than any lecture slide. I think we did. We scaled it to 2,000+ students after 4 years.

After 1.5 years running full-time, I decided to stop MỞ, largely out of fear (this will be another post another time).

Luckily, my business mentor at the time decided to hire me as his associate. I joined a global education group with ~200 employees, as a founder’s associate, then got promoted to Head of School & Growth Marketing after 18 months. I’m building my team. My first hire is an ex-lawyer turned exited EdTech founder. He’s 10x smarter than me. And I hope to only hire people who can outsmart or outwork me for the next 2 years. That’s where I’m at right now, career-wise.

Life-wise,

• I live in Saigon with my wife, who was my co-founder (yes, things got unprofessional).

  

• I work out 3 times a week with Lecao Athletic Base (the best athletic gym in SG imo), and kick ball once a week with Vucar (the least athletic football team imo).

• A HUGE fan of MCK.

• My current brainrot activity is watching The Office. I think I might be a filtered Michael.

• Favorite cafe is Slow Thao Dien.

• I enjoy 5-hour deep talks as much as 5-hour gaming or Poker nights.

Like always, I don’t have a concrete topic I’ll always write about (I think having a niche is not for everyone), but here are 2 big themes you can expect from this blog:

#heart: life stories

#head: business mindsets - stories about building my team at Lumiere, reflection about building MỞ…

Subscribe at your own risk! If you do, I encourage you to read with an open heart and a critical head. Everything I share is limited by my experience and knowledge - but that’s the point - this blog is an opinion. And I’m not afraid to share it.

Welcome back to Akwaaba, Tung!

Welcome back, Akwaaba, Tung!

And a question for you:

Remember a period of your life in the past that you’re most proud of yourself. Compared to your life now, what have you gained? And what have you lost?

Bonus: How might you gain back what you’ve lost?