“10 Thousand Hours Rule”

Mr. Ruibin Ye
(Finance, MUIC Class of 2011)
CEO & Founder at Harmony Global (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.
It was a sunny day of December 5^th. With a pleasantly smooth and jazzy music in the background, I was having selfies with my family and friends. We were wrapped with the nourishing smell of crops. I looked up the sky. It seemed surreal with its blue color contrasting with the green fields. That was an “Annual Harvest Day” hosted by our business partner in 2019, and we were one of their guests.

It wasn’t easy at all behind all the achievements. Allow me to start from 15 years ago, with my first lesson, “The Elimination.” I was a Marketing Major student at MUIC. Later on, just for the sake of challenging myself, I crossed out marketing classes and shifted to the Finance Major during my 2^nd year. After that, never ask me how painful those remaining years were (bitter laugh). I totally can conclude that I’m not one of those guys who are friends with numbers, stats, or any financial statements. Luckily, I still managed to finish my degree and whenever my friend asked what I’ll do next, I would laugh out loud and said, “Anything but banker and accountant!”
“Searching My Passion” was still gloomy and endless during my Master’s Degree Days at Hong Kong. I always wanted to be a movie director, until one day a friend came to me said, “Hey bro, we need someone to help in our production crew.” That was the first time I felt my life is meaningful. I got a chance to join Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures for film productions. Along the whole year of soaking myself in the film industry, I later found that this is not my lifelong path. Although I really enjoyed the good time being on set and helping crews for film shooting, my sleeping habit was a mess. One day, after wrapping up a night scene, I had my bag on already losing feeling how heavy it was. I checked the clock, and it was 5:30 in the morning. I boarded a bus. Seriously, I couldn’t believe how I made it home that day, but one thing I am sure is that I was walking home with my eyes closed, haha! The longest time I had worked was three days straight with less than five hours’ sleep in a row. Therefore, my second passion, “eating healthy and living healthy,” became a turning point in my life. I rejected all the film projects and earned my first bucket of gold in 2015 by selling healthy banana chips and coconut water. I question myself, “Hey! Selling banana chips and coconut water wasn’t too bad eh?” Seems like I found my happiness perhaps.
Not too long after the spring of 2016, my business had a downturn, and it was miserable and torturing with all the high expenses on my daily operations. I still remember every time the end of the month comes, the zero balance shown on my bank book turned into a routine nightmare chasing me wherever I go. I had to fill my apartment with all the expiring stocks. I even dumped them next to my bed as there were so many left unsold. Until one day I received a postcard from my closest friends in Hong Kong. He wrote to me, “Never give up, you can make it and make the world a healthier place.” I was really touched and his cheer-up helped me get closer to the “10 Thousand Hours Rule”. If we work eight hours daily, you will see that it exactly works out to 1,250 days. Please try it, and I personally found that for most businesses or any other careers, they need at least three years or above to make a break-even or excel in their skills. The key is that we have to focus on our goal and hang on real tight before we hit 1,250 days, and good things will happen.
I started to search for partners, and good things really happened after I teamed up with my friends in Thailand in 2018. As a founder of Harmony Global Group, we do many fun things like creating healthy yet delicious snacks. We solve problems and offer one-stop service supply chain management to our partners around the world. I am blessed working with my friends who share with me the same passion, and I’d like to thank my team for making everything come to life.
I would like to share this thought: “Please don’t work for money, but work for passion.” It’s all about doing what you’re good at, what you feel is right, and what you’re passionate on.
Remember the “10 Thousand Hours Rule” and hang on till you succeed. All the best to those who are pursuing their dreams.