A long while ago, somebody said something to me that has stuck with me almost half of my life now, “A defeated man’s song is tragic to hear, but very easy to sing”

Honestly, I don’t even remember who told me this, but it took me a while to understand it. Even when your friends and family feel sorry and understanding because your song is tragic, let’s face it, choosing to admit defeat instead of fighting on is always the easier alternative. For anybody that said otherwise, I call bullshit.

Ever heard of “When life gives you lemon, make a lemonade out of it”? Yeah, I am sick of hearing that too. Sometimes, when life gives you lemon, guess what, you have to suck it up, smile and say “Thank you for that zesty lemon”.

This philosophy bleeds into my leadership style in my company. Generally, the higher your position is in any organization, the more people want to see how you react when shit hits the fan. They want to see if you are sweating. Never, ever, ever sweat.

It’s not because your underlings do not like you (some of them may) or because they want to see you going through hard times (again, some of them may), but they are looking at you to see if they, themselves should panic.

Now, what happens when that zingy lemon that life hands you seem to be in harvest? and you seem to keep on getting lemons among oranges?

Do you feel the anger? good, use it. Feel that anger rises from your middle region radiating outward. Feel it numbs your fingers. Now smile and say Thank you. Do not act rashly. Do not bottle it up, anger is one of the 8 basic human emotions that prove you are human. When your head is calmer, remember the anger you feel. Use that cold blue fury and plan how you can move forward.

Use the anger to pursue your goals, not as a revenge. Anger can be good if you utilize it to get to where you want to go, it can be destructive if you let it lead you.

In the end, when life gives you lemon and you feel angry, use that anger to motivate you, so next time you will see the lemon coming and you will have a peeler ready to make that lemonade.

My house is not all white and gray and spacious. Sometimes when I am cooking, I have to cut my ingredients on my dining table because my kitchen counter looks more like a liquidation sale shelf.

However, I do not like to spend money on things I do not need. I guess you could say I am an “Essentialist.”

I do not get rid of things just for the sake of getting rid of things or because it doesn’t spark joy anymore, but rather because I do not like owning more things than I need to.

I have the same work bag that I used to travel, however I will not use the same bag when I am going to a sleepover because the 2 bags do not serve the same purpose.

I do not spend money on clothes but instead of having a minimal amount of the same clothes, I will buy more of the same clothes just so I do not have to do laundry every couple of days.

When you have more things that serve the same purpose, you have to maintain it and take care of it. Honestly, I am just too lazy for that.

Minimalist would prefer to have as little material things as possible, I still have stuffs that I like to collect and own. I have 6 pair of headphones, I have a number of watches (an interest that I share with my dad) and many others.

I could download a digital version of a song, but if I am a fan of the music, I will buy the CD.

My de-cluttering report that I have done last year was true and honest but I had been having trouble throwing or donating the rest of my stuffs because I do keep mementos from my childhood, friends and family.

Something that I can relate to when it comes to minimalism, however is collecting experiences and traveling.

A friend of the family once told me,

“You don’t look twice at souvenirs that you got from traveling, and you may forget what a place looks like if you travel enough, but you always remember the feeling being somewhere, because feeling is not done by your head, but rather by your heart“

I promised my wife when Mason was born that every year we will travel at least once to a place that we have not been before.

When I travel with Mason and my wife, I could give my full attention to my family.

The face that Mason makes the first time he was on the beach.

The face (even his cries) that he makes 2 seconds later when a wave came crashing on him.

The happiness that my wife feels when she finally gets that perfect picture of her OOTD (“Outfit of the Day” for those that are not in the know).

Risking sounding dramatic, for these few moments, life clicks and I found the reason why I welcome hard work and things I have to deal with at work.

Due to the pandemic, this year I have been reluctant to travel but I hope when this all dies down, I can start traveling again.

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.

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.

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.

For this week, I de-cluttered

• 2 pairs of sandals that I usually just leave outside my house to wear when I am walking around the yard
• Some more pajamas and old clothes (2 pajamas and 2 old clothes to be exact)
• Some old notebooks that I kept in case I need scrap papers (never seem to run out of scrap papers, so I threw out the old notebooks and keep the new notebooks)

I know I am supposed to de-clutter 5 items per week, but this challenge is harder than I thought it would since it’s getting harder for me to find stuffs to throw/ donate/ sell. At the same time, I don’t want to de-clutter stuffs juts for the sake of de-cluttering when I still have use of the stuffs.

I was doing a mental calculation of my current state, and if I have to move suddenly, the following applies

• 2 Large suitcases for all my clothes & shoes
• 1 box for my computer
• 1 bag for my electronics, laptop & work stuffs
• 1 box for my leathercrafting tools
• 1 box for all my books (I can’t seem to throw away books even if I have the kindle format)
• 2 big boxes (U-Haul Big size box) for all my other misc. stuffs

So I can say that all my stuffs will fit into the back of 2 SUVs. My goal is to reduce it to 1 SUV, if possible.

• More old pajamas and work clothes (Donate to church)
• KangerTech EVOD, an old never been used vape pen that I got for free from my friend when I told him I wanted to quit smoking. (Put up for sale online)
• Generic VR goggle kit. VR sounds cool, but when I actually use it, I just feel dizzy (Also put up for sale)
• A broken iPhone 5 (Put up for sale as spare parts)
• A broken XiaoMi RedNote 3 (Put up for sale as spare parts)

A lot of the stuffs I de-cluttered this week, I put up for sale online because it still has street values, but if I can’t sell it by the end of the challenge, I will just donate it or trash it.

Will report back next week with updates. Wish me luck on the sales!

For this month’s challenge, I decided to try something new. Previously, my challenges are usually new behaviors that I hoped I can sustain into a better habit for myself. But for this month, I want to try to minimize my belongings as much as I can

I know this is a late post for my monthly challenge, considering this is the middle of October. But, after my failure achieving my September’s challenge, I want to try something new, so that I can maintain my motivation in doing these challenges

Why De-Clutter?

Growing up, I do not have a lot of belongings as I do not believe in buying more than 1 item that does the same thing. So, why do I decide to de-clutter?

I have always been thrifty and frugal when it comes to buying and owning stuffs. I usually opt for bang-for-the-buck approach and do not care as much about brand when it comes to shopping. I would spend countless hours researching my purchase before finally pulling the trigger.

The first time I decided to buy a good headphone, I researched various brands for close to 3 months before deciding on one. At that time, I was in college and all I know about earphone was the white earphone that came with my iPod and I was using it everyday. I even wear it while I was working (I worked in the kitchen and my supervisor allowed me to use the right side). When the right bud eventually breaks, I cut it and continue using the left one until the left one dies too.

Now, the problem is throughout the year, I started accumulating stuffs (read: hoarding) because I almost never throw away stuffs unless they are absolutely destroyed. I still wear my over-sized high school T-Shirt as pajama, still use my cracked mugs as pencil holders, still use my hole-some (see what I did there) college bag pack when I go to work, you get the idea. Eventually, I start having more than 1 item that does the same thing, only in a different condition.

This is not a problem until few years ago, when I start being a lot more involved in my family business and I started having to meet more and more people, ranging from vendors to potential customers. First impressions speaks the loudest and people DO judge you by your possessions and how you look when you are approaching them from a business stand point. So, I started buying better clothes, better bag and leave my old stuffs at home and when my better clothes or bag get old, I leave them at home and buy more clothes and bag, the cycle continues. Now, I have suitcases of old clothes that I don’t wear anymore, a cabinet of bags that I do not use anymore and a shelf of cracked glass for pencils that I may come across in the future.

Being a Minimalist to Save Brainpower

Some people thrive in chaotic condition, but I have always work and function better when there are not a lot of items or things going on around me. My home office are filled with stuffs that are becoming part of the furniture and it is becoming a distraction when I am working from home. I would sit in front of my computer trying to think of a solution or whatever I am thinking at the moment and saw the cracked mug and now I am thinking “I really should glue the cracked part if just in case I decided to use it to hold something heavier”. Just like that, I lost my train of thought and I have to retrace my mental thoughts.

Another problem is, having a lot of stuffs means you have to keep a mental note of where everything is. By de-cluttering, I hope that now I only need to keep a mental note of where the essential things are.

Being a Minimalist to Save Time & Money

When you have more items, you will spend more time maintaining your belongings. Considering that I hoard stuffs that are bordeline broken, I do spend considerable time fixing and maintaining them (regluing shoe soles, re-threading old watch straps, etc). This will make sense if you own a shoe that is in the upward of $1,000, but re-gluing an old Nike soles for $15 when the shoes cost $50 7 years ago is just not economical.

Feeling of Freedom

I did throw away a lot of stuffs before I moved into my house 4 months ago and I remembered I felt so free when suddenly half of my stuffs are not there anymore. I still have a lot of stuffs currently despite what I threw away and I hope that by doing this challenge, I will feel free. It should be a nice feeling to know that whatever you see in the room or house is all you really need and when you need to move, you can fit all of it in the trunk of my SUV and be done.

What I Throw Away This Week

Today, I sorted out my office and room and this was the result:

• A tube filled with glowsticks that do not glow anymore (Trash)
• A cheap plastic rubik cube that I won from the fair 6 years ago and never played with (Give to nephew)
• 2 boxes of old clothes that I never wear anymore (Donate to church)
• A length of leftover fiber optic cable that I salvaged when my ISP installed my internet (Trash)
• 2 miniature Iron-Man action figure I got from China 4 years ago that have been collecting dust. (Give to nephew)

Will report back in a week or so and see how much more I can minimize

1. I will be able to get rid of the morning brain fog by having adequate sleep.
2. I will have more time to spend with my son after I get home from work.
3. This challenge will force me to finish all my work during my work hours in the office, so I don’t have to work when I get home

Due to time and situation constraint, I gave myself the 2 Days Rule by Matt D’Avella.

I am here to report that I HAVE FAILED at this challenge. Instead, what I gained is a learning experience.

What Happened?

The first half of the month started well enough and I had hope that I will be able to pass this challenge. At the end of the month though, there are days where I go 5 days without doing this challenge and I slept even later than my usual time.

After some introspection, I realize there are actually a few reasons why I failed this challenge.

Unrealistic Challenge to my Work Schedule

In order for me to shape the habits of sleeping early and not working at home, unknowingly, I created 2 challenges who combined together is harder to pass than if I were to do the challenges separately (Sum of the whole part and all that).

In my original post, I discussed why I used the 2 Days; I realize now, I was thinking too linear, as in if I don’t work on Night 1, I’ll just make it up on the second night, hence the 2 Days trick. However, what I forgot to consider is that, I am not actually making up the work on Night 2, rather on the second morning, hence swamping me with even more work during my work time. When Night 2 comes, I am actually more behind on my work load, and I end up going to sleep even later than usual trying to catch up, which snowballs into having more brain fog the next day, which means less work done, and the snowball grows bigger.

Combined with the work travel and the family travel that I had planned for September, I can say that September was a very tiring month for me, an exact opposite of result that I had hoped.

Unrealistic Challenge to my Work Situation

I mentioned in my original challenge post that I am in the process of growing my company and I want to distance myself from doing routine secretarial or administrative work in the company. I wanted to free myself from these tasks so I can focus more on long term tasks (marketing strategy, Standard Operating Procedure development, and such)

Around the end of August, I hired 2 more employees that I tasked to help me with administration. New employees equal to time spent training and time spent doing some of the administrative work myself.

What I usually do is once I trained my employees or taught them my S.O.P, I let them do the tasks themselves without me interrupting or even checking up on them.

After a few days, in what I call “Fixing Mode”, I will go through their works and note where they have problems with the tasks or the S.O.P and start fixing whatever needs to be fixed. This way, I hope that I can continuously improve my training method and my S.O.P which will allow me greater degree of freedom when running the company.

This has worked out for me so far because my employees learn faster and at the same time I am forced to develop my S.O.P. The drawback is, sometimes they will mess up really bad and I have to fix it for them before I let them try again

So, during September, as I was going through these challenges, I was also training the 2 new admins, while also creating and maintaining new administrative files for my developing S.O.P.

What’s Next?

I did fail these challenges but that does not mean that I will stop trying completely. During these challenges, when I actually did not work at home,

• I get to run around my kitchen table with my son pretending I am on a horse while he was on a Zoo-Zoo Tain.
• I get to sit on the couch with my wife eating an ice cream bar talking about random stuffs.
• I get to have a really boring night where my son and wife was already asleep by 8:30 pm

Whether I had a boring night or a nice talk with my wife or a play session with my son, I know it’s healthier than if I were consumed with my work all the time. So, the challenges may have ended, but I will still try to complete it in the coming months, maybe this time one challenge at a time.