In episode 8, Marco shares with us his view on personal development, facing down negativity and thinking big.
Each episode is a snapshot, a moment, a sneak inside the minds of our graduates. Season one talks to our 2020 graduates about how things are going, or not going, for them.
Subscribe now and find out what everyone is up to and how they feel about this weird and unpredictable time.
All opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Edinburgh.
Multi Story Edinburgh has been created and produced by the Alumni Relations team at the University of Edinburgh. If you are interested in telling your story, please get in touch and let's talk.
Music: Since When by Mise Darling.
In episode 8, Marco shares with us his view on personal development, facing down negativity and thinking big.
Each episode is a snapshot, a moment, a sneak inside the minds of our graduates. Season one talks to our 2020 graduates about how things are going, or not going, for them.
Subscribe now and find out what everyone is up to and how they feel about this weird and unpredictable time.
All opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Edinburgh.
Multi Story Edinburgh has been created and produced by the Alumni Relations team at the University of Edinburgh. If you are interested in telling your story, please get in touch and let's talk.
Music: Since When by Mise Darling.
Sonia Mullineux (host) 0:04
This is a snapshot, a moment, a sneak inside the minds of our graduates. This is Season One, Class of 2020.
Marco Chak 0:15
My name is Marco Chak, happy to be here. I'm from Macau, China. And I studied business at University of Edinburgh, specialising in innovation and entrepreneurship.
Marco Chak 0:29
I actually transferred from San Francisco into University of Edinburgh into my second year there and that's how I had the opportunity to become the Personal Development Division leader within the entrepreneurship society. And every week, you know, I would present some new ideas that have learned from just my own readings and from YouTube. And at that time was actually also my lowest point in my life. You know, I felt very lonely. But, you know, I was very lucky to actually meet two life coaches that helped me in my journey. I realised that, you know, personal development is something that really resonated with and so I actually decided to, apply for a gap year, which the business school approved, and I'm very grateful for them give me that chance and opportunity and trust. Not to like travel, but like really work on myself and my business. And, and so that's how it kind of started, actually, from Edinburgh, that seed that was planted there.
Marco Chak 1:29
For my first year, I was just a kid with big dreams. And I want to go to Silicon Valley and just really make it. And I remember going there, I didn't really feel I was really smart enough, or I wasn't someone special. But after going to like San Francisco, right, and I was able to be in Berkeley, I was be able to go to Stanford and just like, go to hackathons there and talk to people that are in that environment. I just felt like, actually, you know what, I'm just as capable. I'm just as smart as these people. So just that self conviction, that self belief is what I've got out of it. And something that is more personal, I guess, is also being able to release some of my traumas from the past. And that really helped me like, love myself and appreciate myself more and increase my baseline of happiness.
Marco Chak 2:18
Now, because I have the foundation in personal development. And I know the magic of thinking big, I realise, you know what, if I can visualise and I put in the work, and I believe, I can actually get there, if I put into work consistently. So those are some of the benefits and transformation I've experienced.
Marco Chak 2:37
The main thing I do right now is coaching. And I help, especially young founders, find a purpose and maximise their impact and improve their personal growth. So I'm still trying to position it a little bit better. But that's basically what I've been doing. In terms of coaching is a very unique type of conversation experience, because it's not really me giving you any advice. It's really about me asking deep, insightful questions. It's more inquiry based. And so my, I guess my offer is to help someone improve their mind, body and soul. It's a holistic approach. On top of that, I'm also curating local retreats. At the moment, I recently just did a meditation gathering. That's like on the side.
Marco Chak 3:25
I think about like, what what makes a good coach and I feel like I'm congruent. I'm, I might not be the most developed, experienced guy, but I can say that my rate of growth is quite high. People say, hey, you know what, like, you're not 30 years old, you haven't had experience. But how much time did that person, that 30 year old, put in his personal development, it might not be as high as much as me right now at 22.
Marco Chak 3:51
In my mind, I have a five year vision of where I'd like to be. First of all, I know my purpose. I've the picture. And I've the path. And then what's the process. And so my process is just keep working on my personal growth and keep growing. But practically, right now because I run Divicati by myself, what's really going to elevate me to the next level is to find a co-founder, as well as a mentor that has done what I want to achieve. And that person can really show me the insider's view of like, okay, what's the mentality that I need to equip, so. And on the side right now, what I have that I really value and is really working is my mastermind. And so this is a group of guys all have their own businesses. 20 something years old, one's from South Africa. One's from Kenya, one's from Sweden, and one's from the UK. And every Saturday, we'll jump on a Skype call. And we'll talk about life, personal growth, business, and that keeps me accountable. And that's my source of inspiration. So I'll keep nurturing that, and I'm sure we as a collective, are able to reach our goals in the next five years.
Marco Chak 5:05
I just want to be raw and honest that I don't have everything figured out, right? Like every day, I think especially in these times, people are kind of, I think the biggest battle is a battle within. It's the battle of our doubt, our negativity our fears. One mantra that has been stuck in with me is it's possible. It's so simple, but effective, like whatever you are thinking about, like, there's two sides of it, right? You can doubt yourself, you can like, bash it down and say, you know, what's not even possible? Let's not even try it, right? But it's always kind of you battling yourselves always you kind of brainwashing yourself in a way, right? There's so many voices in your mind. So which voice would you choose to listen to? And operate on, is something that I'm very, I want to be more conscious of, and I have been conscious of. Actually starting my journey Divicati, it's not, it hasn't been easy starting this business, because in the back of my mind, like, oh, you know, what, I'll just, you know, post a couple ads, and you know, post a couple of videos and things will be alright, and I'll be in flow. I think everything happens for a reason. And right now, because of that, I'm getting stronger. And because I've worked on myself, now, I also feel less pressure to succeed right away and just kind of enjoy the process, like enjoy the beauty of life sometime. So I think I just want to say, although I'm someone that works on myself so much, I still have these very negative thoughts. I think it's, it's super normal to have them and just kind of take our time to, to be with ourselves and to heal and and through that process. Like our baseline of happiness would be better.
Sonia Mullineux (host) 6:50
We also ask our graduates to share a place. Somewhere special, somewhere we can get together when all this has finished.
Marco Chak 7:00
So I'm, this place hasn't been invented yet but it's something it's somewhere that I want to create. And this is a private island that I want to bring everyone to. And in this private island, there's going to be beautiful beaches, nature, trees, nice breezy weather, and there's going to be Wi Fi there, so we'll all be connected. And what this island has these automated machineries, that allows us to not have to worry about food, and shelter. And our first lay of Maslow hacker needs. And so what that does is it allows us to have the free time and we can really focus and hone in on whatever we want to do. And I visualise and envision this place where we'll come together, and we'll meditate together. We'll do yoga together, we'll heal, we'll journal we'll read we'll do art, sao it's like a this little hub of like technology, art, nature, personal growth, spiritual growth, and it's just a place for people to kind of find themselves and know themselves and they can leave whenever they want. And they can kind of come back whenever they want kind of knowing that if they need a base they need, like just a little sanctuary to just chill out for like, you know, a couple weeks This is the spot that always got their back.
Sonia Mullineux (host) 8:24
Thank you for listening. Join us next time for another graduate and another story.
Kirsten Roche 8:36
If this conversation has raised more questions than answers, then you might find it helpful to speak to someone. An appointment with a careers consultant can be a great way to get some answers. Simply log on to MyCareerHub to make an appointment. And don't forget that you can still use everything on offer from the Career Service as a recent graduate.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai