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3 Lessons learned from my “failed” Christmas Gift
Dear readers,
This year was the first time that my family didn’t spend Christmas with our extended family for Christmas due to COVID. To my American husband, this was rather depressing (I was born and raised in China, so the loss of Christmas tradition didn’t affect me as much). In an attempt to cheer him up with a special Christmas gift, I took time out of my busy work-from-home mom schedule and made a drawing of my husband’s truck. Since he is an avid car lover, I was sure that my gift would thrill him!
His reaction was quite different from what I had imagined. When my husband opened the present Christmas morning, he was quick to point out how ridiculous the drawing looked and couldn’t stop laughing: “The wheels are at least 5 sizes too small. Gosh, this is so comical!” I didn’t take offense – at least I made him laugh, I thought! I then shared a laugh with him and posted the drawing on the social media pages of my art business, which specializes in landscape illustrations.
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The next day, as I went out for my usual morning walk, I used this chance to reflect on this interesting experience. To my delight, I realized there were three lessons to be learned from my “failed” present that can be applied to work and life in general.
Lesson #1: Perfect in parts ≠Perfect as a whole. After my husband and I both had a good laugh at my creation, I probed him to see if the rest of the drawing, except the wheels, was good. He said, “Yes – if we look at the truck body, even the wheels by themselves, they look very nice; but they don’t look good as a whole.” Point well taken – in our work, we tend to be so focused on doing our tasks “locally” that we neglect to zoom out and look at the entire picture. In doing so, we fail to realize that we can be “off” proportionally, even when we do each task right.
Lesson #2: We can be rather ignorant, without knowing it. I thought I knew my husband’s vehicle well, because I see it every day. Drawing his truck out of proportion showed me how clueless I actually was. It served as a humbling reminder that there are many things in our daily surroundings, which we can be rather ignorant about; even when we think we are familiar with something, there are still a lot of intricacies to learn beyond what’s on the surface, for example, the proportion of a vehicle. Mark Twain once famously said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
Lesson #3: Talking about (and laughing at) small failures is good! Am I embarrassed about posting this drawing on my art business social media pages? Absolutely! But a little embarrassment is no harm – it shows that I am still an aspiring artist, a work-in-progress. Before this incident, it was already a practice of mine to not be offended by every small public embarrassment. I would much rather be able to acknowledge and laugh at my own flaws and improve from them, than hiding my imperfections and staying in the comfort zone. Learning from small mistakes will help us avoid the big ones, which could be much more embarrassing and costly!
It was a good Christmas after all! My husband shared my post, and some of our friends joined the fun by teasing me! Maybe one day, I will redraw his truck, to make up for this “failure.” But for now, it’s all worth it because of the lessons I have learned!
Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Yang Luo-Branch
AAAB Founder and President |
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Jan 28
Hosted 2020 "East Meets West" business luncheon to celebrate Lunar New Year
Apr 14
Hosted "COVID-19 Resources for Businesses and Employees in Arkansas" workshop with simultaneous interpretations in Chinese and Korean
May 14
Hosted workshop "Learn 'Hello' & 'Thank You' in Asian Languages"
Jul 9
Hosted workshop "Digital Transformation from 0 to 1 for Businesses"
Jul 24
Elected two new directors to the AAAB board - Katie Thompson and Boon Tan
Aug 30
Started to offer 1:1 calls to the AAAB community members in the hope to reestablish personal connections during the pandemic
Sep1
Richard Liu was hired as the executive assistant, the AAAB's first paid employee
Sep 16
Signed a collaboration agreement with the Council of American States in China (CASIC) to build goodwill
Sep 16 and Oct 21
Hosted online networking events for the AAAB members
Dec 9
Participated as a guest speaker at the "U.S.-China Relations at the Local Level" event, hosted by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the Schwarzman Scholars Progam
These are some highlights for the AAAB in 2020. Even though it has been a hard year for each one of us, we hope you do take a minute to look back and acknowledge your own achievements! See you in 2021!
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Europe And China Approve Landmark Investment Treaty - NPR
Chinese President Xi Jinping, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron joined EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel in a video conference to conclude negotiations over the deal, which removes a number of barriers to European companies' investment in China. Learn more about the new deal and how it impacts US-EU relations
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IKEA opens 2nd Indian store in Navi Mumbai, plans Rs 6k cr investment and 6000 jobs in Maharashtra - India Times
IKEA India Market and Expansion Manager and Maharashtra MD Per Hornell said that the company has made more than 2,000 home visits in Mumbai to create solutions that reflect people’s life in the city, adding that IKEA would help create jobs and opportunities for a growing eco-system for the entire industry. Learn more
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South Korea Joins Japan and China with Carbon-Neutral Pledge - Power
South Korea, Japan, and China, countries that rely heavily on coal power generation to fuel their economies, separately announced ambitious goals to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within the next three or four decades. While the measures were largely hailed as big wins for climate action, some industry observers noted the countries had not laid out specific paths to achieve their targets though they are certain to have major implications for the power sector. Learn more
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Startup Junkie launches ARKANSAS KOREA Alliance to bolster International Relationship
Fayetteville-based entrepreneurial support organization Startup Junkie Consulting has partnered with the Korean International Trade Association (KITA) to conduct startup testbed initiatives with Korean tech companies in Northwest Arkansas. Dubbed the Arkansas Korea Alliance (AKA), the partnership is the first joint startup program between Korea and Northwest Arkansas and will directly connect international startups to blue chip clients and domestic venture capital firms. Learn more
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Gayatri Agnew elected to Bentonville City Council, the first Asian American in Arkansas
"When you see injustice you don’t just wish things would change – you make them change. I’m running to make a change." These are the words of Gayatri Agnew, the first Asian American in Arkansas elected to the Bentonville City Council. Agnew won 56% of the vote in the Ward 1, Position 2 race. As a second-generation American, Agnew's father was born and raised in southern India. Follow her public page on Facebook.
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Namahage: A New Year's tradition in Japan better than the countdown
On New Year's Eve, Namahage deities make their frightening appearance in Oga Peninsula, Akita, Japan. They remind children to be good and bring fortune and good harvests. On the last day of 2020, let's explore such Japanese folklore through this video and this article.
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We continue to look for talent in the community. If you have strong interests or a background in Asian-American business, please get in touch at info@arkasianbiz.com.
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