This is just One of Many Octaves

I’ve never known what an octave is; Even though I had taken a credit in a piano beginner course when I was studying in college, I was too busy partying.

Reading the Anything You Want 1st edition ten years ago, I still have no idea what that is.

Reading the 3rd edition ten years later, I know it at the first glance.

I’ve been learning how to play piano with my 5-year-old daughter for months. She sometimes asks me to play the same song with her, “you do the right hand, papa,” she points to the music sheet that used to feel foreign to me, “and I’ll play the left hand.”

It feels like pair programming to me.

The melody feels like lines of code being compiled and executed in runtime.

After experiencing the whole thing, I felt like saying things Derek would have said for my current path in career and business:

“Now you’re a writer, your right brain explodes with creativity. Go!”

“Now you’re a programmer, logic springs from your left brain. Go!”

“Now you’re the product manager, empathy and humility are your core. Go!”

“Now you’re an entrepreneur, solely focus on serving your customers. Go!”

Same thing with my current path in life:

“Now you’re living in Hong Kong City, obsessed with success. Go!”

“Now you’re married and your kid is your life. Go!”

You can’t pretend there’s only one way to live life. Your first idea is just one of many octaves. No individual life goes as planned, so make ten radically different plans. Realizing the initial choice you made was just one of many brings all kinds of weathered wisdom and insight into your life.

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Read the next chapter: Why Do I Circle Back to Advertising

Or table of contents: Anything You Want (My Version)