A warning: This post is going to be lengthy and full of text. Feel free to stop at anytime to take a break and pick up where you left off. I will try to to break this into sections to make it easier.

This sheet lists all my holdings in detail and shows

• Ticker. You have to input this cell manually
• Name of the company.
• Number of shares and the cost basis
• Current price
• Today’s Change in price (in $ and %)
• Total Gain/ Loss (in $ and %)
• Annual Dividend, Dividend Yield & Yield on Cost
• Account that purchases the stock
• Sectors and Assets Type
• Allocation of the stocks in proportion to the whole portfolio
• Real time currency conversion based on USD

The Layout

You should create your stock portfolio overview in a new sheet and it can look however you want it to look. Personally, I lay out my cells in the following way.

In this page, I only need to input

• Cash available in each account,
• Ticker symbol the first time the stock is purchased
• Account that first time purchases the said stock.
• 1 of 6 Currency available (converted from USD)

Everything else will automatically be populated by the spreadsheet.

A note about the currency conversion. All currency is converted from USD, so based on the currency chosen, every information in this page will be in the selected currency.

This is particularly useful when you are investing in the U.S stock market but your capital is from a different currency, like me.

Key Info Section

I put my cash balance and, total gain/ loss, annual dividend and income on the top of the sheet because you don’t want to scroll all the way down just to find key information about your portfolio.

Now for the header of the portfolio section, I include horizontally:

1. Name of the company
2. # of shares
3. Cost Basis
4. Total Cost Basis
5. Current Price
6. Today’s Change (in $ and %)
7. Gain/ Loss (in $ and %)
8. Total Gain/ Loss for that stock
9. Annual Dividend Income per share
10. Dividend Yield
11. Total Annual Income of the Dividend
12. Assets Type
13. Sector
14. Account that purchases the stock
15. % allocation to the portfolio for the stock

Since I am using screen shot, I am sorry for the quality of the picture but here goes:

The Formula

The Basic

A lot of the formula that I used is just designating the right cells for the formula to refer to in the equation, thus a basic understanding of how Google Sheets’ formula works will help in understanding the rest of this post.

=sumifs

A formula that tells the spreadsheet to sum specified cells IF a number of criteria is found.

‘Sheet name’!A1

The cell will go to sheet “Sheet name” and refer to that sheet’s cell A1

Name of the company

=googlefinance(B16,”name”).

B16 is the cell for the ticker that you want the spreadsheet to refer to when fetching the name. For example, if you put “AAPL” in B16, then this cell will refer to “AAPL” and produce “Apple Computers Inc.”

# of shares

=SUMIFS(‘Trade Log’!$E$1:’Trade Log’!$E$1000,’Trade Log’!$C$1:’Trade Log’!$C$1000,B16,’Trade Log’!$B$1:’Trade Log’!$B$1000,”Buy”,’Trade Log’!$D$1:’Trade Log’!$D$1000,W16)-(sumifs(‘Trade Log’!$E$1:’Trade Log’!$E$1000,’Trade Log’!$C$1:’Trade Log’!$C$1000,B16,’Trade Log’!$B$1:’Trade Log’!$B$1000,”Sell”,’Trade Log’!$D$1:’Trade Log’!$D$1000,W16))

‘Trade Log’!$E$1:‘Trade Log’!$E$1000 = Column E1 to E1000 of the Trade Log sheet where you input # of shares bought or sold

‘Trade Log’!$C$1:’Trade Log’!$C$1000 = Column C1 to C1000 of the Trade Log Sheet which is the column where you input your ticker symbol

B16 = The cell where you input the ticker symbol for the stock in the equation

‘Trade Log’!$B$1:’Trade Log’!$B$1000, “Buy” = Column B1 to B1000 of the Trade Log Sheet which is the column where you input the action relevant to the stock. In this case, you are telling the cell to refer to column B of the Trade Log Sheet to search for action “Buy”

‘Trade Log’!$D$1:’Trade Log’!$D$1000 = Column D1 to D1000 of the Trade Log Sheet which is the column where you input the account that holds the stock

W16 = The cell where you input the Account Name for the stock in the equation

Essentially, with this formula, you are telling the cell to look in the Trade Log Sheet for the ticker symbol (B16) and the Account Name (W16) that has the action “Buy” (Column B in the Trade Log Sheet) and deduct amount by the same ticker symbol and Account Name that has the action “Sell”, giving you the final amount of shares that you own.

Cost Basis

=((SUMIFS(‘Trade Log’!$H$1:’Trade Log’!$H$1399,’Trade Log’!$C$1:’Trade Log’!$C$1399,B16,’Trade Log’!$B$1:’Trade Log’!$B$1399,”Buy”,’Trade Log’!$D$1:’Trade Log’!$D$1399,W16))/(SUMIFS(‘Trade Log’!$E$1:’Trade Log’!$E$1116,’Trade Log’!$C$1:’Trade Log’!$C$1116,B16,’Trade Log’!$B$1:’Trade Log’!B$1116,”Buy”,’Trade Log’!$D$1:’Trade Log’!$D$1399,W16)))*$F$6

‘Trade Log’!$H$1:’Trade Log’!$H$1399 = Column H1 to H1399 of the Trade Log which is the column for the total price of the stock purchased/ sold.

If you follow along the explanations above, essentially this lengthy formula is telling the spreadsheet to sum up the total purchase price for a stock divided by the number of shares purchased (which the formula will validate from action “Buy”) giving us the average cost basis. We then multiply this number by the currency exchange rate (which the formula will find from cell F6)

Don’t worry about the currency exchange formula, as it will be explained in future posts.

Current Price

=GOOGLEFINANCE(B16, “Price”)*$F$6

Again B16 is the cell that has the ticker symbol we want the equation to look for

F6 is the currency exchange rate

Today’s Change (in $ and %) & Today’s Change Total

=googlefinance (B13, “change”)

This formula will return today’s change in $ of the stock ticker in cell B13

=googlefinance (B13, “changepct”)/100

By default, Google Sheets will returns this formula as an absolute value, for example 1% will become 100, so I divided by 100 to get the right value.

You would then go to Menu > Format > Number > Percent to get 1%

In order for you to get your Today’s Change Total, simply multiply the cell for Today’s Change (in $) with the cell for # of Shares

Gain/ Loss (in $ and %)

To get your gain/ loss of the stock,

=(Current Price Cell) – (Cost Basis Cell)

and to get the %

=(Current Price Cell) – (Cost Basis Cell)/ (Cost Basis Cell)

and to get the total gain/ loss for that stock, just multiply the cell for gain/ loss (in $) with the cell for # of Shares

Annual Dividend

Brace yourself, this will be one of the lengthiest section of this post. Here goes:

=iferror(iferror(if(B16=””,””,split(index(importhtml(CONCATENATE(“https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=”,B16,””),”table”,9),7,2),”*”)),if(isblank(B16),,GETDIVIDEND2(B16,$N$9)))*$F$6,”-“)

B16 = The cell where you input the ticker symbol for the stock in the equation

N9 = The cell where you input your IEX Token Key

F6 is the currency exchange rate

With this formula, you are telling the spreadsheet to find the dividend yield from finviz.com (don’t worry about the table 9, 7, 2. That’s simply where the dividend yield information is located in finviz.com)

The iferror formula is telling the spreadsheet that IF the spreadsheet generates an error return when trying to get the information from finviz, it will switch to another formula where it will get the information from IEX Cloud. IF that also generates an error, then the cell will show “-“.

The formula to get the dividend yield from finviz.com is

=iferror(if(B16=””,””,split(index(importhtml(CONCATENATE(“https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=”,B16,””),”table”,9),7,2),”*”)),”-“)

The back up formula is

=if(isblank(B16),,GETDIVIDEND2(B16,$N$9))

This is not a Google Sheets formula but a script that you need to create in Google Sheets. A custom formula so to speak.

In order to create this custom formula, you need to go to Menu > Tools > Script Editor like so:

You will then see a new screen like so

On the right side is where you are going to insert the code. Just copy and paste from this link, click save, name your code whatever you want and your formula is good to go.

Dividend Yield & Annual Income

To get your dividend yield, you need to input into the cell

= (Annual Dividend Cell) / (Current Price Cell)

To get your annual income from that stock, you would use

= (Annual Dividend Cell) x (# of Shares Cell)

And that’s it. You have just finished creating your Stock Portfolio Overview Sheet.

Pat yourself in the back, because this was a long tutorial and you have made it to the end.

As usual, leave a comment or hit me up if you have an suggestions on how you think I can do better or to show how you create your Trade Log.

If you can’t wait and you want to get your hands on the final product as soon as possible, this template is available to purchase from Gumroad.

Also, don’t forget, when you use my referral links, you will be able to claim your free stocks from Robinhood and WeBull. You will help support this blog and I’ll jump and click my heel in gratitude.

The trade log functions as the database for your tracker because this is where the spreadsheet will get most of its data to populate your other sheets.

I lay out my trade log like so.

• Date
• Action (Buy/ Sell)
• Ticker
• Account that purchase the stock
• Shares bought
• Price of shares
• Commission/ Adjustment
• Total Price
• Note

No need to go fancy because this is where you will manually input your transactions. In fact, it should be as simple as possible so that you can manually input each transaction as efficient as possible.

Action

For “Action”, I include the options Buy or Sell because later on I will use a nested argument in my “Stock Portfolio Overview” sheet (Don’t worry about it for now)

Commission/ Adjustment

I have this column because my broker used to charge me per transaction and I would like to include my transaction fee in my cost basis.

Now that most brokers offer free transaction fee, I leave this column in for adjustment. Sometimes when you enroll in DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Program), the brokers will use 4 decimal points in their price for the shares reinvested but round up the total price to 2 decimal points which create a discrepancy in the cost basis between your sheet and their record. For example:

If I don’t include the $0.01 in the first row for SCHD, my purchase price for that transaction will be $8.96, however in my TD Ameritrade account, it shows my purchase price for the transaction to be $8.97, and so I have to add the penny.

You don’t have to do this, but I am a little OCD about having as close cost basis as possible to the data in my brokerage. If you don’t have this column, your cost basis will probably only differs around a few pennies with your broker’s.

Total Price

For the total price column just use the formula

=IF(B2=”Buy”,(E2*F2)+G2,(E2*F2)-G2)

B = Action Column

E = # of Shares Column

F = Price of shares column

G = Commission/ Adjustment Column

By inputting this formula, you are telling the cell

if B2 shows “Buy”, then (# of Shares) x (Price of Shares) + (Adjustment).

if B2 shows anything other than “Buy”, then (# of Shares) x (Price of Shares) – (Adjustment).

You don’t have to use the IF formula, but it comes in handy if you have a broker that charges you different rate whether you are buying or selling shares.

In the next post, I will show you how to create a Stock Portfolio Overview sheet that pulls data from the Trade Log that we have created.

As usual, leave a comment or hit me up if you have an suggestions on how you think I can do better or to show how you create your Trade Log.

If you can’t wait and you want to get your hands on the final product as soon as possible, this template is available to purchase from Gumroad.

Also, don’t forget, when you use my referral links, you will be able to claim your free stocks from Robinhood and WeBull.

Update #1: Continue to Part 3 (“Creating a Stock Portfolio Overview”) HERE!

In this post, I will show you how I use Google Sheets to create an automated portfolio tracker that requires minimal input from the user.

I am planning for this post to be a series where I will break down the features of my spreadsheet in different posts and show you how you can create one of your own from scratch.

Why Have More than 1 Account?

Free stocks, that’s why.

In the past few years, investment brokers are starting to offer free stocks whenever you sign up with them and I am never one to pass up on free money/ assets.

For example, for the month of October, when you sign up for an account on WeBull using the link below and deposit $100, you will get 2 free stocks valued up to $1,600. Even if you ended up not buying any stocks and withdraw the $100, you still get to own the 2 free stocks

You will then repeat this process with Robinhood, where you can get a free stock when you use the link below.

So, in about 15 minutes worth of work, you just get 3 free stocks with virtually no capital.

Different Account Serves Different Purpose

Another reason is because you may have a tax advantaged account, retirement account and a regular tax-able portfolio account.

Just from the above reasons, if you are like me, you are going to already have at least 4 accounts which may belong to different brokerages.

Spreadsheet to the Rescue!

Anybody that knows me knows that I am a huge spreadsheet nerd. So, when I couldn’t find a portfolio tracker that ticks all the boxes like I need it, I decided to create my own using Microsoft Excel at first and later, Google Sheets.

I knew when I started my portfolio tracker, I wanted:

• Low maintenance (preferably once a month or once a quarter) and requires minimal input
• Cost Basis for my stocks after DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Program)
• Number of shares after DRIP
• Dividend Tracking
• Deposit/ Capital Tracking
• The ability to access the spreadsheet anywhere

Portfolio Dashboard

The first page in my spreadsheet is my portfolio dashboard where I can see key information of my portfolio in a glance:

• Portfolio Value and total gain/ loss
• Cash available to purchase securities
• Average dividend yield of the portfolio and the yield on cost
• Annual income from dividend

I also included key charts and graphs because I like colorful things and charts and graphs allow a different visual perspective of my portfolio.

Charts and graphs include:

• Holdings by sectors
• Holdings by companies
• Monthly dividend income year to year

There is absolutely nothing that I need to input in this sheet and this sheet is strictly for aesthetic value and when I just need to look at key infos.

Capital

The next sheet is the capital page and where I keep track of how much I have invested into the accounts.

Every time I inject more capital into my portfolio, this page is where I record the entry, whether or not I purchase anything with said cash

Stock Portfolio Overview

This sheet lists all my portfolio values and holdings in detail and shows

• Ticker
• Number of shares and the cost basis
• Current price
• Today Change in price (in $ and %)
• Total Gain/ Loss (in $ and %)
• Annual Dividend, Dividend Yield & Yield on Cost
• Account that purchases the stock
• Sectors and Assets Type
• Allocation of the stocks in proportion to the whole portfolio
• Real time currency conversion based on USD

In this page, I only need to input cash available in each account, the ticker symbol the first time the stock is purchased and the account that purchases the said stock. Everything else will automatically be populated by the spreadsheet.

Lately I have been having problems with Google Sheets’ function to fetch the dividend information, as it keeps on timing out and returning “#N/A” result or errors. To tackle this, I set up 2 back-up functions using add-ons and iex token (which I will elaborate more on how to set up in my next posts).

Essentially when Google Sheets’ function returns an error, the spreadsheet will automatically fetch the dividend information using the iex token method or the “IMPORTFROMWEB” add-on method

I also included a real time currency converter in this page so based on the currency chosen (converted based on USD), every information in this page will be in the selected currency.

In the near future, I’m planning to make the cash part to be populated automatically by the spreadsheet based on the information from the capital sheet

Trade Log

This sheet records all trade transactions that I have done and will automatically update all the information in the stock portfolio sheet.

Every month, I recorded all the reinvested dividend, stock purchase or sales and my cost basis and number of shares will be updated automatically.

Dividend Overview

This sheet is where I keep track of everything dividend in my portfolio.

• How much dividend I earn by sector
• How much dividend I earn every month year to year
• How much dividend I earn by account

Of course I included charts.

I do have to input the monthly dividend manually because I set up my portfolio to reinvest its dividend but my plan is in the near future, even this will be automated based on the information from the trade log sheet.

Future Updates

I constantly update this spreadsheet based on my needs and suggestions from people that use this tracker.

For now, I am planning to include the following in the future updates:

• Automated available cash information
• Automated monthly dividend earned information
• Notifications via email when certain cells (e.g stock price, gain/ loss %) reach a value that interests the user
• Options contracts

Where Can You Get This Spreadsheet?

Like I mentioned above, I mean to create a series of posts where I will explain in detail how you can DIY this spreadsheet from scratch and this first post is just meant to be a walkthrough of what I am using

But, if you can’t wait or the DIY road is not something that you are interested in, this spreadsheet is also available for purchase via Gumroad.

Also, don’t forget, when you use these links, you will be able to claim your free stocks

As usual, leave a comment or hit me up if you have an suggestions on how you think I can do better.

Update #1: Continue to Part 2 (“Creating a Trade Log”) HERE!

The kid is asleep, dishes are put away and you have ticked off the final to-do on your to-do list.

You finally have some time for yourself.

Now, what do you do with this time before you are ready to go to bed?

In this post, I want to share with you 3 questions I ask myself almost every night when I finally have time for myself.

1. Did I do something that makes me learn today?
2. Did I do something that makes me healthier today?
3. Did I work on a hobby/ task that helps me create today?

I know, at this point you are thinking “Oh heck no, this post is a clickbait” and you have probably heard these 3 questions before. But before you click the back button and call me a no-good-lying-sack-of-red-beans, please bear with me and let me try to explain to you why these 3 questions deserve your reflection every day.

1. Did I Do Something That Makes Me Learn Today?

I am not asking if you learn something new today, but did you actively tried to learn something today. This can be as simple as reading a book for 5 minutes in the morning, or watching a 7 minutes tutorial YouTube instead of the news.

There is a boatload of research (which I could link, but you are most likely not going to click on) that links dopamine (that chemical in your brain that stimulates happiness) to learning in children and grown adults among other benefits.

Proactively trying to learn something everyday make you able to relate to more people because there are more topics you can talk about. It helps you learn new things faster in the future because your brain, like a muscle is better conditioned to absorb new information.

For me, I have been trying to read a book as I drink my breakfast and coffee in the morning (I wake up before my wife and kid). On days where my eyes are just about 3 Watt (very dim) in the morning, I watched tutorial on YouTube for Filmora Video Editing.

2. Did I Do Something That Makes Me Healthier Today?

For this, it’s simpler said than done. But did you order the salad instead of the burger? Did you buy the skimmed milk instead of the full cream?

I am not saying that you should suddenly become a vegetarian, just a small change in behavior to kickstart what hopefully will become a good habit. If you usually order a large soda with your lunch, maybe this time order a medium.

For the longest time, I can honestly say my answer to this question is a “NO!” Like I said in my last post, I used to wake up with shoulder and neck pain due to bad posture. I got sick easily because I don’t watch my diet.

Starting October of last year, I started a smoothie breakfast diet every day and I noticed I rarely get sick. Granted, I was lazy to prepare breakfast and it was not because of a specific health choice.

But the smoothie diet snowballs into more healthy decisions. Starting 6 months ago, I started running because I have more energy. Running everyday boosts my energy level even more.

When your body is healthy, the world just seems that more colorful, you are less cranky and your body just feels…stable.

3. Did I Work On a Hobby/ Task That Helps Me Create, Today?

Now this is a tricky one. Where the first question deals with your intelligence and the second questions deals with your physical health, creativity does wonder for your heart and soul.

When you create something out of nothing, you feel pride, you feel better about yourself. Again, I am not saying that you should be the modern day Leonardo Da Vinci, but work on small things that help you create everyday.

If you always wanted to learn graphic designing, sharpen your pencil and put it on your desk today. Tomorrow, use that pencil to draw a line. The next, draw another line. Whatever it is, as long as it helps you create something everyday. Baby steps is fine, baby steps is great. That’s how everything starts.

During the COVID-19 lock down in May, my business couldn’t operate because of government regulation, so I decided that I wanted to paint my PC case. I finally finished painting 3 panels in 75 days. Not because I picked a hard design or my PC is full of corners and crooks (the panels are flat metal plate in case you are wondering), but because of baby steps.

There are days when I spent 5 minutes picking the colors that I want. Another day when I browsed the internet looking for design for 30 minutes.

At the end of the 75 days, I have PC panels that probably look better before I painted it. But, it is my PC panel. It is my work. I created the shapes and color that people see when they look at my PC.

Now, It’s Your Turn.

There. Hopefully I changed your mind regarding this post as a clickbait. I know how it feels when somebody show you a result of their work without knowing how they achieve it (washboard abs, 30 minutes animation video, a 300 pages book). But everybody starts somewhere and most of the time they started small and simple.

If you find that your answers to the above questions are “No,” don’t beat yourself up. Your situation is not the same with mine or other people. There will be days when you just can’t find the time to create something, learn something or eat healthy. Do not give up, keep fighting that uphill battle until you get at least 1 “Yes” out of 3, the rest will take care of itself.

The point is for us to continuously work on it everyday that one day we can look back and see we have made a mountain out of a molehill and that…feels empowering indeed.

But, until that day,

Try.

You promised yourself to wake up at 5 am to go running in the beginning of this year when you made the resolution to be healthier.

6 alarm snoozes from 4 different alarms later, you finally got out of bed and you are back to your old habit: same waking up time, washing your face and brushing your teeth to get ready for work.

Well, after intensive and rigorous research, I finally cracked the solution…if you can’t wake up to run, then run when you are already awake!

Brilliant and eye-opening, is it not?

Overwhelming? maybe, but don’t worry, in this post I will explain to you my process, my reasoning and why night time running is the best idea since sliced bread for you to get healthier.

Why Nighttime Running Works

1. Things Slow Down at Night.

Usually around 8:30 – 9 pm my kid is already asleep. If I were to run in the morning, I will be outside thinking “Is Mason awake yet?” every few minutes.

Night time is when things slow down and there are less things that require your attention.

2. If you can’t Wake Up to Run, Run When you are already Awake.

If you are like me, being able to wake up should already be an achievement. I am so lazy in the morning, that I literally blend my breakfast so I don’t have to chew it (I even post my recipe here). Morning jogging is just not going to work for me.

3. A Chance for you to Unwind and Reflect on the Day.

Exercising and unwinding may not the be the words that you think should go hand in hand, but running can help you de-stress.

I look forward to my running session because it feels almost meditative, a chance for me to think about my day, problems that I haven’t had a solution for yet. Yes, your body will feel tired, but your head feel clearer after a run

Why I Start Running at Night

I read a book by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, where he outlines that even dealing in corporate business, you have to have a “Heart of a Hustler.” Despite the sound of it, what this simply means is that it is not enough for you to want to work hard and be successful.

You have to commit to lifestyle choices that allow you to have the energy, focus and stamina to actually do the work and the way for you to do that is to prioritize leading a clean lifestyle and proactively try to preserve your body. The best way you can do that is through eating right and working out.

Jackson, 2020

Despite what you think about his public persona, if a guy is pushing 50, looks like Curtis Jackson and have the success that he has, he might be on to something.

At that point, I had been having shoulder and neck ache almost daily due to bad posture. There were days where I couldn’t even turn my neck 45 degrees to the side and my fingers feel numb and tingling (The chiropractor says that because of my posture, there were nerves that are pinched around my shoulder cuff area which leads to the numbness)

It was the quote above that made me really think about my health at the time. I do not doubt my work ethic and willpower when it comes to business but I do not think I will be able to maintain if I wake up in pain everyday at my age.

The Beginning

Admittedly, in the beginning it was difficult to get used to running at night because I am used to unwinding in front of my laptop or iPad after 8:30 pm. I had to keep reminding myself that my day is not over until I ran.

There are days when I don’t feel like running. On those days, I tell myself that I will just go out for a walk. Usually after walking a distance from my house, my body just go into “might as well make the best of it” mode.

The point is not to be too hard on yourself, a short run is still better than no run. A walk is still better than sitting on the sofa in front of the TV for the rest of the night.

If you ran for half a mile today, great, if you walk for a quarter mile tomorrow, that’s fine. Just get in the habit of walking out the door to exercise. Before you know it, even when you are not motivated, you will fall into the habit of running just because it is a routine.

One hack that I used is the “2-Days Rule.” Allow yourself a break or a cheat day, but do not go 2 days without running (hence the 2-days rule). You can learn more about this rule from Matt D’Avella’s YouTube Video here.

The Result

As of the time of this post, I have been running an average of 3 km (or 1.86 miles for my imperial system using friends) everyday, which I plan to increase gradually.

I wish I can tell you that it has been life changing and I feel drastic improvements. I don’t, but what I do notice are

• No more shoulder & neck pain. There are still days when I feel a little pain, but in general it has been very manageable.
• Weight loss. This was not my primary motivation, but I noticed a significant weight loss (3 kg) without changing my diet the first month I started running.
• Much better energy level. I cut down my caffeine intake from 7 – 9 cups of coffee a day to 2 – 3 cups a day just because I feel more energy throughout the day.
• More healthy decisions. Running leads me to drinking more water. Now I automatically reach for water instead of coffee when I am thirsty. This is also why I have been drinking less coffee. On days that I can’t run (rain or Mason), I also find more activities where we can be more active (chasing a balloon in our front yard).
• My body moves better and less sluggish. It’s not like I suddenly turn into Spider-Man but, I feel like my body moves a lot better, which may also due to the lack of shoulder and neck pain.

Note that the above results are based on my observation and not something that happens overnight. I slowly notice that I can play with my son longer without running out of breath. I woke up more often to find that my neck could turn with my body without feeling pain. Everything comes gradually.

How about you? have you been on the fence about running but couldn’t wake up in the morning? well maybe you should give night time running a try. Put on your headphone, play your best playlist or that podcast you have been wanting to listen and just run.

Come back and tell me how it goes.

I have also include a Table of Content to this post so you can skip around to the part that you want.

Why I Like this Book

First, I like the book because there is no pressure for me to finish the book. Different from other books where you have to read from beginning to the end to keep up with the concept given, Make Time work like an encyclopedia of productivity tricks. You can simply skip the part that you don’t relate to. In fact, the authors urge this.

Second, the book is an easy read with a down to earth writing tone. There are no big words (even when there is, they define it in layman’s terms).

A little background…

Make Time: How to Focus on what Matters Every Day is written by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky and it is a book about time management.

What Make Time sought out to do is to provide us tips & tricks to avoid these busy bandwagon and infinity pool and in the process gives us back time for us to focus on what really matters for us.

I started on this book based on Ali Abdaal’s Book Recommendation (If you follow this link, it will lead you to his YouTube Channel and there are even clips of him interviewing John Zeratsky). At first, I was skeptical, because a lot of books give you formula on how to be the most productive superman in the world, but most of the time these formulas do not fit my situation. But after picking up the book (or my kindle to be exact), I have been recommending this book to whoever told me that they are too busy.

Make Time provides you a “cookbook of tricks” that you can pick and try to assimilate into your daily life. Some of these tricks may not work for you, but others will. This is not a book that you read once and be done with, but a book that you read and leave on the table or the toilet to flip through because some of the tricks will resonate with you at different points in your life.

Types of Distractions in our Life

In this book, Jake & John is saying that there are 2 types of distractions in our life that take away our time from pursuing what we want to do. Those distractions are

• Busy Bandwagon. Things that keeps us busy and makes us feel like we are doing work
• Infinity Pool. Anything that will continuously provide new content or entertainment

Both distractions come in different form but ultimately takes us away from pursuing or working on what really matters for us. An example of busy bandwagon will be To-Do List full of menial stuffs, while an example of Infinity Pool will be Netflix, YouTube & Online Multiplayer games.

The Action Plan

Now that you know what are the type of distractions, the guideline that the authors propose is:

1. Highlight. Pick a focal point for each day (This can range from finishing a report for work to reading a book to your kid at bedtime)
2. Laser. Focus on how to achieve the highlight by beating the distractions above.
3. Energize. Maintain your energy level throughout the day so that you can achieve the highlight
4. Reflect. What works for you and what doesn’t

The book then splits into 4 sections above and each sections will provide you tricks .

Highlight

A highlight of your day is exactly how it sounds, a single focal point in your day that you would like to achieve. This section of the book will tell you how to pick your highlight (based on urgency, satisfaction & joy) and how to make time for it.

Notable Tactics

For me, the notable tactics in this section are

• #1 Write it Down. I write down the highlight of my choosing on top of my to-do list (in OneNote) so that everytime I look at my phone for what I have to do, I remember that whatever I do throughout the day is toward my highlight.
• #4 Batch the Little Stuff. I have been batching my tasks for years and it makes a difference. For example, I will read and reply to my emails at night after dinner, and if I have to call people, I do it after lunch. I will even batch my weekly tasks like Friday will be my paperwork and filing day at work.
• #15 Nighttime is Highlight Time. When you do not have time in the morning or evening, try to do your highlight at night. For years, I try to be a morning person, which means waking up and try to be as productive as possible. But after reading the book, I realize I should embrace my inner night person. I have been trying to get into a habit of jogging in the morning and it couldn’t stick. Now I jog at night (between 9 – 10 pm) after my kid is asleep and I have been jogging everyday. Jogging at night also gives me a chance to unwind and reflect on the day.

Laser

In the book, laser means how to keep your focus on completing your highlight by beating the distractions. Both Jake & John worked for Google and have worked on services like YouTube and Gmail. They provide an insider insight on why it is so hard to resist the Busy Bandwagon (“Just 1 more email and I am done”) and the Infinity Pool (think YouTube’s recommendation algorithm based on videos that you have watched)

Notable Tactics

• #23 Skip the Morning Check-In. I used to be the guy who reaches for my phone first thing in the morning. For the past month, I have been charging my phone outside of my bedroom and I found that without it, I usually go straight to making my breakfast instead of looking at my phone on the bed.
• #25 Ignore the News. Growing up, my father always tell me to read more news so I can talk to people that I meet. While reading the news does not particularly stresses me out, newspaper has a lot of topics that do not necessarily interest me. I found that I can just read the headlines so I know what’s “current”, and if the topic is “breaking” enough, will be the talk of the town anyway. When I do have to hold a conversation with people regarding these “headlines”, I’ll just ask for their opinions and I found a lot of people like to give it rather than ask for opinions anyway.
• #30 Watch out for Time Craters. The concept of Time Craters is that some things seem to only take a little bit of your time, but the impact of doing these certain things causes ripples that take away a lot of your time. For example, if there are unfolded laundry while I am working, I will go and fold the laundry. While folding the laundry takes around 5 minutes, it usually takes more than 5 minutes after I sit down for my brain to “boot up” again and get in the zone of writing. So the initial 5 minutes of folding the laundry ultimately takes away more than than 5 minutes of my writing time.
• #51 Play a Laser Soundtrack. The concept of this tactic is to have a song or playlist as a cue for your body to get into “Laser” mode. I have been giving it a try for the past month by curating a jogging playlist and I will report back with update.

Energize

In the Energize section of the book, we will find tactics to maintain our energy level through our day.

Energize is then split into 6 sub-sections, which are:

1. Keep it Moving. This sub-section talks mostly about exercise habit
2. Eat Real Food. Talks mostly about eating habit
3. Optimize Caffeine. Talks mostly about how to use caffeine effectively
4. Go Off the Grid. Talks mostly about mental health and our smart devices
5. Make it Personal. Talks mostly about mental health and relationships
6. Sleep in a Cave. Talks mostly about sleeping habit

Do not get overwhelmed by this section and you can jump around depending on which area you think you have the most problem with.

Personally, I found this section to be what I need the most help with. I have been struggling for years with bad eating habits; skipping breakfast and lunch because of work, excessive caffeine intake to maintain my energy only to crash late at night and waking up cranky and the such

Notable Tactics

• #61 Exercise Every Day (but Don’t Be a Hero). Essentially, you should exercise everyday but don’t stress over it. Exercising even for 7 minutes is still better than if you were not exercising, as long as you do it every day.
• #63 Inconvenience Youself. Inconvenient yourself simply means just because you could, doesn’t mean you should. Park a little further away, take the stairs if you are only going up 1 level.
• #70 Wake Up Before You Caffeinate. This tactic is saying that we should have our first cup of coffee 1 hour after we wake up because when we wake up, our body releases “waking up” hormone and we should let caffeine boosts us after this hormone wears off.
• #76 Disconnect Sugar. I accidentally stopped sugar consumption the first few months after college when I lived by myself because I was too lazy to go to the store to buy sugar. I did notice a more stable energy level throughout my day and ever since, I just do not take sugar if I don’t have to.
• #84 Fake the Sunset. When we are on our devices, the blue light emitted from our devices make it harder for us to fall asleep. What the book proposes is to use a yellowish hue of light in your bedroom to trick your body into falling asleep faster.

Reflect

In the reflect section of the book, you are urged to try out different tactics provided in the book and note your energy level and your productivity. If a tactic works and is easily assimilated into your daily habits, stick with it. If it doesn’t stick, then you should move on and try the next one.

Make Time by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky has made my toilet list, as in I found I reach for this book more and more when I am in the toilet. Every time I flip through the book, I found more tactics that I can actually try out without having to plan too much on how to reshuffle my day.

If you have read or are reading this book, I will be very happy to discuss with you which tactic resonates with you and what do you think about it.

My financial goals for 2020

1. Start a side hustle, preferably as passive as possible
2. Continue investing in dividend stocks
3. Learn a new skill set

Start a side hustle

Starting a side hustle has consistently been one of my financial goals every year and admittedly not the one always achieved. I would start a side business but my discontinue it or choose to stop it if I don’t see it as a good investment for the future. The point is to invest in our future self either in opportunities or in skill set (goal #3).

Currently, the side hustles that I am thinking about are

1. ATM Business
2. Aquaponic business

Invest in dividend stocks

I started investing in the stock market when I first got my full time job out of college. I was actually looking for a get rich quick scheme by trading more volatile stocks, and while I did made 40% return within 5 months, I understood that luck played a big part in my returns and the 40% was not sustainable. That’s when I heard about Warren Buffet and after reading The Warren Buffet Way I became a value investor.

Ever since then, I continuously invest in index funds and blue chip dividend stocks as my part of my retirement plan.

Learn a new skill set

Like I mentioned above, the point is to invest in yourself whether in opportunities, or in a new skill set. With that said, every year I try to learn something new that interests me.

In 2018, I learn leathercrafting by purchasing cheap equipments on Amazon and watching YouTube videos.

In 2019, I learn how to blog and convert all of my notes and book into digital format.

So, these are my 3 financial goals for the year 2020. I am interested in hearing yours. If you have thought about your financial goals and want to chat about it, feel free to drop me an email or message.

For the month of December 2019, my challenge is to track my spending and expenses for 3 months using the Spendee app.

Ever since I was in middle school, I have always been good at tracking my expenses and spending. I would input my daily spending into an Excel spreadsheet and at the end of the month, my parents will look at my spreadsheet with me to help me “analyze” my spending.

I remember Dragon ball Z playing cards took up a big chunk of my spending and they would explain to me where I could save up in order to buy what I want in the coming future. Years of doing this eventually instill this “You can buy anything if you are willing to save” mentality.

When I reach college, I stop tracking my expenses because I was generally good at feeling out how much money I have spent that month and I was living very thrifty anyway.

Why I decide to start tracking my spendings again?

While I have always been good at estimating my financial condition and living below my means, in 2019 there were many months where I am cutting it too close in term of cash flow

1. My son started school in April
2. My wife no longer has a monthly income, thus home and her living expenses fell on to me
3. New home mortgage is based on floating interest rate
4. I had to pay a lot of my new home’s furniture on credit using my bank’s credit card (0% interest + admin fee for 12 months)
5. I made it a point to save money monthly to save and invest

I made the mistake of thinking school expenses are fixed when there will be times the school will tell you to buy a certain items for my kid to bring to school. While generally these items are cheap (certain colored shirts for a school events, or certain toy items), they do add up.

I also made the mistake that many first time home buyers do, that is buying a house that are too expensive. I was so worried of buying a house too small that will last me only for 1 child, that my current mortgage takes 45% of my income every month.

I took advantages of a lot of deals and promotions that furniture stores have with my bank, which allow me to pay off my furniture monthly through my credit card at 0% interest and 0 processing and admin fee. While not a mistake, I have to remember to set aside money to pay the monthly installments.

What I hope to achieve from this challenge

By no means am I in financial difficulty, but neither am I comfortable because these new variables hinder my capability to set aside money to invest every month.

What I hope to achieve by doing this challenge is to give me a better picture on my financial situation in the foreseeable future.

By setting aside a fixed amount based on the worst case scenario of each of these variable expenses, I will be able to decide the minimum of money set aside to save and invest.

Whatever is left over from these variable expenses (since they are based on worst case scenario, there will be money left over every month), will go into the save & invest account quarterly.

Method of tracking

To track my spendings, I will use the free app, Spendee which is available in iOS and Android because that is the beauty of technology. I no longer have to create an excel or google spreadsheet when there is an app that will do it for you and show you the result beautifully.

By the way, if you are interested in doing this challenge with me using the Spendee app, please click on the link below to use my code. By using the link, both you and I will be able to use the app’s premium version for 1 month for free. I will not make any money if you click on the link, but I am curious to see the premium version of the app since I enjoy using the app.

Lately, as my son grew bigger, I found myself trying to find a lighter and smaller replacement for my laptop during these travels. There are times when I have to carry Mason for a prolonged period of time because he is cranky or when the content of my bagpack has to include toys and baby supplies. While not exactly heavy, my ASUS Zenbook still weighs around 1 kg without charger and takes up around 12″ x 7.5″ in my bagpack.

To get something as light as possible that can do 85% of my workload, I decided to use my iPad Mini as laptop replacement.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at NO cost to you. It just helps me pay for my hosting fee

The Bulk of the Workload

Before I can completely use my iPad to replace my laptop however, some changes to my work flow has to be done.

I made a rough plan of the bulk of work done on my laptop and also work that I usually do while I am traveling.

Most of the time if I am only gone for up to 10 days, my planned workload is

• 80% WhatsApp to communicate with my office
• 15% Emails
• 5% Creating files in Google Sheets/ data inputting

Speed of Information

I work in the inter-state public bus transportation industry and a bulk of our daily work is reacting to situations (car accidents or bus breaks down on the street) and the handling of cash flow (we still use cash instead of cashless payment system). So, we create group chats in WhatsApp for various devisions like the Mechanic team, the Accounting team and the Spare Parts Supply team. With WhatsApp, everybody in the group will always be updated to the situation at hand and allow faster reaction time.

Personally, I found myself using WhatsApp Web more than using WhatsApp on my phone whenever I have access to my PC or iPad + Keyboard because replying to messages are so much faster with a keyboard than my phone’s virtual keyboard.

I have also migrated our company’s Excel files to Google Sheets because of the following benefits:

• Easier files creation and data inputting through iOS without any downside to Windows users
• Faster data processing because as soon as data is inputted by my admins, I can see it
• No data loss when there is electricity blackouts (which happens a lot in my city)

Paperless Information

Most of the information that passes through my office is scanned into digital format and emailed to me every day by my office admins. This information ranges from payment slips to daily employees attendance charts.

We are also moving toward digital files for as many as we can to save storage space. By going paperless, I don’t have to lug around files or folders, but instead just access the files through the clouds.

As of my to-do list and project notes, I have been using OneNote, which is accessible through iOS as well.

iPad Mini 5 & Logitech Keyboard K380

In order for my iPad Mini to be a true laptop replacement, I needed a keyboard whether a keyboard case or a separate Bluetooth keyboard. I was on the fence between Logitech K380 and iClever BK-05, but in the end I settled on the Logitech K380 because I could get my hand on one for a cheap price.

The K380 turns out to be perfect because it has a desktop keyboard typing feels, only loses in term of portability compared to the iClever. I have thoroughly enjoyed using the K380 and haven’t had any buyer’s remorse since yet.

Future Improvements

So far, I really like bringing my iPad Mini traveling since it allows me to travel very light and stays on top of my work while I am not in the office. The Mini also double duty as entertainment during long flights or as books when there is no internet.

I know, technically I only need my phone to get my work done since most of my files are in Google Sheets and in WhatsApp, but when you have to look at 6″ all day, an iPad Mini is a welcome size (trust me, I tried). Besides, the Logitech K380 is such a joy to use that I actually look forward to when I have to use it, and it puts me in “Working Mode” whenever I have it in front of me.

Also, some countries like Japan and America has strict baggage policy regarding laptops, and having an iPad Mini allows breezy X-Ray screenings.

In the future, I am looking into changing my iPad Mini to iPad Pro with USB-C which lets me to share cables between the iPad and my phone, plus the bigger screen doesn’t hurt.

Finally I am currently looking into carrying case that I can put my iPad and keyboard for easier packing and carrying.

For this week, I have managed to de-clutter:

• Old gadgets’ empty boxes that was in a corner of my cabinet
• Bunch of cables (USB-A, Mini USB, etc)

I guess the timing for the end of this challenge is just right because I am running out of things to de-clutter. In fact, I had to actually look for stuffs to de-clutter.

The old gadgets’ empty boxes were in the corner of a cabinet that requires me to use a stool to reach and the cables were inside one of the boxes.

Sticking true to my promise from De-Cluttering Report #1 , I actually did not make any sale on my old stuffs so:

• I gave away the iPhone 5 and XiaoMi RedMi 2 to one of my employee because she wants to try to fix it.
• I threw away the KangerTech EVOD Vape Pen
• I gave away the VR Kit to my nephew

Honestly, at the end of this challenge, it did not feel like I am a true minimalist where you walk into my home office and everything is just empty and spacious. But now at least whatever stuffs are there, I know I need it and will use it soon.

That and some of my cabinets and it will actually be empty.