Gloria's Blog

Have you gone through a period of time, that is so intense, from difficult relationships, struggles in life decisions, and that in some quiet night, you just whisper to yourself, "I just want a normal life..." Yes, me too. This blog is about what I learned during this period of time. It is about why we should target at having an amazing life. Why we stopped doing it. Why doing it is hard. And Why we should still do it. Why we stopped doing it? Most of us have had childhood dreams, the rosy fantasies about how amazing that dream would be like. After we've grown up, we don't often dream about that. We have been told that "Life is hard." "Work is work." "Be realistic." We have been hurt. And from these painful experiences, we learned that, higher expectation creates higher risks of disappointment, frustrations, pain. Sometimes, we are so tired, and quietly tell ourselves, "God, I just want a normal life." ...

- 1 - April 27, 2018. It was the one year reunion after we graduated. I was hesitating whether I should fly back to Chicago. The reason of the hesitation: I know there will be A LOT OF people, a lot of 'Oh hi how have you been?', a lot of trying hard to stuff our lives in five minute conversations in crowded, noisy venue. I genuinely want to know how my friends have been, but I am fearful that they want to meet and catch up with as many people as possible, and that they won't have time for that with me, and maybe, the deepest fear, is the fear of realizing "I haven't actually made good friends in Booth. " I knew it is possibly a fact. And I am afraid of seeing this fact in front of me.  The other day, I had brunch with another Booth in Seattle. She said, "Why not? It is the most efficient way to catch up with Boothies. Otherwise you may not be able to see them in years."  That's actually a good point. "Just seeing them, and ha...

On my way to work on April 6th, I listened to a podcast . It is an interview with Vanessa Van Edwards, the author of Captivate . It described her way to have dazzling conversations in a networking setting: "It is not about how to impress other people, but how to give other people opportunities to impress you." "A good conversation creates sense of belongings - you make them feel that they belong to you, and you belong to them. Examples are: you share some common experiences; you show that you care about what they care about, by asking thoughtful questions. Their book, their business, their pets, etc. " Vanessa also introduced a fun trick, "Go on a 'No what do you do question' diet. " You don't ask these routine questions that let people go on autopilot. Instead, you ask more thoughtful questions, the purpose is to create sense of belongings. *** It was enlightening to me!  First, I realized networking is something that many pe...

On New Year’s Eve, me and my friend Jason set out for a mini adventure. We went on the street and asked strangers one question, “If you could change one thing in 2018, what would you change?” We asked nine people, including a couple from San Francisco, a backpacker from Spain, a homeless artist in front of a Starbucks, a couple under Ferris Wheel, a daddy taking daughter in a chocolate shop, a fisherman by the lake, an Uber driver. We videotaped everything, and made it into a documentary. Here are six things I learned from this mini adventure: 1. We asked nine people. Nine people answered. People are nicer than you thought. Well, I can’t ensure everyone will get 100% success rate at any time :) Win people’s trust is one of my strengths. Later, Jason told me his observation: my gesture of approaching people, how I open a conversation, how I pause after asking questions, how I listen. But I still think my seemingly innocent chubby face might be the biggest successf...