My Impossible List

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”
– Walt Disney
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Not your plain ol’ bucket list

Have you ever thought to yourself “Huh, that would be an awesome thing to happen in my life some day. I should put that on my bucket list.”? What happened to that list? A lot of people just write down a list of things they want do or accomplish. However, often, the very same people won’t touch that list ever again and they forget all about it.

Why is that? Well, the reason is not necessarily that they are too lazy. It is just the way the list is set up. The bucket list only contains one-off events that add up to a highlight reel. In contrast, the Impossible list is about the journey. It’s an ever-evolving list which grows with you.

Your final goals may seem far away and even impossible, but using the Impossible List you don’t have to wait until completion to cross out your goal. You can start small. And with each milestone you cross out, you get closer and closer to your seemingly impossible goal.

What you can do to get started:

So think about all the things you could do, how each area in your life should look like. Don’t think about whether it’s feasible or not. Just do a brain dump exercise for 20 minutes. You might also imagine your daily life in the future and write down in detail how every hour looks like.

Even if you don’t know what you truly want yet. Don’t worry. Things will change. But just asking yourselves such questions and formally writing them down can give you some clarity and a good enough starting point.

Once you’ve written it all down, you can start forming your Impossible List by splitting it into different categories like I did below.

I first discovered the Impossible List by watching Thomas Frank from collegeinfogeek, who then got the idea from Joel Runyon at ImpossibleHQ.

My Impossible List

Current Guiding Goals

  1. Consistently hit or surpass targets and be proactive in bringing yourself in, continuously improving at your new job/role! (Get recognized and promoted like a Fire Emblem character)
  2. Build new connections and gain new great friends in Barcelona with whom you can spend time with (→ sports, gym, video games, photography, videography, hanging out, startups, language).
  3. Consistently learn, speak and improve your Spanish such that you can become almost fluent, easily holding a conversation with someone.
  4. Consistently create online content expressing yourself exploring your own journey (and make it easy and fun doing so.) (Hit 1000 subscribers?)
  5. Continue becoming fitter by doing sports and exercises regularly (gym, running, tennis, climbing etc)

Last 5 Completed Goals/Achievements

  1. I continue my path at 180 Degrees Consulting Munich as a Team Manager, developing leadership skills by leading my own team to project success for Ecopals, a young Berlin startup on a mission to sustainable road construction (November 2022)
  2. I got to be a guest speaker in a podcast! It was soo much fun! Thanks Elias and Yasin! If you like my content, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the episode! Check out the episode at “In Mindsight” here! (November 2022)
  3. I got to volunteer at a leading international startup conference, Slush 2022, in Helsinki, and soak in the atmosphere. Amazing venue design and countless amazing speakers from the startup and venture capital space, and lots of cool people to network with! Also seen many old faces I know from my exchange. Thanks to Valtteri for hosting me! (November 2022)
  4. I started an amazing growth journey working at the deep tech startup FERNRIDE based in Munich, best work experience I had so far! (June – December 2022)
    • We experienced serious growth, going from a headcount of 60 when I joined to around 100 people when I left! I got to learn about business development and experience every stage of the sales funnel from discovery to contract, work with talented and experienced people from all over the world, got to coordinate and execute our exhibition at the international trade fair  IAA Transportation in Hannover and be a responsible lead as the only employee being there from start to finish for 9 days straight! 
  5. Be one of 9 outstanding students in the Helsinki batch of the pan-Nordic MIMIR Fellows program where we got to discuss with over 30 of the most accomplished people of Finland and beyond (e.g. the former President of the Finnish Innovation Fund, successful founders, venture capitalists, directors in research, academia and government et al) (May 2022)

(Last update: 27.12.2022)

Personal Life

  • Become first university graduate in the family (TUM B.Sc.)
    • First semester
    • Second semester
    • Third semester
    • Fourth semester
    • Fifth semester
    • Semester abroad at the triple-crowned business school “Hanken School of Economics” in Helsinki, Finland
    • Seventh semester/bachelor thesis
    • I graduated with success! I did it!
  • Financially support my parents
  • Found a startup company
  • Give a TED Talk
  • Built an online community of over 1 million people

Professional Career

  • “Career” timeline, aka living up to the expectations my parents set for me and being able to support them financially one day
    • TUM Research Assistant at Global Center for Family Enterprise
    • Team Member / Web Designer at startup Cuppa
    • Website Manager at Viet Make It.
    • Project study at 7-digit funded robotics startup from Munich: sewts, supervision by the TUM Entrepreneurship Research Institute
    • Member of 180 Degrees Consulting Munich (non-profit student consultancy for social impact)
      • Consultant
      • Team Manager
    • New Associate at Accenture
    • Business Development Representative at FERNRIDE
    • Product Manager at Digital Product School
    • Business Development Associate at Infor
    • -> A lot more details on my career here on LinkedIn
  • Become an executive/lead figure in my area (e.g. Business Development)
  • Become a founder/co-founder

Entrepreneurship/Online Presence/Creative Output

  • Personal website:
    • Start your first website (March 1, 2020)
    • Launch your complete and fully optimized personal website (The overwhelmingly great support and reception left me simply ecstatic!) (April 4, 2020)
    • Survive a damn critical website error and rebuild (May 2020)
    • Surpass 1,000 total views on the website (blackout in May) (10.06.2020)
    • 20 Newsletter subscribers (04.07.2020)
    • Write more newsletter articles regularly, say 10
  • YouTube subscribers milestones (more under Videography in “Creative Goals”):
    • 30 (15.08.2020)
    • 100 (i don’t even know)
    • 183 (15.01.2022)
    • 250 (Feb 20th-ish, 2022)
    • 385 (December 2022)
    • 500
    • 1,000
  • Launch your first shop selling design t-shirts etc (March 14, 2020)
  • Launch a substantial e-commerce?
  • Make first 1,ooo€ with your own business
  • Work like in a startup team (: startup challenge, Team TATVA) (October 2019 – January 2020)
  • Work at/be part of a startup (4th member of Cuppa) (main task is to completely relaunch the existing website) (September 2020)
  • Work at/be part of an NGO (Viet Make It.) (Nov 2020 – April 2021)
    • Supported the team as Website Manager, optimizing digital presence
    • Community tripled in size during my time, though admittedly a lot of it was due to the great job done by the team 😀

Fitness/Health

  • Playing table tennis competitively:
    • reach ~1200 TTR (table tennis ranking points)
    • earn a medal at the district tournament 2017 (:U18, bronze)
    • become team district champion of season 2018
  • Run 5K (first recorded one on November 24, 2017):
    • One of the earliest: ~6min/km (01.04.2018)
    • Current record: 23:04, ~4:37min/km (18.08.2020)
    • Current record: 22:10, ~4:26min/km (14.09.2020)
  • Run a “good” cooper test in 12th grade (~2700m in 12 min) (2019)
  • Run 10K:
    • First one with friend: 10.16K, 5:43min/km (26.07.2020)
    • Current record: 52:39, ~5:16min/km (15.08.2020)
    • Current record: 48/49min (04.10.2020)
    • Current record: 47:23, 4:44min/km (26.10.2020)
  • Run a half marathon (21.1 km):
    • First one (I did it!): ~ a little under 2h, ~5:38min/km (26.09.2020)
      Was in the worst possible weather, see more on Strava (feel free to connect too if you run)
    • New next record: ?
  • Run a marathon
  • Races:
    • First proper race ever in Schaffhausen, Switzerland: 7.25km in 36:13min, 5:00min/km pace (uphills and downhills) (05.09.2021)
    • 2nd race: Helsinki City Running Day, Finland: 5K in 22:42 (4:32min/km)
    • TUM Campus Run, Munich, Germany: 11km in  53:31 (4:52min/km) (Was nowhere near my best form at the time, so am quite proud I could pull off this pace for this long!)
    • …
  • Home workouts/Gym
    • Going to the gym
      • with a friend 2-3x/week (Mid-August 2021 – October 2021, ?-?)
      • Went to the gym on the regular in Helsinki during my exchange semester (~Jan-May 2022)
    • …? Maybe climbing/bouldering next
      • Went one time with friends in Helsinki lol (kinda expensive)
      • Next time: …
    • Home workouts are still nice:
      • Home workouts, different routines (since June 2022..)
      • …
  • Fitness Test
    • Pushups
      • 20
      • 30
      • 40
    • Pullups
      • 5
      • 8
      • 10
      • 15
    • Squats
      • I have big legs, disadvantageous for many bodyweight exercises but at least leg exercises aren’t too hard
    • What other benchmarks to check?
  • Learn Skateboarding
    • (pro in commuting in the city to uni with a pennyboard)
    • Ollie
      • on grass (28.03.20, Day 2)
      • on paved ground (01.04.20, Day 5)
      • on smooth surface
      • rolling
  • Bouldering
  • Learn calisthenics
    • Learn Handstand
    • Learn Walking Handstand
    • Learn Backflip
    • …
  • Learn to dance (urban/hip-hop/breaking)
    • Breakdance

Habit Goals

  • Languages
    • Practice Spanish & Japanese for 30 days on Duolingo (60-days streak as of now, May 02, 2020)
      • now I practice by writing with people on Tandem (met many friends from abroad, esp. from South America)
    • Duolingo study streak:
      • 105 days (as of December 27, 2022)
      • 256 days (as of 04.06.2023)
    • Spanish:
      • had it in school for like 6-7 years
      • I’d say I’m definitely on intermediate level, biggest challenge is probably listening comprehension 
      • Duolingo practice and occasionally writing with people (as of December 27, 2022)
      • Living in Spain or somewhere else to only speak Spanish -> full immersion -> fast learning?
    • Cantonese:
      • Practicing Cantonese with the “Ling” app
      • Restart practice: ?
    • French:
      • Beginner level
        • Started Duolingo few weeks ago (27.12.2022)
  • Reading:
    • Read every day for 30 days (starting fresh on April 10, 2020) (in continuation for eternity…)
    • Check out my Goodreads to see what I’m currently reading and what I have on my list for past and future reads or for comments/quotes on my other page
  • Run regularly and often (Strava documentation)
    • Started from mid-June 2020
    • Current Mileage: 340km (26.10.2020)
    • Currently injured/have problems with my ankle, have increased stress there due to flat feet and the like. Can’t run for long without pain…first signs in December 2020…hanging in there
    • Back on track now: Total mileage so far is 833km. I had ups and downs, so for some months running was pretty much on hold. But since August I could run practically pain-free, running 100km in that month. (15.09.2021) 
    • 2022:
      • Total mileage: 1,191km (26.12.2022)
      • 2022 mileage: miserable 245~ km (26.12.2022)
    • 2023:
      • Total mileage: ?
      • 2023 mileage: ?
    • …

Skill-Based

  • Drawing:
    • Have a thick stack of drawings since childhood
    • Improve my drawing such that I can also comfortably sketch human anatomy without reference
    • Print out your first digital illustration
  • Photography:
    • Learn photography basics
    • Learn photo editing on Adobe Photoshop
    • Do professional photoshooting
  • Videography:
    • Learn to handle HitFilm Express, Adobe Premiere Pro
    • Produce a video on commission (:for TUM) (January 2020)
    • Publish your first YouTube video (02.08.2020 (teaser on 14.07.2020))
    • Make your second serious video project  (31.08.2021)
    • Follow-up video with good success too (October 24, 2021) (2.1k views, 27.12.2022)
    • A Semester in My Life as a Student Consultant (April 10, 2022) (1.3k views, 27.12.2022)
    • Study Abroad in the Nordics (May 29, 2022) (pretty short video, one song, only 181 views lol, 27.12.2022)
    • … ?
  • Graphic + UI/UX Design:
    • Create two new designs for every-day products
    • First prototype/wireframe of app (January 2020)
    • Larger UI/UX project
      • I did have a larger web/UX project at my job at Accenture in first half of 2022
        • Was a website/tool for finding the right colleagues (from around the world) with the right skills for the respective projects more efficiently
      • …
  • Languages:
    • German (Native)
    • Cantonese (HK) (~Native, technically~)
      • But still practice more (using Ling app)
    • English (fluent, best performance in high school)
    • Learn Spanish
      • for 5 years until high school graduation (~B2-level (upper intermediate))
      • got rusty, get back to it and improve
      • (…actually I have befriended quite a lot of cool Spanish-speakers :D)
      • only thing is I need to improve listening comprehension…
      • Be able to hold a pretty smooth conversation with a native speaker
      • Become fluent
    • Learn Japanese (Beginner)
      • beginner on Duolingo
    • Learn Finnish (Beginner)
      • Had a tandem course during my exchange with a nice native speaker, but it really is a difficult language…xD
    • Learn Swedish (Beginner)
      • Had a course during my exchange semester as well, is actually pretty easy, basically English + German
      • Maybe restart practice when it becomes more relevant, but not right now
    • Learn French (Beginner)
      • Practice on Duolingo, know some basic phrases or words (27.12.2022)
      • (I wish there was a way to see the streaks for each language on Duolingo instead of only the overall one..)
      • Complete Unit 12 (tbd)
  • Coding/Programming:
    • Complete TUM’s edx course on object-oriented programming (Java)
    • Learn HTML/CSS fundamentals
    • (Re)Learn Java or JavaScript? Or Python?
      • tried a bit of everything, now Python for the time-being
    • Python (full Python course (4 hours worth of content))
    • Language R (Data Science) (part of study curriculum 2nd semester)
    • Language C (CS50 Harvard course by David J. Malan)
    • Java (OOP) (3rd semester)
    • Completed a programming group project with my team, we built a functional skydiving reservation system (logging in/registering, selecting group size, accessories, dates, companies, reserving/canceling etc…) (we received 1.0/A+) (January 2021)
    • Got a 1.0/A+ in Introduction to Computer Science (for non Informatics studies), top 8% among 350+ students (positively shocked) (February 2021)
    • Refresh and set on one language for mastery…
    • Completing the Harvard CS50 course (end of 2021)
      • Finished Week 8 out of 12 (as of writing: 13.04.2021) (super challenging yet fun, extremely valuable course)
      • Finished Week 11 out of 12, last problem set was about building a web application where users can register and buy and sell stocks (12.09.2021)
      • Complete Final Project (could be about anything, but in scope it is much more ambitious than other problem sets) (I did a productivity dashboard, see Github for more) (End of December 2021)
      • Check video demo of final project here
    • Do TheOdinProject (web dev course)
      • Tried to continue on the programming/web dev journey after CS50
      • This one felt too slow for me tho..so I stopped
    • Do the FullStackOpen course
      • This one seemed promising, so I tackled this one, basics to React and more, quite comprehensive and thus also long though
      • Got to Part 2 (which is 3rd unit out of 13), but am not focusing on it right now, focus is on my thesis and other projects (as of 27.12.202″)
      • …
    • Learn Flutter
      • Friends have been telling me Flutter is nice, maybe I should check that one out..
      • …
    • Launch a mobile app or web application for the public

Fun and/or “Insane” Goals

  • Go skydiving
  • Go camping and watch the starry night sky
  • Do Van Life (at least 1 month, maybe like in the US)

Events to Attend

  • Attend Illenium Concert
  • Attend a big Illenium show concert in the US

Travel Goals

  • (Countries I’ve already been to: Germany (duh), Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy)
  • Visit Hong Kong (where my parents come from) (August, 2017)
  • Visit Macau (August 2017)
  • Visit Taiwan (August 2017)
  • Visit Spain
    • (San Sebastián) (May 2018)
    • Barcelona
    • Madrid
  • Visit Finland (Helsinki, Lapland,…) (2022)
  • Visit Sweden (Stockholm) (2022)
  • Visit Estonia (Tallinn) (2022)
  • Go on a Europe Interrail Trip (& vlog) (April 13, 2023 – May 17, 2023)
    • Venice, Italy
    • Florence, Italy
    • Genoa, Italy
    • Cinque Terre, Italy
    • Nice, France
    • Monaco
    • Barcelona, Spain
    • Madrid, Spain
    • Valencia, Spain
    • Porto, Portugal
    • Lisbon, Portugal
  • Japan
    • Tokyo
    • Ginzan Onsen
    • …
  • Australia
  • South America
  • South East Asia
  • United States
    • New York
    • Los Angeles
    • San Francisco
    • Silicon Valley
    •  
  • Do a backpacking trip
  • Do a Van Life
  • …any specific recommendations from your side?

Other (also seen in the “Last 5” on top)

  • I continue my path at 180 Degrees Consulting Munich as a Team Manager, developing leadership skills by leading my own team to project success for Ecopals, a young Berlin startup on a mission to sustainable road construction (November 2022)
  • I got to be a guest speaker in a podcast! It was soo much fun! Thanks Elias and Yasin! If you like my content, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the episode! Check out the episode at “In Mindsight” here! (November 2022)
  • I got to volunteer at a leading international startup conference, Slush 2022, in Helsinki, and soak in the atmosphere. Amazing venue design and countless amazing speakers from the startup and venture capital space, and lots of cool people to network with! Also seen many old faces I know from my exchange. Thanks to Valtteri for hosting me! (November 2022)
  • I started an amazing growth journey working at the deep tech startup FERNRIDE based in Munich, best work experience I had so far! (June – December 2022)
    • We experienced serious growth, going from a headcount of 60 when I joined to around 100 people when I left! I got to learn about business development and experience every stage of the sales funnel from discovery to contract, work with talented and experienced people from all over the world, got to coordinate and execute our exhibition at the international trade fair  IAA Transportation in Hannover and be a responsible lead as the only employee being there from start to finish for 9 days straight! 
  • Be one of 9 outstanding students in the Helsinki batch of the pan-Nordic MIMIR Fellows program where we got to discuss with over 30 of the most accomplished people of Finland and beyond (e.g. the former President of the Finnish Innovation Fund, successful founders, venture capitalists, directors in research, academia and government et al) (May 2022)
  • My two teammates and I won a hackathon! At the Showdown Morrow in Helsinki, our challenge was finding ways to mitigate the excessive material waste in veterinary clinics, most of which is due to the single use plastic packages in daily operations. It was a thrill to work out such a well-received result in less than two full days! (May 2022)
  • Go on an adventurous study abroad to Finland at the renowned triple-accredited Hanken School of Economics based in Helsinki. Got to experience many places, events and group activities for the first time. Met many amazing people, immersed myself in the Helsinki startup ecosystem which is pretty impressive. The exchange sure expanded my horizon! (January-May 2022)
  • Completed the Harvard CS50 course! Last problem set was building a web application where users can register, buy/sell stocks. And my Final Project 30.12.2021) (12.09.2021)
  • Working at a gigantic big-name firm, Accenture (around Top 250 companies in terms of revenue), as a New Associate (Implementing Cloud projects) (December 2021)
  • Joined a student consultancy (180DC Munich), it’s such a great community to be part of, I’m proud and grateful! (November 2021)
  • Become European 2nd runner-up and Country Champion (Germany) in the Global Impact Investing Case Competition 2021 with my team (October 2021)
  • E|2|C program graduation of the Campus Founders where I was trained to become a junior (startup) coach . The program is in collaboration with UnternehmeTUM, Uni Stuttgart and HFT Stuttgart. Best part of it all is I met a lot of amazing like-minded people (30.07.2021)
  • Completed the Starting Up online course (entrepreneurship/startup journey from beginning to end) (28.03.2021)
  • Selected for the E|2|C program of the Campus Founders where I am trained to become a junior (startup) coach (18.03.2021)
  • Sparked an interesting conversation with the Finns on Reddit, which then got trending. It was a serious topic about human rights. (03.2021)
  • Get a 1.0 (A+) in Intro to Computer Science -> Top 8% among 350+ students (I was positively shocked) (03.2021)
  • Nominated for abroad studies at the triple-crown business school Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland (02.2021) 
  • Completed Ethics of AI course by University of Helsinki (01.2021)
  • Completed Fundamentals Of Digital Marketing course by Goolge (09.2020)
Projects Overview