Welcome to a book with bubble tea with your host, mira Hee. Here I share takeaways from East Asian books on parenting, startups and self-growth. Seeking insights beyond the typical English shelf, want to be a better parent and achieve more in life? You are in the right place. Grab your bubble tea and let's dive in. Hi everyone, welcome to the new episode of a book with bubble tea. How is everyone doing? This is your host, mira Hee.
Speaker 1:Today is the last episode of 2023. Well, actually we're still going to have an East Asian this week, but you know, this is it the last main episode of a book with bubble tea. I could only say that the time has flown so fast. Today we're not going to review any book, but rather I'm going to talk about what I have gone through in 2023, my feeling, my thoughts and the four favorite books that I have come across in 2023, and what I'll recommend them to you. So this year has been such an adventure for me. All I can say is this year is like a year of sewing seats. It's like I'm just starting so many new things. I mean, obviously, this podcast is one right.
Speaker 1:We uploaded our first episode on 16th of June 2023. And I don't think we had any clue of what we got ourselves into, but we thought right, you know, I really want to be the bridge, like kind of connecting the West and the East, because I feel like the information usually travels from the West to the East, but there are so many good things in the East that just don't get translated into the English community, purely because of the language barrier or just the legacy of, I don't like to say, colonialization, colonial period. But at least that is the truth, right, like most of the information we got from the West to the East, from the English-speaking world to the non-English-speaking world, but there are so many good stuff that is in the other part of the world but the English-speaking community just don't know because they don't have access to it. And, like me, coming from Taiwan, I feel like I came from a very privileged background in the sense that we got so many books translated from different languages and then we can access it in Taiwan, like we got Japanese books, we got Korean books, we got Chinese books, taiwanese books and obviously we also got English writers' books, right. So you know, like for any subjects that I want to study, I could get like a wide spectrum of perspectives and I just feel like it benefits me so much because, depending on my mood, depending on how deep I want to go into the subject, you know I have a pool of resources that I can really dive into. It's like kids going into a candy shop with varieties of candies, but I just feel like in the West there isn't such an option. Like you think, we have a lot of options, but in terms of the writing style, in terms of perspectives, you know, I feel there is a level of homogenous right. So that is the primary objective of why I wanted to start this book with bubble tea Basically, to introduce different perspectives to you guys. And I would say it's not easy, it's really. I think it's harder than I expected because I really thought, you know how difficult could it be? I've been writing blog articles, right, so you know, I just read out my blog articles and that's it. But let me tell you it's completely different. It's like if you go back and listen to the first few episodes of a book with bubble tea, even though we thought we did our best, it's just not there. You know, I sound it so stiff.
Speaker 1:The recording quality was bad and my friend Lillian also had no clue of how to really add it in. We were just like trying our best, giving our 100% without knowing what to do. And I remember for a very long time I was actually recording from my own wardrobe so we have like a changing wardrobe so I was hiding there to record because that is the only place where I could get away from the noise of AC sound. But you know, every time when I wanted to record I have to switch off all the ACs and the house got really hot. I mean, obviously we live in Saudi Arabia, right? So the house got really hot. And then my nanny even called once a technician saying like our AC is not working. And I had to tell her like no, it's just me, you know, I switched it off because I was recording. So now, thinking back, it's, you know, it's a fun journey, but we just really didn't know what we got ourselves into. All we knew is like, okay, this is what we want to do, and how do we make it better and better? Unfortunately that my husband saw it was just too stupid to do the recording hiding in the wardrobe, so he bought me a small recording booth. So I owe him greatly to that, because then I can sit comfortably in my recording booth to do my podcast recording now. So that's basically what happened behind the scene of a book with bubble tea.
Speaker 1:And then I remember when I was back in Taiwan with two kids alone Holy moly, it was really tough. I remember there was a time that I booked a recording studio the next day but then I didn't have anything to record, like I didn't write up any script, and I was literally like working till like 2, 3 am, I think 2 am. After I put the kids to sleep at about 10 pm, I was working nonstop till like 2 am. And then the next morning I got up at about 4 am to continue writing the script and I had one hour of recording slot in the recording studio in Taiwan and I pretty much just have to like whatever out to get it done, and I didn't have time to even have breakfast. I didn't have time to have lunch. I was just like right, that's it.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, there are definitely a lot of sacrifices into making this podcast, but let me tell you I am so glad that I did, not only that I'm working closely with my friend Lilian, but also you know the amount of stuff that I learned from the book. It's just amazing, you know. It's just amazing to have an output channel to put whatever you learned into practice. It's like you have to digest whatever you know I took in, and because when you are simply just taking in stuff, you actually don't know how much you have learned, until you have to have an output that you realize like, ah, that's what it means, ah, that's what I could do about it. And I'm just so glad that I have this platform to share with you guys about what I have learned and then make you a better learner and make me a better learner too. So, you know, it's something that is truly wonderful to me.
Speaker 1:And also, I think 2023 is also a year that I feel I'm really struggling with parenting, probably because of my workload has increased quite a lot for my work and for podcasts. I feel like my patience for my kids has really dropped quite a lot. I have become a lot more impatient. So you know, that is definitely something I need to work on in 2024. So this is more like my confession of 2023, like an area that I failed. Another thing that I have seen great improvement in 2023 is my business, and I do have to say, if there is any turnaround of my business, it's due to my husband, who put a lot of effort into my business as well with me. And the second thing is definitely because of this podcast, because I have learned so much from this podcast and then I applied that to my business and I started to see things turning around.
Speaker 1:So, saying that, I am going to share with you the four of my favorite books that I have come across in 2023. And I don't think it will be a surprise to many of you if you listen to all the episodes the book that definitely has had the most impact on me is the OGSM Transformational Leadership Building an Agile Communicational System, supporting Corporate Innovation by Mingming Chen. You know, when I picked up this book, I really didn't think this book is going to help me so much. I just thought, okay, it's easy to read. I finished it on a flight trip to Abu Dhabi and I really didn't give it much of a thought until I thought, right, I better put into practice, because what's the point of reading about these leadership or strategic thing without actually using it? So I started to use it at work and I immediately see things have started to change. Like I have shared it many times. I just feel like the whole team became more focused on what we are aiming to achieve and the blueprint of achieving our goals become a lot clearer.
Speaker 1:So what I did is you know, I thought I really wanted to use this for 2024's planning for the company, but I gave myself three months to train up the two managers in the company. So one is the deputy director of the company and the other is the operational managers, so she heads up the property management and maintenance team. So I thought I would get these two people to be in line with what OGSM is about. Because if these two people are clear about what OGSM is, I think they can start doing it with the tiers below them. They can plan the OGSM thing with the people below their level. So I said, all right, for these three months we're going to try out with OGSM planning. And I went through with them. We plan it together and every single week we would have a weekly meeting to go through them. I wouldn't say they fully grasp what OGSM was about, but you know, they got the basic idea. And then in the beginning of December I flew back to Abu Dhabi and then I sat down with them again and then we watched some training material together and then we did the planning again for 2024. And I told them this time each will pick an objective and then they will do that planning with the tier below them. It took them some time to really grasp it, but I'm really glad that they are getting there. Now it's a lot clearer. And then they said they actually enjoy planning together with their teammates, you know, on what they need to do for 2024. And I feel like it's such a great way to kind of unite the entire company to be very, very goal-oriented and goal-focused.
Speaker 1:So if there is one single book that I feel have completely changed me and the company, I would definitely say is OGSM. And the second book that I think it's so great and I'm so glad that I came across it is the Brain Copy Technique, the method to learn any skills, by Taiga Ishika. To be honest, I had this book, I think, since five years ago, but I just never really delved into it. It was just sitting on my bookshelf until, you know, I have to make a podcast about it. I thought, right, I'm just going to take a look and see whether this is a book that I would like to share about. The more I read about it, the more I feel like, wow, it has so much potential and I really would like to use these techniques. So, as you could hear from the episode, we will include all the episode length in the show notes so if you would like to check out those books, you can easily refer it back to the episode.
Speaker 1:So in the episode you could hear me applying the techniques on my nanny to kind of uncover, like, why is she so good at learning cooking, even from a video in a language that she doesn't understand? But I realized that the skills are so useful, not just only for, you know, interviewing any mentors that you want to learn from, but really, like you can use this technique to learn from anyone, anyone that you have come across. Like I said, you know I apply it to interview candidates who want to apply a position, and after the episode I also did it with another lady. She is potentially interested in joining our company. So you know, I prepare questions of things. I would like to ask her to really kind of delve into her brain of how she is so good at what she was doing. So you know, I feel this techniques. If you really master it, it's such a great way to learn from anyone Like you could literally learn from anyone. You could literally learn from any occasions. And I really think this is not just a technique for us to learn things, but it's also a very good technique to improve our social skills, because as we listen to people attentively, as we want to know more about what the other people are doing, how come they are so good at doing something, it's also a way for us to build connections and relationship with that person. I feel this technique of brain copying technique, of how we can interview people and really learn from them it's such a great thing. I'm so glad that I came across this book in 2023.
Speaker 1:And the third book is 37 Steps to Immediate Action Overcoming Perquestination Scientifically by Nobutaka Ohira. So this was the episode. We uploaded it last week, so it's one of the books that I read recently and I just really love how this book was written. It's just so easy to read. First of all, it's so easy to read Like every single tips is so clear, so you can pick and choose and then just easily follow it, and I really like the tone of the book. It's just so non-judgmental and it's so soothing, it's so different to the traditional, like self growth book In a sense that you know saying, well, you need to work on your discipline, you need to track your time better, you need to do this better, you need to do that better and this is how you can do this better.
Speaker 1:Like I feel a lot of the self growth book it's written in a way that you feel those authors are above you because they have reading master's things, that you keep on failing and that feeling of condemnation or no, I wouldn't say it's explicit condemnation but then it's that implicit judgment that come across and the paragraphs of a lot of those self growth books. It's a bit off-putting for me. Like I recently read one self growth book on time management and the authors share like plenty of techniques that she learned from different books. But I think it's a tone of the voice that makes you feel like, like how do I put it? Like she can do it because she has more discipline or she tries harder and then you fail because you don't do XYZ. I'm not sure whether you get what I'm saying, but you know it's that kind of feeling that sometimes I didn't appreciate.
Speaker 1:But this book is completely different. This book is written in a way that, you know, it's just comforting and soothing, because it's coming from understanding of how our brain truly functions, because we just have this tree sloth inside of us, so it's natural for us to fail, and it's not about asking us or pushing us to work harder or have more discipline, like it, just to use few tips to help our brain to overcome this procrastination, you know, or fear of taking actions to just get it done, to just start doing it, to make sure that we are on track. It's okay to fail. You know, success is not about 100% successful or otherwise you fail, it's just about percentage. So, you know, there are a lot of these things that just make me feel like, yeah, I can do it. Failure, it's not a big deal and it's not about failure, it's just about percentage of how successful you are. So as long as you keep on improving your success rate, you are good. And all the tips from the book it's just to help us to improve our success rate. That's the third book that I really like the 37 Steps to Immediate Action, and the last one is on the parenting subject, which is transformation through changing your dialogues with your kids.
Speaker 1:Lakulakumams shared experiences of raising kids with developmental difficulties. Where kids in gray zone of development. Written by Ms Oba. Parenting is an area that I really feel I struggle a lot in 2023. I don't know, it's because of my workload, or it's because of my personality, or, you know, because kids have grown up so I naturally have more expectations of their performances, or, you know, it's from my upbringing. I don't know what it is, but I know it's an area that I struggle so much. I feel like I don't know how to play with my kids and I also feel like I couldn't stop shouting at them, especially my son. I don't know how to play with them and I often talk to them in a way that I wouldn't like my parents to talk to me in that way. Like you know, I feel like I really shout at them too often and I just don't really know how to correct it.
Speaker 1:I have tried a lot of different methods, but I would say so far, if there is one thing that I am still failing and I still need a lot of work on, it's definitely on the parenting thing. So this book is great because, you know, just from the table of content itself, it kind of gives me a reminder of what I could say instead, in order to make my point across in a way that it's easier for my kids to accept, like you know, instead of shouting at him like why didn't you finish this yet, or why didn't you do this well enough, Focus on things that he has done well, like, oh, you have done this well. Do you want to move on to work on this thing, you know? Like saying things in a more encouraging tone, in a way that is easier for kids to accept. But I have to admit, I am still not doing great in this area.
Speaker 1:So one thing that I really want to improve in 2024 is to actually increase more quality time with kids. I realize that I spend about three hours every day with my kids, but I wouldn't say those times are quality time. It's more like mommy trying to get them to do what they're supposed to do. Like Hannah, why haven't you practiced piano? Go and practice piano, Josh. What haven't you finished your math homework? What haven't you done your Chinese? What haven't you done your phonics? No, it's more of these kind of you know approach of trying to get them to do what they're supposed to do, and I just think it's not the best way and I should focus on more quality time with them, and that's something I really would like to do in 2024. Okay, so these are the four books which I think are great the OGSM, transformational Leadership, the Brain Copy Technique, 37 Steps to Immediate Action. And Transformations through Changing your Dialogues with your Kids. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention because I was working on this episode of Transformations through Changing your Dialogues with your Kids I got in touch with the author, ms Misuzuba, and she was so nice.
Speaker 1:She immediately replied to me. I was asking her whether she has the English version of this dialogue conversion table so that even for English speakers, we can benefit from it. So she says she's working on it now. So once it's ready, she's going to let me know and she will include it on her website. So she does have a website in English. So if you would like to find out more about the author or her approaches to parenting, definitely check it out on her website. I'll also include her website link in the show note as well, and I have to say Miss Suzu was so kind. She also include a link on her website to the episode of a book with Bubba T introducing her book. So if you go and check out her website, you will see that too.
Speaker 1:I am so glad that this podcast has not only nourished my knowledge and allowed me to build connection with people like listeners I don't know yet and it also helped me to build connections with authors who definitely have great minds to write wonderful books. I'm just really grateful. So this is a really interesting episode for me, not about any particular book, but just about me rambling about what I have gone through in 2023. I hope you enjoy this episode. I do wish you have a happy new year and whatever you have learned from books or from other places, try to use it, try to see how you can implement it, apply it to your own life, and I'm sure you will get so much out of it. I look forward to hearing about your stories and how you made your 2024 plan and maybe we can see how much we managed to succeed by the end of 2024.
Speaker 1:And after this episode, we will take a week off as we are enjoying our new year in break. No, I'm going to Georgia to skiing, so I don't think I'll be able to post for that week. So we'll take a week off, but we will be back on the second week of January. So see you on the second week of January, and I would be really happy if you could leave us five star reviews on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or leave us some comments, or check us out on our Instagram. A book with Bubble Tea, and I would really love to receive your direct message there. If you have anything you want to share with us, I would love to read them. All right, that's it. Enjoy your new year's break. Bye, my friends, bye.