Tuesday 19 December 2017

Review of 2017


As per subject title...


Priorities

Systems / Goals

Evaluation

No. 1: Mental and Spiritual Health
Meditate daily
Meditated about 2-3 times a week on average this year. Happy about this.

Practise yoga daily
Practised yoga about 3 times per week for the first 3 quarters of this year. Frequency decreased to about 1-2 times per week in the last quarter due to increased training commitment.

Find meaning in life
Still thinking about this. Finding meaning in life is an ongoing process, I believe.

My thinking now is that life is inherently meaningless, but we can surely add meaning to it. Our time is finite so we should utilise our living moments wisely.

“Life is a daring adventure, or nothing at all!”. I’ve done very “adventurous” activities in my youth and I did not regret doing them. I’ve been less adventourous ever since I started working. I’m determined to not let work get in the way of life.

No. 2: Physical Health
Get enough sleep (at least 7 hours a day)
Averaged about 7 hours of sleep per day. Ideally, it would be 8 hours.

Eat healthily
Really proud of my generally low-carb diet this year! There’s room for improvement with respect to my sweet tooth though.

Be active everyday
Picked up a new sport this year and have been training 3-4 times (1.5-2 hours each session) per week. My speed, strength and reflexes have improved tremendously and I’m feeling fitter and toner than ever!!! This is my top achievement this year!!!

Go for a suitable full-body health screening
Did some basic health tests and also an ECG recently. Based on my family doctor’s advice, I will start going for full-body health screening once every 2 years from age 30 onwards.

No. 3: Relationships
Spend quality time with loved ones
Happy with my relationships with loved ones. Nothing I want to change in this regard J

No. 4: Career
Stay employed for most parts of the year
Employed for 11 months. Took 1 month off in between job-change.

Find a higher-paying job with equally little stress and decent work-life balance
I secured a new job at a new organisation. “Lower” career status but higher pay and closer to home.

Letting go of careerism is not an easy journey… but I’m getting there slowly but surely. Increasingly, I do not desire recognition, promotion or any career bells and whistles. I have determined this year that my job is a job, not a career. I arrive and leave on time, and do my job during office hours. It seems to me that work-life balance is all in the mind and one’s attitude towards work.

No. 5: Finances
Invest at least S$30k in equities by year-end

Achieved.
Increase liquid networth by S$60k by year-end
I increased my liquid networth by S$56k this year, S$4k short of my target.

No. 6: Authenticity
Be more authentic (online and when interacting with others in real life)
I have been more authentic this year and feel really great about this. Reached out to a few like-minded bloggers online (shout-out to ERSG!).

I have also distanced myself from "complainy-pants" friends this year. It really does wonders.  


Other significant milestones and events this year:
- Got engaged to loving partner of many years
- Surpassed the basic retirement sum in my CPF OA and SA



Thursday 5 October 2017

Third Quarter Update for 2017


Update No. 3 for 2017… my progress so far…

Priorities
Systems / Goals
Evaluation
No. 1: Mental and Spiritual Health
Meditate daily
Meditating only about 1-2 times a week. Looking forward to up the frequency to about 2-3 times a week going forward.

Started a daily intentions written journal but only managed to follow through for about a week. Hope to get back on track.

Practise yoga daily
Practising yoga about 3 times a week. Lesser than before because I picked up a new sport which has robbed some time from my yoga practice. Overall, I’m pretty happy with my thrice-weekly yoga practice sessions.

Find meaning in life
I find myself subscribing to epicureanism, seeking to maximise happiness and tranquility and minimise pain. The philosophy is serving me well, and I think I’m doing well (or maybe too well) at optimising the important aspects of my life, such that there’s nothing significant left to be done.

Somehow, it all feels so hollow when most parts of my life are optimised and all that I have to do is play the waiting game until I reach my financial targets (so that I can eliminate the pain of full-time employment for good).

I’m happy but feel somewhat empty. Something is obviously missing. But I don’t know what…

No. 2: Physical Health
Get enough sleep (at least 7 hours a day)
Still getting around 7 hours of sleep per day.

Ideally, I will have at least 8 hours of sleep. Should work on this.

Eat healthily
Gave up on meal-prepping after I was hit by a bout of stomach flu… I suspect it was due to food that had gone bad after having been kept for a couple of days.

Pretty happy with my diet. I’ve been on the low carb diet. Decided that a no-carb diet was too difficult so I adopted the low-carb diet as a compromise.

I still have not tried out fasting. I must really try it once (a full 24h fast) by the end of this year.

Be active everyday
Picked up a new sport recently which involves thrice-weekly intensive training sessions. Body is feeling increasingly fit and BMI is hovering between 20 to 20.5.

I target to decrease BMI hover range to 19.5 to 20 by the end of the year.

Go for a suitable full-body health screening
Went to consult my family doctor about this. Also did some basic health tests there.

She recommended the  types of health screening I could do, but her opinion is that health screening is usually not necessary for those under the age of 30. She recommends that I start going for bi-annual full-body health screenings from age 30 onwards.

No. 3: Relationships
Spend quality time with loved ones
Happy with my relationships with loved ones. Nothing I want to change in this regard. 

No. 4: Career
Stay employed for most parts of the year
Still employed but will be changing jobs soon.

Find a higher-paying job with equally little stress and decent work-life balance
I secured a new job at a new organisation. Higher pay… slightly closer to home…

Will update when I start work. (It will be a challenge to keep an open mind and find some enjoyment in my new job, given my negative attitude towards work... but I shall try.)

No. 5: Finances
Invest at least S$30k in equities by year-end

On track.
Increase liquid networth by S$60k by year-end
On track (so long as I continue to be employed).

No. 6: Authenticity
Be more authentic (online and when interacting with others in real life)

A work in progress. 

Reached out and opened up to a local personal finance blogger recently and our correspondence has been very insightful, to say the least.