In the past, I was someone who disliked communicating with others and participating in social activities. One reason was that since childhood, whenever I joined new groups, I had bad experiences—either being excluded, failing to make friends, or discovering that friends I'd finally made would gossip about me behind my back and cause conflict. Because of this, getting to know a group of unfamiliar people was very stressful and uncomfortable for me. This is why, even three years after entering the workforce, I kept my social circle confined to my own space with no intention of expanding it, until October 2018 when everything changed.
At that time, I saw XChange's event on social media. I really wanted to participate and have a group of people around me to grow together and share ideas, but I had no way to make it happen. Fear and worry constantly lingered in my heart, impossible to eliminate. Yet perhaps the motivation to change was too strong—I took the initiative to private message XChange founder 許詮 to request an interview, and more importantly, I wanted to use my own familiar methods to understand a community that was still very unfamiliar to me at the time.
I still remember my first meeting with XChange team members—their organized approach, time management, and straightforward bullet-point style left a deep impression on me. We completed the day's meeting agenda in just 30 minutes with concrete next steps, something I had never experienced before. Right then, I decided that no matter what, I wanted to change alongside this group of people. That itself is a form of growth.
Later, by participating in the community, I connected with others through online meetings and took on project responsibilities that allowed me to understand the community in the most direct way. In the process, I experienced how powerful it is when people trust and respect each other's expertise. Because of trust, you can express your creativity freely; because of trust, you have the opportunity to think wildly and accomplish things in this community that you couldn't do in your regular job or workplace.
Through this process, with so many outputs and achievements, you gradually build confidence—believing that even without a big company title or brand name, you can create more possibilities through shared beliefs. The bigger gain is realizing that a group of people with aligned values has an unstoppable force. You gain the confidence to defend a community, to affirm that everything everyone is doing is aimed at making this world different and better, which is why you move forward together.
This is the biggest change and growth I experienced after joining XChange. From lacking confidence in myself to believing in myself, and further believing that communities can create more possibilities, then returning to believing that I can do things differently from others and even help others grow—from self-interest to altruism, accompanying and changing each other. On a more advanced level, it's about helping others and becoming a platform that connects people. That's why I started the "Cross-Industry Book Club" last year, allowing participants to connect through sharing books and having deep conversations. Once I began doing this, my thinking shifted from being a project executor to a manager. My perspective on things is no longer just about myself, but hoping the entire group moves together in the right direction. This "right" looks different to everyone, so throughout the process, you must use time to filter who stays. You must continuously communicate and share, letting everyone's pace and rhythm align more closely, so each person's abilities can shine and you can all move forward faster together.
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