Richmond Dinh spent ten years as an optometrist to please his family, then realized he was living someone else's life. He quit to chase what actually mattered to him, and argues that real leadership means having the courage to stop following other people's expectations.
Chapters
Growing up in an Asian family, my parents taught me to study hard, get a good job, go to uni, make as much money as you could. Become a doctor, a dentist, a lawyer, solicitor, an engineer, an optometrist. Because somehow that would lead you to this place called happiness. But if you're watching this right now, then you and I both know that by living that way and by living a life of status and significance and compassion comparison would never, ever make me happy. How do I know? Because I lived that way before. In fact, before I was a coach, I used to be an optometrist. And I was in a job for 10 years that I did not love. But I wanted to make my parents proud. So I listened to everything that they said. I was a good boy.
I was obedient. I followed all the rules.
I studied hard, I got ducks in.
High school, I got the fourth year Project Optometry award. I bought my first property at 24. But was I truly and completely happy? Was I deeply fulfilled inside? Absolutely not. Why? Because for most of my life, I was living someone else's dream.
Until one day I had this epiphany.
And something deep inside of me just clicked.
And I realized that this is my life.
And if I wanted to make anything for myself and be the man that I wanted to be, then the first thing I had to do was to stop following. To stop following someone else's dreams, to stop following someone else's rules, to stop following someone else's expectations. And most importantly, to stop following someone else's limitations on what they believe I can or can't do.
And I'm not saying it's going to be easy.
If it was, then everyone would do it. It takes guts. It takes bravery. It takes you to stand into your strength. And it takes an immense amount of courage to step into who you really are.
You see, it is my core belief that none of us were born to follow. Because if we were, then our species just would not survive.
Listen.
Now, we are all born leaders and you are a leader. It's just somewhere along the line, someone taught you that it's not okay to dream. That it's not okay to take a risk, that it's not okay to take a chance. But the only thing that is never okay to do is to be a follower. That's not what you were born for, and that's not what you were made for. And I can assure you, the more you remember this truth, and the more you live this way, the more successful you will be.
