Hi guys! Happy weekend!
Tonight, I want to drop something that has been occupying my mind for the last couple of months. It's about how we balance our dreams. How we keep our thinking, our ambitions, our way of seeing the world so global, so big, so far-reaching while staying simple, humble, and grounded in our behavior, just like the local people around us.
I call it: think global, behave local.
Let me give you context.
I am a person who loves learning anything. Literally anything. Engineering, financial management, literature, health science, how to keep my body healthy, how to build an ethical business, everything. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I actually know. And that feeling is addictive. It makes you want to learn even more. It’s a beautiful loop.
A few months ago, I joined a Trial Class for a Master’s in Management from Universitas Ciputra. It was online. Two hours on Zoom plus self-paced learning on their LMS to get a certificate. Alhamdulillah, although it was just a trial, but the way it shifted my mindset was real.
During the Zoom, the lecturer explained how to start a business that is both ethical and profitable. It was not just theory. It was about values, sustainability, long-term impact, stakeholder thinking. The atmosphere felt like a real graduate class. Students and lecturers exchanging ideas, not just listening. It was similar to my undergraduate experience, but deeper, more mature.
For two hours, my brain was in the future. I was thinking about vision, mission, global markets, insights, innovation, what will happen in 5, 10, 20, even 39 years from now. My dopamine was high. I love that feeling. That feeling of being a visionary.
Then the Zoom ended.
I took off my headset. And because I live in a village, right at that moment there was a hajatan in another village I think. A Javanese celebration. I could hear Javanese songs playing from the sound system.
It was a 180-degree shift.
Two minutes ago I was a global citizen thinking about international business ethics. Now I was just a Javanese kid, listening to a song my ancestors listened to. My soul instantly landed. I didn’t want to think about the future anymore. I just wanted to enjoy that moment. To sit, to listen, to feel the ground. We call it "napak tanah" or feet touching the earth.
And that’s when I understood.
My whole life, I have been trying to find balance. Last time I wrote about "be responsible as an adult, yet be happy like a kid." This is another version of the same search for balance.
I know who I am. I love heavy thinking. I love innovation. I love asking, "Where will the world be in 2039? What should I build now so it will still be relevant then?" I love new insights that make my brain buzz.
But personally, I never want to lose my locality. I am Javanese. And being Javanese is not just about language. It’s about unggah-ungguh or manners, ethics, knowing how to speak to elders, how to sit, how to walk through a crowded without being arrogant. It’s about understanding the philosophy: ojo dumeh, ojo kagetan, ojo gumunan.
It means don’t be arrogant because you know something, don’t be easily shocked, don’t be easily amazed. It’s about adat istiadat, about knowing that you are small in a long line of ancestors.
My brain can fly to Silicon Valley, but my feet must stay in the soil of Java.
I think we all get this wrong.
The first extreme is we think so local that we are afraid to think global. "I’m just a village kid, what can I do?" We often limit our dreams to the size of our village.
The second extreme is we think so global that we forget how to behave locally. We talk with high-level English jargon, we look down on tradition, we think tradition is outdated, we think unggah-ungguh is not efficient. We become smart but rootless. Like a tree with many leaves but no roots. Strong wind comes, we fall. 🙂
I don’t want to be like that, truly. :)
I want to be a person whose mind can travel around the world but whose hands still know how to say "nyuwun sewu" or "monggo" to others. A person who can discuss AI and nuclear energy and financial models, but also knows how to sit cross-legged on the farm or floor and enjoy the moment while drinking a cup of tea without needing to think heavily.
At 29, Alhamdulillah, I think I have found the method, although honestly I don’t fully understand it yet. And maybe I never will fully understand, and that’s okay. 😅
Here is what works for me so far:
1. Let your input be global, but your output be local
Read books from Harvard, watch MIT lectures, learn from global CEOs. But when you speak to your mother, to your neighbor, use their language. Use empathy. Don’t show off your knowledge. Knowledge is for serving, not for showing off.
2. Use technology for expansion, use tradition for grounding.
Zoom, LMS, AI, internet, I use them to expand my mind. Javanese music, modest life style, I use them to ground my heart. One expands, one anchors. You need both to stay balanced.
3. Have a vision for 20 years, but have gratitude for today.
My visionary side loves to plan 2045. But my local side reminds me: today there is sun, there is rice, there is a song, there are parents laughing happily. If you can’t enjoy today, what’s the point of planning 20 years?
So yeah, that’s my reflection tonight. Thinking global is about ambition. Behaving local is about character.
Ambition without character makes us arrogant. Character without ambition makes us stuck.
I want both. A big dream, but low knees, ready to bow, ready to learn, ready to napak tanah.
So, let's balance our global dreams with our local life! ✨
