“Am I already too late to catch up? Everyone else seems to be ten steps ahead.”
That feeling? It’s not a whisper. It’s a shout in your chest — right behind your ribs, where your breath gets caught when you see another friend launching an AI side hustle on Instagram.
It creeps up in the most random moments. Like you’re at a mamak at 1am, teh tarik in hand, tired but pretending you’re not, and someone across the table goes, “Bro, have you tried integrating Midjourney with Notion? You can auto-generate your whole content calendar.”
And you sit there. Half nodding. Half faking a laugh. Fully thinking:
“Crap. I don’t even know what those words mean together.”
Drowning in the Noise
AI isn’t just fast — it’s relentless. It’s like KL traffic when it rains — chaotic, unpredictable, and nobody really knows what’s going on but everyone’s still moving like they do.
Sometimes I open TikTok or LinkedIn and it’s just one success story after another.
“Built an AI chatbot for RM800 and landed 10 clients in a week.”
“Automated my invoices, social media captions, and birthday wishes to my clients using a single prompt.”
Cool. So cool. Meanwhile, I’m still trying to get ChatGPT to write a decent email without sounding like a robot with a law degree.
The Unspoken Shame
There’s this strange guilt bubbling under the surface. Like, everyone around you seems to be embracing AI like it’s second nature — and you? You’re still trying to figure out where to start.
And it hurts. More than it should. Because deep down, it’s not just about tools or trends. It’s about feeling invisible in your own field. Like your experience, your hard work, your uniquely Malaysian hustle — isn’t enough anymore.
I remember sitting in my room one evening, fan spinning slowly, that sticky PJ heat clinging to everything, and just feeling… flat. Not sad, not panicked. Just stuck. Like my ambition was buffering.
And the worst part? Everyone else looked like they had full bars.
The Real Reason We Freeze
This isn’t just about technology. It’s about identity. About watching everything you’ve built — your workflow, your know-how, your processes — start to look outdated overnight.
It feels like trying to explain to your younger cousin why you still do invoices manually when they’re setting up a whole AI-based CRM during SPM break.
The shift is so fast, it’s almost rude.
But here’s something real: that fear of being left behind? It’s not a weakness. It’s awareness. You care. You see the change. That makes you part of it — whether you feel “ready” or not.
The Truth Underneath the Hype
You wanna know something ridiculous?
A lot of those “ahead of the game” folks? They’re faking it too.
I was on a Zoom call recently — mostly regional folks, a few tech startup types — and this guy starts talking about “transformer architecture” and “multi-modal data layering,” and I swear, everyone just nodded like they understood.
But I caught this one girl’s face in the gallery view — she had the same expression I had:
“Yup, no clue. Let’s pretend and Google it later.”
No one has it all figured out. They’re just less afraid to stumble publicly.
So maybe — just maybe — you’re not behind. You’re just being honest about where you’re at.
If You’re Feeling Lost, Try This:
Forget big strategies. Malaysia-style, okay? Chill a bit. Take a small bite first.
→ What’s annoying you right now in your business or job?
Repetitive WhatsApp replies? Copy-pasting the same quotes to clients? That’s your starting point. Try ONE tool that solves just that. Don’t go full Elon.
→ Limit your learning. Not kidding.
Try 20-minute YouTube videos. Podcasts while you’re stuck in traffic on LDP. Bite-sized. Not overwhelm.
→ Get in a group, lah.
Seriously, find a Facebook group, WhatsApp community, or just a few kaki to bounce ideas off. Being in it together makes the chaos a bit more bearable.
→ Lower your damn expectations.
You don’t have to be an AI consultant. You don’t have to 10x anything. You just have to start playing with it, getting your hands messy. That’s already winning.
The Shift is Already in You
Look — if you’re still reading this, you’re not out of the loop. You are the loop.
You’re watching. Processing. Feeling things deeply. That’s not failure — that’s growth in slow motion. (And not everything has to be fast to be valid.)
Even if you feel like everyone’s sprinting and you’re still lacing up your kasut — your awareness is your head start.
And in this country? With the way things move, adapt, evolve — we know hustle. We know how to pivot when things go sideways (hello, MCO). We survive messy.
So maybe you’re not falling behind. Maybe you’re just brewing something slower, stronger, more you.
The future doesn’t belong to the loudest. It belongs to the bravest. And sometimes bravery looks like showing up, confused, and still trying.
So try. Fall. Ask stupid questions. Reset your expectations. Let AI be your partner, not your enemy. And if you need to step back for a night — go lepak. Recharge.
Because this isn’t a race.
It’s a renaissance.
And you’re not late — you’re just early in your next chapter.
