ZAKE’S SEARCH FOR MEANING | Week 70

This journal helps me improve 1% every day…

Welcome to Week 70 of

ZAKE’S SEARCH FOR MEANING

I’ve skipped 2 weekly reviews in a row, and the reason for that, is I’m also reviewing the meaning of this journal and see if there’s any thing I could do to make it serve me better, help me become the person I want to be.

Things are changing all the time, and we all are aware of it. However, I found it is also one of our human weakness to make change, as the old routines make us extremely comfortable and familiar to maintain. And I just cannot allow myself to do that, unfortunately.

The most obvious one is the name, I changed it from To Be A Product Manager to the new one,

ZAKE’S SEARCH FOR MEANING

This name is modified from one of favorite book, Man’s Search For Meaning. Why? The book leaves a huge impact on me, by simply making me ask myself:

What’s my ultimate meaning for life?

If you asked me 70 weeks ago, I would probably say,

“To be a product manager and create things that could change people’s life…”

but now I have a bigger goal, to be a great father. In order to realize this dream, first I need to be extremely versatile, self-reliant and financial ready, try and practice to be a great boyfriend and husband.

However, having bold goals and plans doesn’t mean I should stop being a interesting person, and only work on being a product manager.

Instead, I should work harder also on things I’m creating and producing, like blog, podcast and short films. The journey of learning these skills also makes your unique and impeccable, for a role like boyfriend or husband. And I’m always excited for that.

By changing the name and making a new theme picture, I was planning to keep weekly updates and documenting my new journey. Yet last week, when I sat down in front of the screen and started typing, I was still not feeling the right vibes.

This morning on the bus to the office, with the pouring rain outside hitting the windows fiercely, suddenly I realized yes I made the decision to review the content I’m creating, but haven’t reorganized the priorities.

This blog is just a form to keep myself accountable and express my feelings freely, but it could be any forms that can help me achieve these 2 goals.

If I find myself more interested in podcast and video producing, then you should go for them, and quit the old form. You don’t have to do it just for the sake of it. Happiness is the most important thing.

So this is the first post of ZAKE’S SEARCH FOR MEANING, but also the last one. However, I will be releasing a new episode on my podcast every week, which I set up the goal to interview 1,000 great people around me.

Stay tuned.

My name is Zake Zhang, a product manager based in Shenzhen, China. I write fun and deep stuff, make podcasts and short films.

Warm Regards,

Zake