No Transactions & Happy Chinese New Year — Wk04 2022

 

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

Monthly Net-Worth Update — Jan 2022

Photo by Visual Stories || Micheile on Unsplash

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Hope you all had a great New Year and break. 

Wish Chinese New Year just around the corner, Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Photo by Visual Stories || Micheile on Unsplash

Here is another update on our Net-Worth.

Net-Worth increase from last month: 42K SGD, 0.45KG Gold

The increase was mainly from my freelancer pay from last year and CPF contribution and interests at the end of last year.

Even though much of the increase is attributed to last year, it is a good start for me to hit 40/40 goal. Hope this continues :)

Our portfolio continued to drop. Feeling completely powerless and clueless. Will just hold till it dies or rebounds.

Photo by Mathieu Stern on Unsplash

Investment: -9.84% annualized return, incl. dividend

My portfolio again hit a new low this month.

After a few years of investment, -10% return rate is nothing short of embarrassing and painful.

Maybe I should give it up all together.  

 

Till next time!

I feel my life is wasted

Photo by Freeman Zhou on Unsplash

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

I read a blog post yesterday and it just struck me.

The blog post was written by a lady consultant who spent a few years in Shanghai and a few years in Beijing.

The post was about the difference between the two mega cities in China.

Her observation was so accurate and deep that even I could recognize it, as someone whose life would be totally different from hers.

Thinking about the years I spent in Shanghai, I got feelings about those traits from time to time, but I never really thought about it, let alone summarizing and sharing it.

Thinking back about my experiences then, the reason behind was really whether what I did was following or against those traits.

Photo by zhang kaiyv on Unsplash

It was the same amount of time. How could the gain on insights and growth be so different?

I feel I wasted my life.

Till next time!

My Market Transactions — Wk03 2022

 

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

 

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Transaction for past week: Nil

Had a quite a week at work. 

Till next time!

Life: Tricks make us good at it, in a boring way

`Photo by Vinicius "amnx" Amano on Unsplash

Dear readers,

Thank you for coming here! 

I started to play Pavlov VR Zombie mode online a few weeks ago.

It was challenging in the beginning. But it was fun.

I was kind of hooked with the co-op experience and I was playing almost everyday. 

After a while, I started to learn tricks, either by discovering them myself or observing other people.

I got much better at it…and quickly lost interest.

I have not played the game for the past week.

If I took this experience as a cycle, the best experience for me was when I was hooked, playing and learning new staff every day.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Real world goes the same way.

When we get on a new job, we would be excited, working long hours and learning new staff. While challenging, we feel the fun (maybe only afterwards).

After a while, we get good at it and it becomes so boring.

That is why we need progress in terms of new scope, new title and new challenges.

The same applies to so many other areas, such as marriage, materialistic wants…

Photo by Sarah Dorweiler on Unsplash

People are funny creatures. 

When we are experiencing the best experiences of the cycle, all we want is to get past it.

Thus, the famous saying:

There are only two types of tragedies in life: when our wants are not met and when our wants are met.

Till next time!

Shit…Another Mistake

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here! 

Made another mistake…

Last time I made such a mistake, it cost me the promotion.

I thought I learned.

I was wrong. I over-estimated myself.

I clearly took the easy way out and committed a logical flaw.

More sanity check may have captured it.

Clearly, I did not think it was necessary.

Seeing the huge numbers did not alarm me enough either.

I did not really check with people either and even pushed people away to avoid more work.

This is all wrong.

Even if there was no mistake, what I did is still dangerous.

Photo by Sangga Rima Roman Selia on Unsplash

Maybe I could have handled the after-math better.

For example, I could insist that those were the assumptions made previously.

I could combine the impact with the next round of refinement so that it is less obvious.

….

But it could also lead to the impression that I am over-defensive and not willing to admit mistakes.

Photo by Shane Aldendorff on Unsplash

I did my best to rectify the mistake. 

I need to be extra careful not to make any more mistakes again.

Last time, it cost me my promotion.

This time, it wont because I do not have any promotion to begin with.

But this is something I need to be worried about, being in the reputation business.

Till next time!

My Market Transactions — Wk01 2022

 

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

 

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Transaction for past week: Nil

Really busy with firefighting at work. Hope it will ease next week.

Till next time!

How to avoid professional mistakes?

Photo by Ali Yılmaz on Unsplash

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here! 

When I said towards the end of last year that there was a real possibility to hit my 40/40 target this year, I was making a few assumptions.

One of them was that the bonus would be paid out in Dec/Jan, which is wrong now that I know more about it.

So unless some miracle happens in the stock market, it is going to be hard to hit the target this year.

And judging from now, it does not seem the stock market is going to be too good this year, which may not be a bad thing. 

But yes, the possibility is going to be real next year.

Photo by William Bout on Unsplash

It is one of my problems, reaching conclusion without really thinking it through.

• Simplify things too much to avoid the complexity, missing critical steps and assumptions along the way
• Make assumptions that seemingly makes sense, without proper validation. The bonus schedule is a quick and easy thing to validate

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

The consequence could be very bad.

• Hand in wrong work that could lead to wrong decisions
• Get challenged and need to rework whatever is submitted
• Make promises that are impossible to fulfill
• …

All of this damages my reputation and career potential.

Photo by Neil Thomas on Unsplash

And most of the time, it is not hard to avoid this.

• Follow the right mindset — solid work is the bottom-line
• Do not get lazy
• Lay it out on paper (processes, timelines, assumptions…)
• Think about it a few times more
• Run sanity check from different angles
• Check with people to get a fresh perspective
• …

I need to make myself a checklist so that I go through all those next time. 

Till next time!

“Have fun at work”! How?

Photo by Park Troopers on Unsplash

 

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

During my previous journey as a consultant, I was repeatedly told to have fun at work.

I always thought that was just Partners talking, who were far away from the operational challenges and the resulting emotional and physical drain.

How to have fun when you are working 16–20 hours a day and you still see a huge pile of “To-dos”? 

But I did get a flavor recently.

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

We were doing a project. Part of the requirement was to estimate presence of a particular type of equipment in South East Asia, including Singapore.

We were collecting information from all sorts of sources: paid reports, experts, analysis etc etc

After a week of work, we got a rough idea.

During the weekend, I was taking my family to a park in a cab. 

On the way, I saw a site with a “very similar” type of equipment installed. The logo displaced was also a major manufacturer and installer of the equipment from our research.

I immediately took a picture and sent to the team chat, getting the team to have a quick investigation coming Monday.

And it turned out to be a minor category of application of the equipment that the experts had been ignoring.

While it is almost impossible to pin point the number of such sites, having it in the estimation would make the analysis more complete and credible.

Photo by MI PHAM on Unsplash

I would probably have ignored the site if I was not trying to “have fun”.

All I thought of would be how much work to do coming Monday.

For the site, it could be just something similar, since the expert did not even mention it. 

And the analysis right now seemed ok anyway.

…

Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

It is really critical to have people who could “have fun” during stressful projects.

Unfortunately, those roles are typically played by Partners.

To the team, they may be just talking and getting the team to do more work.

But at the end of the day, they ultimately own the deliverables and would feel the thunder when things go south (They can of course pass down a bit).

So they are under pressure as well. Probably they are used to it or just able to not show it in front of the team.

So if we want to be somewhere, we better start acting like we are there already.

To us all!

My Market Transactions — Wk01 2022

 

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

 

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Happy New Year!

Nothing for the past week.

 

Wouldn't say 2022 had a good start with the stock market. 

But lets see what happens.

It may not be a bad thing for the market to rationalize.

Till next time!

Diff Time, Diff World, Probably Same People

Photo by Philippe Oursel on Unsplash

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

During the holiday period, I did get some time off.

Somehow, my wife decided to go all the way from the West of the Island to the East of the Island for horse riding.

So we spent about 80 dollars on the cab and 20 dollars for the horse riding. 

Did not know we could actually purchase multiple tickets for multiple rounds. But it was nothing compared to what I did in Spain, where I rode the horse and climbed the hill. And the horse was way bigger as well.

The activity was not really aligned with my value systems. But we did have fun.

Photo by Dušan veverkolog on Unsplash

One of the things we saw in the park was chicken.

We saw people stop to take pictures of them, especially the males since their feather were more colorful. My wife took my two sons and followed them as well.

I just felt a bit “Surprised” as chicken would never be pets or rare for me.

I was born in a small village in China and spent considerable portion of my childhood there. Chicken were part of daily lives.

I used to feed chicken, collect eggs and even catch them and tie them so that the adult could kill them later for a nice meal or celebration.

I also protected them when the hens were sitting on their babies, waiting for them to crack.

I also witnessed my Grandma buying those small “yellow” chicks from merchants and bringing them back home to raise them up.

Grandma would make a very warm cage for them and put the cage in doors most of the time (Grandma did take them for some sunshine outside when the weather was good).

Growing up, those chicks would eat cakes made out of mixed grains, those that people would eat when there was not enough flour or rice.

Grandma would chew those cake and then past them on the wall of the cage for the small chicks to eat. I used to eat them as well.

Whenever I looked into the cage, the chicks would walk around and never stop making those “chick chick” sounds. If there were enough of them in one cage, the sound would drove me nuts a bit as they “song” together.

Photo by Thomas Iversen on Unsplash

They were valuable assets for the average farmer families. The hens were the main source of eggs and meat for special occasions. The males were walking “Alarm Clock”.

Therefore, people took good care of them, including protection against their natural enemies, such as weasels, as well as fellow neighbors.

I have seem people marking their chicken with coloring or by cutting their features in a certain way (like hair style).

I could recall very clearly a particular incident involving chicken between the neighbors.

One family lost one of their chickens and the wife suspected their neighbor next door had stolen it (Chicken run around and some could even fly over the wall. They could simply fly over the wall and the neighbor just kept them).

And there was a huge quarrel, loud enough for the whole village to hear.

People gathered for the “show”, giving all sorts of comments without having any proof, which fueled the fight even more.

It was just shocking to me that people would throw away all their kindness and manners over a chicken.

But Chicken were valuable to the families.

Photo by Max Kleinen on Unsplash

Now it would not happen, not in Singapore and not even back in those villages in China.

People here treat them as pets and would give them good lives. And if they are lost, people would promise rewards for their return.

Most villagers in China now have more than enough eggs or meat. They have alarm clocks as well. Their pursue were redirected to big houses, nice cars and the numbers in their bank account long ago.

Different time and world now. 

The same people would just behave differently.

At the beginning of 2022, I just would like to remind my readers and myself that we are living in the best time of human kind, even with all our “frustrations”, “bad luck”, “failures”, “depression”…

So enjoy, make the best out of it and if possible, make it better for our children and theirs.

Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me, and the entire human race

Photo by Perry Merrity II on Unsplash

Till next time!

My son is so clear!! Weren’t we all?

Photo by 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

My son is so clever that he never ceases to amaze me.

When he was very little, I used to sing to him to put him to sleep (My way of practicing Karaoke). 

And there was this time when I just started to sing, my son completed the rest of the sentence.

That totally took me by surprise. 

I was looking for where the sound came from and wondering whether I left my phone playing. 

When I could not locate the source of the sound, I sang again and again my son completed the sentence. Only then I realized it could have come from the little thing on my shoulder.

So I sang again and he again completed the sentence. And I was sure.

I felt so much love for him at that moment.

Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash

Fast forward to last week.

On our way back from his piano class, he told me he had given my number to his good friend in pre-school, because his friend would not come to school before year end, and he wanted to stay in touch with him.

I was again surprised.

I recently had a new number and I never told him the number.

So I asked how he knew my number.

So he said that I was telling my new number to my wife and he overheard it.

So I asked him to repeat the number.

Not surprisingly, he got it wrong.

The 3rd and 4th digits were wrong. The rest were correct.

When I told him he was wrong, he immediately started verifying where he was wrong:

• Is “xxxx” correct? — He was referring to the last 4 digits. He was correct.
• Is “xx” correct? — He was referring to the first 2 digits. He was correct.
• Is “xx” correct? — Lastly, he was referring to the 3rd and 4th digits.

So I told him that was called “Divide and Conquer” — breaking down problems and tackling one piece at a time.

And I asked him why he verified with such sequence. 

He told me because he was very sure about the last 4 digits, sure about the first 2 and not sure about the middle 2.

Guys, he can make a fantastic problem solver or what!

Photo by Amos Bar-Zeev on Unsplash

After praising him and again feeling so much love for him, I realized I was clever like him as well when I was little.

Math, singing, dancing, poem..you name it.

And then it came to me “Weren’t we all?”

We were all “clever” and surprised others in some areas. 

But we feel it less and less when we grow up.

Education system could be part of the reason.

The fact that we have to deal with more complex problems could be another.

The culture, social dynamics etc could be another.

…

The list goes on.

And we change by learning certain things and giving up some others. We call it growing up.

But maybe we should hold on to that thing which we do without realizing it and we surprise others with it.

Maybe growing up can wait as well, like so many other things.

 

Till next time!

My Market Transactions — Wk53 2021

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

 

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Happy New Year!

Nothing for the past week.

 

Did not even look at the portfolio.

 

Looking forward to the new year!