KM Hanoi Team 3 [FINAL]Knowmads Magazine

THE END

DLESS JOURNEYS
2

NGOC HUONG (CHIM)

1. If you want to have something, get it done yourself. If I
want to be an expert, I gotta learn everything about my
field to become one. If I want to learn more, I should
ask and look around for informations instead of sitting
at the table and waiting for others to give me. Active
learning will also help me the chance to meet other cool
people. It also makes me aware that I need to figure it
out myself, I need to link everything I learn. I can find
myself by working on a project, meeting people, crying
because of fear. All of that is a part of learning process
that I didn‘t realize when I was just waiting for others to
show me.

2.When people asked me about "what do you want to
bring to the world?" and "why does it important?", I al-
ways thought that I knew the answer, that it was an
easy question for me. But then I realized, I didn't even
know what it means to me?! And it was scary! She
pointed out the one thing that I was trying to avoid for
such a long time: talking about my feelings, discovering

the internal journey.. I was trying to avoid it because it
was so much easier to just focus on the external things..
But yes, it wasn't easy at all. It wasn't easy to be a
FAKE
3.Being number two is not so bad. Someone was born

to be number one, but someone has the fate to be
number two. They are good at being number two and
it's pretty awesome. Because number two makes num-
ber one look good, number two makes number one
number one. We can still be number two and be awe-
some, as long as we're awesome, it's fine to be even
number three.
The last one that Knowmads teaches me is: never stop
being curious and never stop learning. 

3

PHUONG LE

It is impossible to decide which task or session is more impo
ciate every single moments in nearly 2 month last program.
sight themselves. Definitely, that is an extremely unique app
Never before have I used many colors and shapes to expres
a strange awesomeness when I look at my own clumsy pic
will never disappear is the afternoon in Banana Island when
re-exhibited it on a A0 paper before told their life stories
couldn’t be replaced and facing those moments was anothe
story of my life to my beloved classmates, for those I believe
minutes,especially in the island full of wind, fresh air and m
ings. I saw myself in others and so did they. Yes, that’s why w

ortant or impressive than others in the course. I really appre-
Power to Flower is the starting point for everyone to look in-
proach of self-learning with a flower of 6 to 7 petals – tasks.
ss and show off my deep ideas as I did in the morning. I felt
ctures, naturally. Another event that sticked in my mind and
all people rewind the clock, filmed their childhood and then
to others. Somethings bad couldn’t be changed, the past
er challenge that Knowmads Team 3 give us. Yes, I told the
e and admire so much. Listening to life stories was fantastic
mosquitoes. I found myself in harmony with nature and feel-
we were there.

4

DUONG LE

one thing (probably) even when it is hard, even when it is u
f o r i n o r d e r t o fin d m y s e l f . 

So with my travels and diverse experi-
ences, I think I know what I want to do
with my life but apparently I still haven’t
found it. I am still the one of those in the
“not all those who wander are lost”. I just
know that I still use death as my navigator
since I want to achieve something that I
am proud of once I reach that point. So I
will need to experiment more, and this
time with serious reflection and commit-
ment. Mer said it right, I need to poke my-
self and challenge myself with something
that I am uncomfortable with. I never no-
tice that but it is true that life has been
easy on me. So what I need now is some
commitment, some dedication to follow
uncomfortable. I need some fight, something that I can die

5

LINH PHAM

Knowmads – the never - too late start for passions

My life was just awesome when I found the job I loved and
did the fun stuff I wanted. However, I also had my own
fear when being urged by my mother with some “life bur-
dens” everyone has to do in “Vietnam”. Well, I would say I
would love to get married, have kids, take responsibility
and do everything. Yet, under such pressure, I got lost for
what I should do next, then you knew I called it “burden”. I
still had a lot of dreams to discover the world and myself.
As a result, I still kept searching when I realized I seemed
to choose my safe zone with an affordable life with fair sal-
ary. Then I found Knowmads that I thought could stir up
my life a bit.

Since its first workshop, I learned some interesting things.
There were some guys quitting their jobs or university to
pursuit their own fire. There were a couple of married
women who never wanna to stay still. They still followed
their own hearts to dance or run their own business. What
about me? I knew I was lost. Still, I believed it would be
never too late to find the dream and live your own dream.

What was the common thing in this “mad-hub”? We all
wanna change. We believed all changes start from our-

selves. In 7 week journey, we learn, grow, have fun, some-
times have gossips, tease, hang out and crazily speak
English. The most common thing in our hub is sustainabil-
ity, surprisingly. I surely never know what is going to hap-
pen after Knowmads. I do believe people still work with
passion and make impacts.

Things are not limited in words as they lead to actions.
Some workshops were run with good practice and experi-
ence for people. Some websites were set up and pub-
lished. Some meetings were set up. Should I explain more
on this part as actions are being added up.

For myself, I came up with the idea of book exchange.
Books are not really my passion, but my love is to make
people get connected and create the impacts. The actions
to exchange things are for the missions to preserve read-
ing cultures, practice the beauty of sharing, create interac-
tions and save the trees.

Never did I think I can do a project on my own or did I live
my way, now something has changed.

It’s never too late to follow your passion

6

LILY HOANG

When I came to Knowmads, I set my personal goals as to
be confident of myself. I always felt that I was below aver-
age and was never comfortable with my true self. I usu-
ally put my chin down so that people won't see my face
as I felt ugly or I am never satisfied with my achieve-
ments, I often think that I could have done better, I should
have done this and that. Because of that, there were rare
happiness in life, overall. I am also the only child, so my
parents expect high from me, and because of that I have
much pressure on my shoulders like I have to be better
than myself, I have to try harder, or I should not feel the
way I have. I guess that is why I don't smile that often.
When becoming one of the Knowmads students, I real-
ised that people here are very open and supportive in
many ways, where I can show my weaknesses without
being judged or laughed at. Knowmads showed me that I
can be whoever I wanted to be, I can feel whatever I feel
and I can show emotions I have. Whoever judges me for
that is none of my business. I found out that whenever I
feel comfortable with myself without afraid of being
judged, my true personality comes out and this is where
my confidence is hiding. I always thought that confidence

is improved by reading a lot of books, travel to many
places or knowing many people. I never thought that it
comes from inside the way we see ourselves and the way
we value ourselves. From this recognition, I believe that I
have made a huge step in self growing and moving for-
ward in my life.

7

VAN NGUYEN

Art of business success – Self-trust & people - trust

A session on finance management on week 5 was quite
interesting as it’s a kind of what I’ve learnt at university.
However, a simple but vital message that I was not
taught at university years ago really made me stay fo-
cused that morning. It’s about the importance making
good communication and the power of trust that deter-
mines the success of our business. In fact, it’s especially
impressive to hear it from a finance professor who was
supposed to pay high attention to budget planning and ef-
ficient finance management as the key to business suc-
cess. And that once again reminds me of a core philoso-
phy of Knowmads which emphasized that businesses are
created and run by people and therefore it’s the ability to
communicate with people that matters most. In fact, all
kinds of relationships in this world such as friendship,
companionship, love, brotherhood and business as well
are almost built upon continued open and sincere commu-
nication.  And  it’s true that self-trust and people-trust are
key to open and honest communication.

Crowdfunding, which is introduced as a means of raising
funds for start up is also a form demonstrating such val-
ues. In order to be able to gain enough fund for your pro-
ject, it’s important that you trust your own creative valu-
able product/service and trust the crowd of potential back-

ers. A dancing workshop fostering the idea of “So you
think can dance” organized by Vy, an enthusiastic Know-
mad member showed participants that you could do what-
ever you want with strong self-trust. Power leverage,
which is introduced by Bobby Liu the next day is also
based on the idea of trusting people. With leverage,
you’re not  alone as you could tap the strengths of all pos-
sible resources aroud you. Being curious with such termi-
nology, I just googled it out the term leverage to see
which kinds of powers possibly being exploited and be-
low is a list of seven forms of leverage:

1 . O P M ( O t h e r P e o p l e ' s M o n e y )

2 . O P T ( O t h e r P e o p l e ' s T i m e )

3 . O P W ( O t h e r P e o p l e ' s W o r k )

4 . O P E ( O t h e r P e o p l e ' s E x p e r i e n c e s )

5 . O P I ( O t h e r P e o p l e ' s I d e a s )

6 . S c a l a b l e P r o d u c t i o n & D i s t r i b u t i o n

7. Scalable Customer Base

Hence, just trust yourself, trust the process and trust oth-
ers!

8

HOAI THU LE

“Whatever you have done, it al

At Knowmads, we had chance to draw our personal life
and share it to each other. When drawing it, I realized
there were many things happened in the past that made
me extremely sad, down, disappointed in life. But to look
back It all doesn’t seem like any big problem. Especially, I
have also learned a lot from it.  

          

It is just very simple that after being failed in anything, we
are always sad, regret, scare of taking next step or start
new thing again. But we forget that we always learn get
experiences from it. Experiences are not something that
we can buy with money but time spending, hard working
and also fail being. 

lways brings you experiences”

9

VO TUAN SON

This is probably what benefits me most from Knowmads
Hanoi Team 3 as most lessons I learned from here I ap-
plied all of them to my daily life. I want to name some.

First of all is empathetic listening. I remember this when I
was doing my first teamwork. It's the Brainstorm and Mas-
termind session. For the first time, I totally listened com-
passionately without saying a word. I felt we were sharing
respect and encouragement to one another. And after lis-
tening, we gave feedbacks, additional ideas and there's
no judgment and criticism. This method is amazingly con-
structive and teaches me a lot of soft skills lessons.

Secondly is breathing. This changes literally everything I
do. For example, if I talk fast and I notice that I'm not
breathing, meaning that I'm talking too much and maybe
it can make me listen less. Another example is that the
mindfulness process. This helps my mental and emo-
tional problems pretty much as I was heartbroken during
half of the program (Oh my fucking Genitals) but thanks
anyway. And when I experience all the feelings, I'm start-
ing to be aware of what I actually feel, I breathe along
and it makes me more complete, even "negative emo-
tions". And practicing Yoga helps this breathing learning
as well.

Thirdly is doing small things, or "the elimination of pro-
crastination"! I remember the 10 minutes rule that Mer
taught me in the Coaching Cafe: do something for 10 min-
utes, if you get bored, stop. If you continue doing it, there
we go! So by taking small and mundane steps, we can
build something bigger and bigger. And there's nothing to
hold us back when doing small actions. This changes all
my perspective and I believe that it will help me a lot in
my daily life as well.

Fourthly is that I love presenting something. Inspiring to
change life. Daniel's workshop helps me significantly in
this thing. He makes me remember what it feels like to in-
spire someone by speeches, to inspire someone when
I'm on stage. I will master presentation skills and gonna
inspire others with my speech.

Fifthly is the power of reflection. I remind me some vulner-
able time and some happy time. It's to clarify my vision,
review things and this method can inspire me to do stuffs.
And I can do it in every way I can, writing, drawing, talk-
ing and sharing.

I think that's 90% of what I learned. I feel very relaxing
and grateful right now that I'm entering Knowmads.

10

KHANH QUYEN

One of the most amazing personal lessons I learnt was
from the Life Map Session with Ms Phan Y Ly on the Ba-
nana Island near the Red River. That was the first time I
ever walked on an old bridge on Red River and it was fan-
tastic. In fact, I was quite afraid of the height, and the ce-
ment under my feet seemed likely to be broken. I have
never been to that area as well and the air and environ-
ment were so cool, so it was a great experience. 

Actually, before going to the Red River, I thought that if I
was forced to share my life map, there would be 2 situa-
tions. Situation 1: I would tell the story without my feel-
ings, so I could do it fast and without being emotional.
Situation 2: I could never finish telling the story as I would
cry and could not continue telling. Fortunately, none of
these happened. I felt scared when I told my stories, and
as expected I spent most of the time talking about my
childhood and only had some small time to talk about the
rest. However, it was quite okay, I could finish it without
crying too much or being too cold. I realized it was not
that hard to share my personal stories with other people
knowing that they would not judge much and listen very

attentively. As if by magic, I felt a sense of release. It
seemed to take away some existing heavy burdens in my
heart and my head as well.
  I also enjoyed the stories from my team mates. Every
time they told their stories, I wanted to add something
more into my life map, as they reminded me of my sto-
ries. I could find some similar feelings or situations that
my team mates have been through so I felt great and
comfortable.  Well I guess people are more similar than
different.  
After the session, I felt quite heavily emotional but at the
same time I sensed a great release by sharing and listen-
ing to life maps. I could see the stronger connection
among the mates and I am sure that this connection will
follow us even after Knowmads. 

11

PHUONG LINH

I love flower, absolutely. There is nothing as beautiful as
flowers. Their colors, textures and scents are impossible
to recreate.

Therefore, I started at Knowmads with curiosity and ex-
citement about the philosophy of “Power to Flower”. The
way Knowmads led us to the topic was very approach-
able and inspiring. From a natural wonder to self-
exploration; from an abstract idea to concrete actions,
from an organic bloom to project grow, catch my imagina-
tion into words and finally shape everything into my pro-
ject.

I was quite struggling to define a grounded path for my
project.  Multiple ideas popped up into my head simultane-
ously: consignment shop, thrift store, co-working place,
3rd space… This led me to self-confusion since I was un-
sure with which option I would stick.

However what I've learned from Knowmads that confu-
sion is a funny process. I spend more time to write down
and speak out all my confusions to Mr Sextl and my
peers; also do more research with what I want to end up.
This process really encourages me to have a final and
clearer scene in my mind. I realize that the process of go-
ing from confusion to understanding something is a pre-
cious and emotional experience.

Also, Knowmads always gently "forces" us to "speak from
the I", be confident to speak up what my heart says. Al-
ways be authentic with whatever I do and I think!

I have never drawn such many flowers before. I felt like a
little kid crawling on floor and creating some personal “art
works” even I am really bad at drawing.

Because I am always enchanted by flowers so all my pro-
ject mapping, my character values eventually turned out
to five & six- petaled flowers with many colors. The way to
grow my ideas is as natural as flower blooming. This en-
gagement can be explained that the presence of flowers
trigger my happy emotion and productivity. Obviously, in-
terconnectedness between human life and natural life is
indeed a present.

From that point on, I instinctively experience the whole
process of “Power to flower” and I realize that as a very
simple organic system, a flower grows thanks to the ap-
pearance of the sun. So do i. I am blooming thanks to
highly empathic Knowmadies. In somehow and some
way I think they are able to step into my shoes, they are
always listening and focusing when I am speaking, under-
standing my feeling, perspectives to guide my actions. 

I am enjoying my fruitful journey with my peers at Know-
mads

12

QUY NGUYEN

Being confused and grown up

Being confusion is also a part of personal learning proc-
ess and I was very happy with my confusion in the ses-
sion facilitated by Phan Y Ly, founder of Life Art. We
learned how to enjoy the pain, anger, or other sensa-
tions in life. Probably because every sensation comes
to you regardless your intention or control, so you just
need to welcome, enjoy and learn from that, gradually
you will know how to deal with it. One-hour meditation
was very interesting and I did not think that one hour
was passed by that fast. I imagined I was walking
around the room to observe other team members medi-
tating and even going out to see other people on the
street and observe what they were doing, however at
the same time I was still aware of my body lying down
on the dark room in Black Box studio. The instructor
voice record kept reminding us of noticing and being
aware of our bodies, but sometimes I felt lost and sank
in my own thought or imagination. The touching/
massage session was also really enjoyable and it
brought us even closer to each other’s soul. Phan Y Ly
asked us thinking of the project pitch while touching/
providing massage to our partner, but many of us could

not do it. Doing two things at the same time seemed to
be really hard, however I did enjoy the session, espe-
cially the last massage when the music on. Huong and I
were very connected. I was moved in accordance with
her touching hands and eventually we seemed to dance
together and really connected with each other. Touching
is really a powerful way to connect people's souls.

Life is not always easy and things are not always obvi-
ous. However, life is much easier when we learn how to
deal with it and especially when we are together. Know-
mads is not only a place for us to learn new skills and
knowledge, but also a place for us to cry, laugh and hug
each other anytime we need. Starting point is always
the hardest time and I feel thankful because I have all
the knowmadders with me and I strongly believe that
not only during the course time, but we will be there for
each other in our life and keep moving together on the
way to realize our dreams.

13



MAC VY

The first thing I realized is that no one is born a genius
and your dreams will never come true if you do not lift
your ass off the ground. I used to blame on something
when I cannot do anything. I never realized that I have
not tried. But after participating in team KMHN 3, every-
thing completely changed. You do not have to be super-
human to do the best. Ask others what you do not know,
try try and if not, tell someone to do for you:]] I found out
that you will never know the result until you finish your
process. The result is not important. It’s all about how
you do it in your way. Good process, good result. And
don not limit your mind just in 1 result. Think big, bigger
and bigger. Who know where you are going to? It's you
to find out. Your reward is not the result but the process
of your performance. It does not matter if you win or
lose. You will be proud of yourself because you dare to
take action and you are grown up.

14

LAN ANH NGUYEN

My most meaningful decision ever was joining Know-
mads Hanoi team 3. I'm making my biggest life's chang-
ing. I've been waiting and waste my 10 years of youth to
come to this point. 10 years living in fear, wishing for a
"ready moment" to touch my dream, to live the life I want
to. I know deep in my heart that I want "a thing", but
never brave enough to think that I could do. I always think
i'm not good enough for that, always just admire other
who did it. Then I only dream!

Knowmads came to me (or I chose Knowmads) at the
very right time. My job got trouble, my personal life was
changing, I found my best man ever, who share with me
the same passion which to me at that time just only
dream, but to him, he has been doing it. 

So what is "it"? my dream: live a traveling life.

I was almost  buried my dream deeply, but Knowmads
help me  dig it up. Start with Mr. Guido with his power to
flower questions through email. I cried when I answered
them. Those questions touch me so much. I again see

my dream so clear and visible. But I still scared of take ac-
tion to make it comes true. Then I again cried so hard in
my personal coaching with Daniel. He gently asked me
questions, made me realise that what ever happened, it
will still lead me to my dream. I could make choices: do it
now, or wait until I'm older and older and still live in wait-
ing status. I was so scare when I made my choice: do it
now. But I did it! and there are no way to express my grati-
tude to him, to Guido and to Knowmads' facilitators.

You made me today. be the one I want to be. live the life I
love, take my own  journey: a free life, an endless learn-
ing life.

Love you much. love all of us

15

HOANG DO

my emotions I started borrow others' emotion and use it in p
need, I lost my goal in life. As easily as borrow others' emo
my goals. But the emotion that I buried they don't just disapp
turned blind eyes on them they affect every decision I make
self, sometime I feel like I don't understand the way I respo
tive for my actions and part of me unconsciously drive me a
confidence in using "my emotion" and I tried harder to run fur
come a habit, I feel comfortable with burying parts of me.

It's not just during my weekend anymore.

My project goes smoothly. With what I gathered in Ja-
son's workshop about marketing and Matt's workshop
of sustainability, I now have clearer view on the next
few steps I should make and realise there are a lot of
thing I can add to my project to make it more unique.

Yes, things go smoothly but I’m a huge mess now.

Since long ago i've done my best to block all my emo-
tions, I did my best to forget all the painful, embarrass-
ing memories, memories that make me look weak, vul-
nerable. I turned my back to them and my life seems
full of rainbows and butterflies. Forgot how to deal with
place my own. By that I lost track of what I really feel, what I
otion, I accepted others expectation on myself, use them as
pear, the fact is they left marks deep in my head. Although I
without me knowing. Kept ignoring them I lost control of my-
ond to things around me. Borrowing others' emotions as mo-
away often turn me to a bad result. After a while, I lost more
rther from them. It's just like a loop. After several years, it be-

16

My friend once told me my smile looks fake, I did not think
Many friends feel the fake emotions I put up with, they think
us, that I can't blame them, even I don’t understand my feeli

It is not a lie that I can completely block parts of my memor
them, I protect myself from pains, bitterness, embarrassme
of blank spaces feel like I’m a time traveller, jump from this t
think I did a good job of killing part of myself. Is that why I've
to begin with?

Knowmads guys, thank you for asking me the question th
process never stop, it kept my head spinning, blew things
head. Never have I had a headache like this. I don't worry t
it destroys itself to particle and from that rebuilds, goes ou
head. I love to see the same thing is happening to my team
their cocoon.

I know those stuffs I wrote might make no sense at all but
family meeting too :)

And to my team mates: I read all your blogs. I see that som
butterflies are going to emerge from your cocoon.

much about that, I just brushed her off with another smile.
k I’m not being honest. I can always feel a distance between
ing, how can I be sure my loyalty for them is true. 
ries. Memories contain strong emotional burst . By blocking
ent. When I do the life mapping with Phan Y Ly I drew a lot
time period to others, without a connection between them. I
e never feel complete since I've never been a whole person

hat I will never dare to ask myself. For weeks, the thinking
s I buried deep down up high. Now it's a mess inside my
though. The larva builds a cocoon around itself, inside that,
ut as a butterfly. I hope the same thing is happening to my
m mates. I want to see those lovely butterflies emerge from

I don't care, my head is spinning, I just came back from a

me of you are changing too. I can't wait to see what kind of

17

YUKI PHAN

I opened a blank page on my laptop, then closed it. Re-
peat seven times. Sent Guus a message. Too antsy to
wait. Started to write again.

Weekend 3 had been a wild ride. It started with me all fir-
ing up about my project thanks to an extremely sexist
comment from a xe-ôm uncle (those who were there for
the check-in would know), but it ended with a hammer
banging non-stop in my head and a sudden need to burst
out crying.

How did I accidentally board this one hell of an emotional
roller coaster? At the end of the day, I still had no idea
how nor why, but I slowly realised that it was bound to
happen eventually. Colloquially speaking, people refer to
it as a "nervous breakdown."

This Creature slowly crept up behind me during the Per-
sonal Branding session with Jason. It had detected the
faintest smell of my crippling self-doubt while I was trying
to pay attention to how to build your personal brand, how
to communicate with others to deliver your "identity"

along with your "vision." What if I don't have an unique
identity? What if my vision is already thousand of other
people's vision? What if I have nothing to build this so-
called "personal brand"? What if what if what if...

However, the Creature didn't stop at my self-doubt. When
I was talking to Ryan about our passions and our pro-
jects, the Creature was once again on the hunt. This time,
It aimed for all the deepest, darkest insecurities that I had

18

about my own project, about myself, about everything I
chose to stand for and to believe in. It pushed me to a
dead end, where I started comparing myself to Ryan, my
passion to his, my project to his: I didn't have as much ex-
perience as he had, I couldn't be as passionate as he
was, I couldn't be as marvelous as he was, I couldn't be I
couldn't be I couldn't be...

I tried to pull myself together, repeating like a mantra:
"Everything will be alright, you will be fine." But the motiva-
tional speech of Alan Watts was a stab through my ever
vulnerable heart, reminding me that I was also a recent
graduate, who had chosen a safe but boring office job
over finding what I really loved to do, who had chosen
money over passion and heart. "You are guilty as
charged," the Creature whispered. The first tear rolled
down and I just couldn't stop crying.

Questions after questions, negatives after negatives
flooded my brain, leaving me with a feeling that I knew so
well but had not experienced for a while:

Fear.

The fear of being unoriginal. The fear of being a oh-so
common pebble amidst brilliant precious gemstones. The
fear of being useless. The fear of having nothing beautiful
to offer to this gorgeous, wonderful life.

I was drowning; and somewhere so far out there, or so
close right here in the back of my head, the Creature was
laughing, thriving on my fears, collecting them like gold
coins.

(Many hugs from the sweetest people on Earth, a beer,
and many snacks later, I found myself sitting with Diep
Huong in a crowded bar/pub on Ta Hien street, talking
about the Creature like it was nothing at all. I guess all I
needed was time and space for myself to calm down, to
rethink, and to reevaluate. The nervous breakdown was
bound to happen anyway: if not now, then probably tomor-
row, a few days from now, or next week. At any time, I
could fall. At any time, I could start doubting myself. But if
I don't fall face first, or at least scrape my knees a few
times, then how would I ever learn to stand up? If I don't
question myself, then how would I ever build an even
stronger argument that addresses all sides possible? It is
all about embracing your vulnerability, and letting go.)

19

level’; what that next level was I wasn’t too sure I had no role
ing my own tail and the faster I went the faster it escaped me.

The moment I saw the application form for Knowmads Hanoi
filled the form out for 4 straight hours. In some cases, procra
do. I wanted this.

One of the very first concepts introduced to us at Knowmads
rhythms and energy patterns. I had no idea how powerful a c
ence highs and lows; an abundance of energy and passion, s
bit too much and we retreat into ourselves. Guus carefully c
around this rhythm.

RYAN LLEWELYN-WILLIAMS

For the past 7 years I have devoured anything to do with
personal learning and personal development; it became
my drug, my escape, my ambition. I read every book,
watched every video and read every article I could to sat-
isfy my desire to learn more; yet for some reason I rarely
felt satisfied, rarely felt happy with my progress and
rarely felt like I had truly grown. I became frustrated,
starting and stopping randomly with little long term pro-
gress. My journey seemed an endless trek through the
wilderness of my own mind, often wondering if I was
headed to or from anywhere in particular.

I realize now that my goals were so large I could not see
the very first steps; my perception of success was so
great that I failed to see the little steps that made the
journey possible. I often say ‘I want to reach the next
e models to bounce ideas off of or to challenge me. I was chas-
.

I needed no push, no deadline, no incentives. I sat down and
astination is a sign that we are not doing what we truly want to

was the ‘U journey’; a learning journey that follows our natural
concept this would be until well into the course. We all experi-
soon followed by a lull where we feel everything has become a
constructed our guest-speakers times, concepts and energies

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Constructing our learning around these natural patterns al-
lows for a state of flow that energises us, relaxes us,
probes us, and confronts us at the times when we need
them most. And of course you have to enjoy the process.
Nothing is ever perfect, perfectly imperfect perhaps, but
learning to love the highs and the lulls, the lows and the
burning desires, with equal respect and understanding,
we are able to learn from what seem to be opposites of
the same mind, your mind.

I have become aware to the fact that falling back into old
patterns is a beautiful opportunity to see and remember
the progress you have made. You already know how to
move on from them and this time you move through them
with a grace and an ease that proves that you have ac-
complished these victories before.

Another beauty of the learning journey is that there’s no
need to worry that you’ve missed out on a particular les-
son, because it’ll come back time and time again until
you’re ready to deal with it.

Learning comes in many forms and the best forms are the
ones that are the most fun. To make the learning journey
more enjoyable, make and play games for yourself. Your
subconscious mind will automatically learn the lessons
you need to learn without you even being aware of it. ‘The
World is our Playground, Come play with me.’

Go with the flow; fight the flow and you will drown, no mat-
ter how strong you are life is stronger. This does not mean

you become the stream, it just means you acknowledge
that the stream exists. Stop fighting, go with the flow and
the stream will carry you distances you never knew you
could reach. This will give you the energy to learn to move
with the stream, perhaps you’ll learn to harness the power
of the water around you to move even faster and then,
when you master that, you’ll be able to manipulate the cur-
rent to go in whichever direction you choose.

Learn by doing. It sounds so simple and yet our Education
systems have failed appallingly to embrace this powerful
learning tool. My personal formula for learning follows the
‘Pareto principle’ or ‘80/20’ principle. The Pareto principle
states that 80% of your success comes 20% of your ac-
tion. When you constantly find and focus on this 20% and
you will increase your successes infinitely. My formula bor-
rows from this in that I believe that 10% of learning should
be theory, 80% action and 10% reflection. Follow this for-
mula and you will achieve similar successes.  

Knowmads has restored my love for learning. I have got-
ten out of my head and into passions; by being able to put
my thoughts into a workable framework that has allowed
me to play with them, check them and change them at will
I have finally begun to ‘Own my Brilliance’

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QUANG PHAN

My eyes skimmed through the beautiful and color-blooming
timeline that Team 3 made as a reflection of their experi-
ences in Knowmads Hanoi. Hardly a single event along the
journey could catch my eyes and let me stop to choose
them as my most important moment in Knowmads. Never-
theless, it was not until Ryan placed his flower at Week-
zero, I made a decision to put my own flower at the starting
point. A thought came out of my mind: the most important
moment of everything, every action was its beginning. It
was when people really START.

I met a friend that I really admired someday ago. He was an
entrepreneur, who even didn’t enter university to start dis-
covering and enjoying his life. After hearing me announced
that I quitted my job and started my own project,
he  shake  my hand, welcomed me to the world of start-up
‘fools’ and said to me the words that I might never forget:

“When you start creating your own ‘world’, you will see
magic happens”

Then I started having a reflection of all the things that hap-
pened when I decided to follow my dream in agriculture.

Along the journey, there were moments that I have never ex-
pected to happen.
• It was in the interviewed when Guus told me that his friend

started a model in the  Netherlands  that similar to what I
have ever thought.

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• That was when I met Thu at the first lunch and found out th
• It included the moment when my mother told me that we

her own farm at her hometown.

• And I also want to mention my friend in Sai Gon, who is do
was calling me and told me that she want to have some pi

At this moment, my memory lives back to the Pecha Kuch
was a quote that I want to take as a conclusion:

“And, when you want something, all the univ

It’s all about MAGIC

It only happens when we really START

And I have started my own journey with Knowmads.

hat our ideas were perfectly matched with each other.
have a relative that was at the same age with me starting
oing some marketing activities for an organic farm, and who
ieces of advice and we could cooperate in the future.
ha session when we all talked about The Alchemist. There
verse conspires in helping you to achieve it”

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THE

E SERIOUS STUFF