Three Questions
1. What went well this year?
2. What didn't go so well this year?
3. What am I working towards?
What Went Well This Year?
Work Experience. Had the opportunity of a lifetime to be part of a project in China and stayed there for close to 8 months. It opened up my eyes to the world and I spent a part of my time travelling to see the different cities with my colleagues. It left an indelible mark on me to make it a point to travel and experience the beauty this world has to offer. I realized I had such a micro view of the world in the past (yes I did travel, but was not really impacted by those trips) and all I was concentrating on while living in Singapore was to grow my savings rate (which limited me to the options I can have).
I learnt how to YOLO a little and not be too tight arsed on how my money was spent. (Well, the compensation received played a huge part in this too). Experienced a different culture and mindset and it was is so refreshing.
With this, I was also blessed to be in charge of a segment of the project, something that allowed me to learn about project management as well as grow my skills. At least now I can say I know something.
Grateful for the project manager who was supportive of the things I wanted to learn, and giving me space to pick up the skills. At the same time, the seniors who were so ever willing to teach and not grumble when I approached them. This was such a dream team and a breakthrough for my career.
Books. I set up a reading challenge through Goodreads to reach 35 books this year. Fell short of it and managed only 27 books. Still, it was great. I have subtlely (if ever there is this word) opened up my eyes to this world and it is always great to learn from others. To ever learn something about a person, read the books they write because reading is so different from listening.
Most impacted book definitely would be The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis. I realized as I read this that I have always been curious about behavioural economics/science. Or in short, why people make decisions and how they decide on why they want to make it. This book was like the Bible that opened up my eyes. It led me to read other fantastic books like Predictably Irrational, Emotional Intelligence, Influence and Never Split The Difference (all similar yet different).
I'm currently reading Robert B Cialdini's Pre-Suasion.
For me, such books make me aware of techniques people use in their daily interactions or how they handle situations and it helps me to be aware of cognitive biasness. Oh, and it helps me in my interactions, since I am not much of a talker myself.
Finance - Investing, Savings, Tracking.
Investing - Suffered capital losses on paper, but I'm in this for the long run. Waiting for the market to dip further with all the uncertainties before purchasing more. Yes, capital losses are not fun, but I have increased my dividends by about four times in the coming year with my capital injection. And learn from how I can execute future stock purchases. I've hit my initial goal of $50/month dividends this year, and moving on to next year, I intend to have on average $200/month.
Savings - With the blessing I had from the work opportunity, my savings account more than doubled this year. I'm hoping for more of such goodies. Coupled with the frugal mindset, so so important.
Tracking - Expenses/Investing. Have been using Google Sheets to track my spending/investment/networth growth for 2 to 3 years. Was lazy to work on it, but what was good was that I fined tuned certain parts of it from time to time when I felt the need to and had the inspiration. Over the past couple of days, I finally consolidated them into an excel (which has increased capabilities) and I am excited to continue work on this. With this, I will work on charts. Google Sheets will still be my main platform to track expenses, but detailed investment purchases and analysis will be handled by Excel form now on. I'm excited.
Continuous Learning. Am in the midst of taking a cert in Big Data Management. I realised I love systems. Though the teachings are not in-depth and coupled with my commitment to the overseas project, my learning has really been minimal. But still its good to grow the knowledge at almost free of charge with the skills future credit available. I'll continue to explore more from my Alma Mata university for my next learning journey.
On Friendship/Relationships. I've made the decision to cut off certain relationships. This was a huge part of my life for the past 10 years, but I've never really felt like I fitted in. They are very nice people with great heart. I'm happy now that I do not have to provide 'fake smiles and small talks'. Don't know if I will regret this, but at least I'm so much happier now.
Newcastle United. Nothing exciting about the team under mike ashley's management. Benitez is doing an excellent job stabilizing the team. The only highlight here would be the sight of a real Magpie when I was climbing a part of the great wall in Tianjin. So happy that day.
Cheap Thrill: Will enjoy Business Class flight back to SG on 30th with company footing the bill. Enjoy life without paying for it.
Lastly, to anyone who is reading this out there, feel free to approach me for any thing you might want to know about China.
I'll leave the other 2 questions for another day.
Ciao.
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