Za7 Blog

I gotta share something that I think you could benefit from.  I believe that we can learn faster by being exposed to something while out of our comfort zone.  I tend to enjoy new experiences far more vividly than doing the same thing twice.  Maybe I am different this way, but I have always been out of my comfort zone when I have learned a new skill or gained a new perspective.  Haven’t you?

I went to the University of Washington which was a big change from the small town I grew up in.  I took on way more work and challenges than the average student.  I also somehow was much more successful at my goals than I usually was.  I built a racecar, led a team of 15 building and racing it.  I became the best driver on the team and drove our car to victory in the Michigan race.  I was way out of my comfort zone constantly during this time.  I also helped design a passive cooling system for a 1mm x 1mm x 10mm high power diode laser.  Crazy stuff that no one had answers to yet.  I didn’t know what the crap I was doing, but I ended up learning a lot and helped develop a successful system.

I decided I wanted to be a Forex trader, trade foreign currencies on the international market.  I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I needed to get out of my comfort zone to start learning.  So I quit my career as an engineer in Seattle, packed up my family, sold one of my houses, put all my stuff in storage and moved us all to Tokyo, Japan.  I spend all day everyday learning and trading on the Forex market.  I am way out of my comfort in this big, crazy, loud, fast paced city that doesn’t slow down for anyone.  Imagine strange food, strange customs, interesting people, new perspectives and a break-neck pace that is downtown Tokyo.  My own two kids don’t even speak the same language as me!  I live in a house where English is something  strange the people from another continent speak.  The strange thing is that I am learning a lot and enjoying it.

I purposely choose to live like this in order to bring myself up to a higher level, to see what I can do under challenging conditions.  Have you ever raised the standards you place on yourself?  Tell me about it.  What was it that you wanted to accomplish by doing this?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 9:04 am and is filed under Japan, Forex. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.