Here's Why Time SEEMS to have Gone Faster as We Grow Older

Five long months have gone by, isn't it fast?

Not sure if you realize, the older we get, the faster time seems to fly by, why? Shouldn't it be slower?

The only explanation I can think of is that as we get older, we have more and more responsibilities added onto us.

Go think about it, how many things in life were you responsible for when you are a kid, a teenager?

Majority of Kids/Teenagers:

- Eat
- Sleep
- Study for exams
- School Projects
- Do dreadful homework
- Watch TV shows/movies
- Hang out with friends (Girlfriend/Boyfriend?)
- A little bit of household chores from time to time

So what happen after you are done with the above, it is likely that you have lots and lots of time left...feeling idling around, surfing Internet, playing mobile games, watching aimless TV shows etc...time seems to be so so so ss..l.....o........w..........

And as we get older and have more life challenges and responsibilities, below is a short glimpses of what we have on average:

- Family Time - spending time + taking care of old folks at home
- Parenting Time - spending time with kids (academic study/play time etc)
- Career advancements - how many long time have you slogged this year?
- Academic upgrade - night classes, oversea degrees etc
- Jobs - 40 - 100 hours weeks working for someone or managing your own businesses
- Marriage - tons of planning and preparations
- Spouse Time
- Household chores which seem never-ending...
- Catching up TV shows after long day at work
- Social life - spending time with friends/spouse
- Religious commitments

And what's left is the little bit of time whining about how fast time have flew by...:)

Taiwan Trip 2016 #2 - Taiwan Trip Itinerary Planning Confirmed

Yeah, I have been super busy lately and has been swamped with work, family as well as personal matters.

Anyhow, it will not deter me from write a short post.



Below is the confirmed itinerary for our June Taipei and Taichung trip in a nutshell:

Day 1

- SIN to TPE
- Check-in Hotel
- 五分埔
- 饒河夜市

Day 2

- 九份
- 十份
- 京華城


Day 3

- Check out Hotel in Taipei
- HSR train to Taichung
- Check in Hotel
- Carton King Creativity Park 紙箱王創意園區
- 台灣香蕉新樂園
- 逢甲夜市

Day 4

- Shopping Malls and explore around town
- Rainbow Village
- 中華路夜市
- 忠孝夜市


Day 5

- Check out Hotel in Taichung
- Take TSR train back to Taipei
- Check in Hotel
- Shopping at  Xinyi Shopping District
- Taipei 101
- 宁夏夜市

Day 6

- Taipei Zoo
- May visit 五分埔 again
- 淡水


Day 7

- Last minute shopping
- Check out Hotel
- Flight back to SG

B and I really regretted not planning a longer trip as we found out there are so many interesting places to visit in Taipei and Taichung alone. We do hope to visit another part of Taiwan again in December and hopefully it will be a much longer trip than this one. :)

Intro Part 2 - Few Things About Me You Probably Do Not Want Know About

I know, I know. This is a long overdue post that I was suppose to write on every first week of the month.

I did not forget. It is just that I feel there were more important interesting things to write about than another pompous self-intro post which nobody may even be interested to read about. :)

Anyhow, below are some facts about me that you probably would not want to know about but then I guess it doesn't hurt too much to reveal just a tiny weeny bit, ya?

Fact #1

I married the first guy who kissed me. Nope, mine is not a fairy tale by any stretch of the imagination. It just so happen that B was the guy whom I met again after breaking up for quite a number of years. And it so happen that we clicked so well that...we ROM-ed about less than a year later - if my memory serves me right. :)

Fact #2

I was super skinny and looked very much like another famine-struck citizen from Utopia. I was seriously under-weight for my age back then - many donkey years ago when I first met B. You will never believe it if you look at how well-rounded I am right now. Lol. :p

Fact # 3

I once fell down a long flight of stairs in Bangkok and survived. I was still under-weight back then and was lucky to escaped with just some minor bruises here and there.

Fact #4

I have been to 11 countries and still counting...

- Taiwan (Taipei, soon to have Taichung and others on the list)
- China ( Shanghai, Yun-nan, Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou etc)
- Hong Kong + Macau
- Japan (Tokyo/Osaka/Ginza etc)
- Germany - Blackforest
- France - Paris
- Switzerland - Geneva
- Korea (Seoul + Jeju Island)
- Malaysia (Genting/KL/Penang/Kukup/Pontian/JB etc...)
- Thailand - Bangkok/Phuket
- Indoneisa (Bintan/Batam)

Fact #5

I am not happy with my current job scope and is looking forward to either switch to a greener pasture after my Taiwan trip or setting up my own eCommerce biz and experience how it is like to work from home. :)

There you have it - I will definitely reveal more in my next self-intro post but for now that's it as there is only so much time I can spent to write every few days.

See you in my next post.

Ciao...

Is Your Child Investing his Time in the Right Area?

Most people have the impression that everyone on earth is born to do what most of us excel do well in - academic studies, sports, financial management, parenting, driving, marketing and so on...

Myself included.

But in exact fact, no. Not everyone can become Michael Jordan, presidential scholars and top businessmen of the world and so on...

In Singapore, we have a pretty good education system to help filter out our child's inborn gifts and talents.

Primary school kids that do not fare well in their studies (for whatever reasons - lack of interest, poor memory, questionable family background etc) are filtered into classes of different grades in accordance to their academical performance. Those will special talents are drawing, singing, sports are singled out and special programs are tailored for them.

For example, if a particular child is poor in Mother Tongue language, he or she may get streamed into a Mother Tongue class that have students of similar grades.

And if he or she is strong in subjects like Maths and Science, the child will get assigned to higher grade Maths and Science classes where students share the same level of affinity towards those subjects.

It is actually NOT a bad thing if we consider the fact that teachers are better able to take care of ALL students that need help in a certain subject in one fell swoop. And students who are already faring well in certain subjects get to learn more advanced topics in a different class.

My primary 4 kiddo is pretty weak in his Mother Tongue language - it can be painfully embarrassing to hear him speak Chinese at times. It is pretty obvious to me at this stage that his affinity towards the Chinese language is almost non-existent and I have decided not invest more of his time into leveling up his affinity towards it.

Since the starting of this year, he has been "investing" most of his time towards his strong subjects and I could see marked improvement across all other subjects.

As for Chinese, he got just a passing grade which is already a blessing in itself. :)

Honestly, such time arrangement and investment is perfect for me, at least my kiddo will waste his time flogging a dead horse.

My kiddo has strong talents Maths and Science and his ambition (for now) is to be either a scientist or astronaut.

Fortunately, his poor affinity towards the Chinese language will not hinder his ambition to become either one. I hope.

Taiwan Trip 2016 #1 - Itinerary Planning for My 2nd Trip to Taiwan in June

Yeah!! After visiting Taiwan more than a decade ago (12 years to be exact), B (my hubby) and I have decided to bring our kiddo there this coming June holidays.

B and I went on an eight days trip to Taipei 12 years ago and stupidly squandered away most of our precious time there visiting malls, eating at cafes, watching movies and what not - and did not think of visiting many far-flung places like 九分老街， 五分埔 etc which were so much more worthy of our time.

Anyway, this forthcoming trip which begrudgingly includes our hyperactive kiddo, could be one of the many more trips there as B and I were thinking of exploring the various parts of Taiwan (Tainan, Hualien, Yi Lan and the many isles) which have many exotic places that one may never get to see anywhere else.

My hubby was not keen in bringing our kiddo as most of his previous vacations time were usually spent watching out for him than having the chance to drink in and savor the scenery of many places that we may never visit again in our life.

For this trip, B and I plans to visit just Taipei and Taichung. We will spent 2 nights in Taipei followed by another 2 in Taichung and then return back to Taipei to spent another 2 nights there.

We have such an arrangement so that it will be easier for us to pack and cut-short our traveling time to the Tao Yuan Airport on the last day.

Below is a list of places* that we are planning to visit:

Taipei:

- 淡水
- 九分老街
- 五分埔
- 机隆夜市
- 饒河夜市
- 士林夜市
- 西門町
- 龙山寺
- 宁夏夜市
-  陽明山
- Taipei 101
- 臺北市立動物園 Taipei Zoo
- 台北海洋生活馆
- 野柳地质公园

Taichung:

- 南投温泉
- 六福村 (Leofoo Village Theme Park)
- 溪头妖怪村)
- 清境農場  + 小瑞士花園
- 中華路夜市
- Rainbow Village
- 逢甲夜市
- 高美湿地 (GaoMei Wetland)
- 新社古堡庄园
- 一中街夜市
- 第二市場
- 台灣香蕉新樂園
- 忠孝夜市
- 薰衣草森林

*subject to changes

I really hope our kiddo will not give us too much trouble this time and we want to also make use of this trip to familiarize ourselves with the various transportation systems (Public Bus, Travel Bus, Train, High Speed Rail and Metro [MRT]) over there so that our future trips there would be a breeze for us. :)

I will be updating this post as well as adding more Taiwan related posts as we progress towards the exact date of departure.

Stay tuned.

Are You Looking at the Right Numbers?

Look around you and it is not hard to see numbers all over the place.

Numbers make people want to compare - some of us have our ego boosted just because we have "better' numbers.

Need examples? Check this out:

What much salary increment did you get last year compared to the year before?

How much did you spent on your Prada bag that makes eyes turn when you walk down the street?

You created a post on Facebook and how many shares or likes did you get?

Numbers can be deceiving

Most of us look at numbers and made our judgements based on them. Some of these numbers affect our states of emotion, our motivations and so on. But are we looking at the right numbers to help improve ourselves?

You are feeling sore throughout the year because you got 1% lesser increment compared to last year and the year before. But did you know or check out how much losses the company has incurred over the last year - and how many staff have been laid off?

Do you still feel sore had you knew these numbers?

Numbers do not ALWAYS represent the real state of life

Numbers alone does not mean anything until they are being looked at from a different and more holistic perspective.

Someone who made 1 million dollars a year may not have time for his personal health, families and friends. You are envious of the income he made but did not know the sacrifice that have been made.

A stay-at-home mum quit her high salary job to look after the school-going kiddos at home. To most people it is a negative figure in terms of household income but if you care to look from a different perspective, you may appreciate the fact the kiddos are well taken care of, both academic and physical well-being.

Look at the Right Numbers

It took me many years to learn to look at the right numbers. Someone who have better income than you may not be necessarily a happier person. He or she may have huge mortgage burden, big family of 8 to support and so on.

Instead of looking at numbers from a superficial level, why not try look at them from a self improvement standpoint?

Marathon runners have to constantly look at their timing, body weight, heart beats etc to optimize their chance of winning the race.

Top students who look at the right numbers know how many hours they need to set aside each day for revision and they are the one who breeze through exams after exams...

These people are looking at the right numbers. Are you?

Are You Listening Hard Enough to Your Customers?

It does not matter if you have your own business or working your butt off someone else's - we all have the chance to listen to customer feedback.

Almost everyday.

Not all customers will leave a feedback. And not all feedback are nice.

How do you handle negative feedback?

To me, there are essentially 2 types of feedback.

Customers Who Are Really in Pain

Those who are suffering because of the inefficient ways we (our companies) handle things have the type of feedback that we should LISTEN to.

They are the one who will make us see what's outside the jar (from their perspectives). Most companies have almost never taken a look at what's 'outside the jar' - they spent too much time inside the jar, sorting out loose ends, fire-fighting day to day operations and have never taken feedback from customers to heart.

It's not hard to imagine such companies usually close shop within 5 years.

Customers Whose Last Name Are Trolls

It is inevitable that we will get customers who will call and troll the living day light out of us. These people who may be mentally ill are out to making our life a living hell - and while they are only a small minority in most cases, their words are enough to make a good employee quit.

We have faced trolls before, listened to the colorful vulgarities from their very mouth but why are we entertaining them again and again and again? Feedback from these people are never beneficial and most of the time it is a pure waste of time listening to their rants.

We can choose not to heed both types of feedback and NOT learn anything on what's outside the jar.

Or we can choose to listen and filter away the negative ones and learn, rectify and work on what's not working well from outside the jar.

The choice is ours.

WFH #3 - Getting Ready to Start

With all the eCommerce training almost out of the way, I am coming out with a personal checklist to make sure I have everything ready before I launch my eCommerce business. :)

Product Sourcing

Sourcing for product that satisfies the criteria set forth in the training is definitely not a walk in the park.

For me, it took a considerably amount of time (last few days - with about 30mins to an hour to spare each day) to really nail down a few product that I have on my list.

Most eCommerce business owner or first-timers made the mistake of not checking on things like current trending of the product in question, sale volume and versatility of the product, average market price and many many more...

Yup, like I mentioned earlier, it is not easy to pin down the right product that will help minimize the financial risk when you start spending money on getting traffic to the product sale page.

Getting the Right Tools and Services

This is another big hurdle for most people. Let's put it this way, without the right 'tools', even a top chef will have difficulty in whipping out award winning dishes and the same is true for starting an eCommerce business.

Having the right tools and services will ensure an exact duplication of a successful blueprint that have been proven times and time again. In my opinion, it may costs a little to get those tools but once the money still rolling in, the ROI alone will easily cover back the cost of those tools and services.

When Do I Start?

I have been asking myself over the last couple of days. In life, there are always unexpected events that will attempt to thwart our plans. Recently I was tied down with a sticky project that have sucked away most of my time in the office and with my sweetheart kiddo in the house, it is almost impossible to cast him aside and get started.

So when can I start??

I am almost ready and I really hope to get started next week once I get out of my current workloads.

Living a Life Through Supply and Demand

Life is not always fair. At least for me. :)

I am sure everyone of you has some sort of expectations (a.k.a demand) deep inside you.

For example:

What type of career do you want to be in when you graduate...

What level of salary do you hope to command after you graduate from college...

What sort of boyfriend/girlfriend do you hope to have and so on...

What most of us (especially when we are young) does not realize is that the SUPPLY out there is not always a match towards our 'demand'.

Case in point, I have had a job offer few years back. This particular job offer has the salary range that I have always hope to have but my interest (demand) for it dropped like a stone when I heard from the headhunter company that job role requires frequent traveling and the office is at the other side of Singapore from where I lived.

The job (looking for ladies only) supply was there but it apparently did not meet the 'demands' of many working mums since frequent business traveling is a NO NO to most mums. Even if I do not mind traveling, the commute time and distance alone will kill me, whether via public transport or driving a car.

Meeting the Right People in Your Life

A friend of mine once asked me how come pretty women always end up with guys that are both not good looking and rich. I told her the reverse is also true. I have seen handsome hunks marry plain Jane who are not also educated and wealthy.

Love is blind? I heard you say?

Probably.

I used to have the same mentality. But not sure why, these day, I seem to have a different opinion.

A pretty girl in a poor and remote village of a 3rd countries will 'want' to marry anyone who is able to provide her and her family a better life, whether local or oversea. Where handsome or not.

And for the rest of us living in a more affluent countries like Singapore, it is most of the time, not up to us to decide when and where we will meet our perfect guy "demand". It could happen when you are still underage (in love with your PE teacher?) or it could happen years after you are married.

When supply does not meet demands at the right time and at the right place, most people would go for the next 'best' supply that happens to appear in their life. Very few of us (women especially) will wait for the right match to come (we have shelf life, ya know?).

Very rare.

Looking to Change Your Job?

Again, this is still a case of whether supply will ever meets demand...

You may have all the experience and expertise (supply) in your line of work but if the company who is headhunting for someone like you does not even know about your existence, you will still end up setting down for YET another less than ideal job while someone less than perfect (compared to you) will fill in that perfect role you have been hoping for.

That's life, isn't it? :)

How Happy Are You With Your Life?

I recently come to know that Singapore has been ranked 22nd happiest country on earth by worldhappiness.report. You can steal a quick glance over here.

OMG! In case you haven't yet noticed, there are a few 3rd world countries that are ranked higher than Singapore.

Why are the people at these countries happier than us when we have better housing, jobs, living standards and so on...?

Being a true blue Singaporean, it did not take me too long to know why.

Expectations

In my opinion, expectations and stresses are the top 2 factors that have been constantly deflating my happiness level.

Just how many times have we been living under the expectation of people in and around our life?

I know I have. There are so many expectations we have to fulfill in life - school, marriage, family, social life, work place and list goes on...

Stresses

While I do understand there are both healthy and unhealthy stresses, it does not matter to me as stresses are what causes us to become unhappy with our life.

Have you have ever notice why children are ever so happy and carefree? I am sure people with half a brain would know the answer too...

Children, by and large, only have school and exam stresses to handle while we have a long list of other stresses to handle:

- parenting
- work place politics
- career advancement
- family harmony
- marriage
- peer pressure among friends, family and colleagues
- financial
- traffic jams (whether you are driving or not)
- health problems

What I listed above are probably only the tip of the iceberg compared to the longer list more stressful people may have.

Why Are People in the 3rd World Countries Happier?

 I do not really have all the answers, but I am guessing that people in these countries have, in general, lower amount of expectations and stresses in their life and hence the higher level of happiness in comparison.

And obviously, I am not referring to those countries where they do not even have enough to eat or a decent shelter over their head.

Everyone has a gauge of happiness within them. I know what makes me happy and most of the time, it did not take much to experience happiness. E.g. I am always happy whenever my kiddo come rushing towards me and hug me whenever I come home.

Simple happiness does not really cost much, isn't it? What are yours? What will make you a happier person?

WFH #2: Bolts and Nuts of Setting Up an eCommerce Store

In the previous WFH #1 post, I mentioned about getting an eCommerce course which I can conveniently watch and learn online at my own time and pace.

Well, I finally found one that is both affordable and well-organized when it comes to course materials and teaching style and pace.

Like I mentioned in the title, this course comes with both PDFs and lots of videos - the instructor walk-through the the entire eCommerce store setup (bolts and nuts) in such 'easy to understand' simplicity that I personally feel it is almost impossible for anyone to do it the wrong way.

At this very moment, I am still going through the videos and for a newbie like me, I must say I have learned a lot over the past few days.

Below is a short list of what I have learned so far:

- What is eCommerce Arbitrage (buy low and sell high) and ways to make money from it?

- How/Where to look for potential products and sellers and what are the pitfalls we should all avoid?

- How to approach and communicate with potential sellers and how to identify the right product to arbitrage?

- Tools and services we can use (short term) to quickly setup our product portal and get our first sale in

- The most popular and effective traffic source we can use to showcase products that we want to arbitrage

I have been going through the course material during my free time in the office, at home in the evening and most part of the day during weekends and I am truly enjoying every bit of it. :)

I really hope to set up my very first eCommerce product portal soon and get my first sale in. ($~$)

Stay tuned for the next update which will come really soon...

P/s: for those of you interested to know more about this course, kindly drop me a note or comment below with your email address.

Looking at Others and Ourselves the WRONG Way

Looking at Others

How often have we look scrutinize and judge others at the faults they have done or mistakes that they make?

And how often do we do that to ourselves? Nada. Almost never.

I never did. Until recently...

I have come to realize that we have been doing these scrutinizing and judgment thing the wrong way.

Instead of zooming into other people's fault and mistakes, we should actually zooming out and look at them from a more holistic point of view. Once we are able to achieve that, our initial judgement of other may differ entirely.

Just how many times have we change of point of view of a person after we 'see' them from a different perspective?

Are you always mad with your boss because he has been pushing most of his work over to you? Have you been complaining that he should also bank-transfer half his salary over to you too?

Would you look at him or her the same way again after you realize that he/she has been grooming you to take over his role after he retires or resign?

Looking at Ourselves

It's funny that we are 'almost' always able to forgive ourselves for the mistakes we made but we are not so forgiving when others make the same mistake...

Why?

I believe it boils down to having different perspective of how we look at others and ourselves...

All Most successful people and friends that I know do it the right way. They are harsh with themselves but they are ever so forgiving with others.

These people look at themselves with a magnifying glass and zoom into all their shortcomings and make improvements from there. And they zoom out on people to see the 'better' side of those who make mistakes.

These people have more friends, they are more successful than most people.

Just because they look themselves and Others the RIGHT way.

Let's start looking the right way starting today, shall we? :)

WFH #1: Starting My Very Own Online Business

Like I mentioned a while ago, working from home is definitely NOT for everyone. And before I declared myself as one of those who is not suitable to work full time online, I would at least want to give it my best shot.

After checking out a few marketing forums and work-from-home blogs, I have decided to delve into eCommerce.

Before you hold up your hand and give me a big thumbs down, let me explain why I choose to go into eCommerce. Obviously, having an online eCommerce store has its pros and cons.

And I know the learning curve, not to mention the effort and time, to set up one is humongous but I cannot deny that fact it can be a pretty good source of income if it works out.

There are a few good online eCommerce courses that I am currently considering - and since setting up an eCommerce store is not as easy as just setting up a website and adding in a shopping cart.

I am really hoping to find an online eCommerce course that provides step-by-step details on setting up a full-fledged online retail store which includes how to best do marketing and promotion for the store and so on.

I named the prefix of the post title as WFH (Work from Home) #1 so that people who are interested to follow along my journey and progress can easily identify which posts to search for. :)

I will be updating my progress via another post once I start my online eCommerce education. Stay tuned...

Hurray!...a Salary Increment!

Most people are in cloud nine when they are given a salary raise. Oh wait, most people? Why not all people?

Some  Most people I know are unhappy with their increment in salary. Are these people truly worthy of a higher increment? I will leave this 'sensitive' discussion debate for another day.

Let's talk about what happen when there is a jump in salary. What do most people do with their new salary increment?

Let's say Joe's monthly salary is $2500 and he has just been given a raise of $125. A typical 5% increase in salary. Joe is both happy and overjoyed.

And so he decided to stepped up his lifestyle:

• get his monthly haircut at a more 'premium' saloon which is $40 instead of the usual $20
• more restaurant meals and clubbing with girlfriend - monthly expenses goes up from $500 to $700 a month
• signed up gym membership for $80 a month

From the look of it, most people, including Joe, do not really think there is anything wrong with this little increment in expenses since he has just been giving a raise in salary.

Well, let's do an analysis of his increment in salary vs his 'minor' monthly expenses.

- His increment in salary: $125 (up 5%)

- His new monthly expenses after salary increment - $300 (up 12%)

• $20 (haircut)
• $200 (restaurant meals + clubbing) + 
• $80 (gym membership)

There was a 5% increase in salary and that causes Joe to up his seemingly little increment in lifestyle expenses by 12%.

Let's assume Joe used to save $300 a month before the salary increment. After the rise in salary ($125) and his new increase in expenses ($300), he can now only save $125 (58% lesser in saving).

Most people, myself included, have not really looked long and hard into our monthly expenses and it remains a myth to me why people always tend to spend way more than they used to after a salary increment.

A raise in salary may not be a raise after all if we end up saving less each month

Oops...I Did Not See That Coming

Often time, we get too caught up with our pursue for self satisfaction and happiness that we do not foresee or consider the impacts of the decisions we made.

Are You Thinking of Quitting Your Job?

Quitting your job is often the most easy and satisfying part. You get to boost your ego and self-esteem after throwing the resignation at the face of your asshole boss.

Then what's next?

What follows may cause you to quiver in fear if you are not prepared for the decision/action you do today.

You may have a 2 to 3 months of exact savings to tide you over the next few months.

Most people save JUST enough to cover expenses for 3 meals, insurance, rent, commute, phone and utility bills. Probably Internet bill too.

Sound good and well prepared?

Not really.

What about things like:

• medical expenses - if machines can break down once in a while, so can we. If you have young kiddos at home, then all the more you should prepare for this.

• necessities - groceries, toiletries, cosmetics (vain-pots only) and so on...

• unexpected expenses - landlord may decided to increase the rental starting next month, that air-conditioner in the bedroom may decided to breakdown during summer time...

• recreational expenses - most of us have social life. See what happens when your best friend's birthday is around the corner, gifts for niece's full month celebration, seasonal events like Xmas...

• Unexpected turn of events - Oh no...you are unable to get a job for months and your savings are starting to dry up.

Start Tracking Monthly Expenses

Only by tracking your daily expenses will you be able to know exactly how much you will need to tide you over the unemployment period. Never try to convince yourself that you can live like an hermit after you quit your job.

Are you sure you can stay in-door every single day and will not think of meeting up with friends, shopping and so on? Stop kidding yourself - unexpected expenses like medical bills will not crop up...

Once you have a saving of at least 3 month that reflects your current expenses, you may be ready to choose an auspicious day to fire that boss of yours.

Working from Home - Something that I May Try Out Soon

'Work from home (WFH)' to me, has always mean doing what you can do in the office - from home. I have done it before in my previous companies and we can occasionally choose to 'VPN' in to the office network and work away using the company laptop from practically anywhere - home or overseas hotels.

This 'WFH' notion began to change after knowing the fact that there are actually people who are able to earn a living just by working from work - no bosses, no office politics, no commute time etc. While it is all rosy and workable from the look of it, one must also essentially understand about the risks behind these types of working style.

First, there is no longer fixed income going into your bank account every month. If you do not earn anything for that month, you have zero income.

Second, while it does sounds glamorous to be your own boss, if you are someone who has no self-discipline and do not take consistent effort to follow through daily work routines that are planned out in advance, there is a very high chance that you will fail and crash to the ground like an airplane without fuel.

The last risk I can think of is probably the most difficult part. What exactly can we do to make money from our home? Is there a blueprint that will guide us from point A to Z and start earning consistent income? Is the income scale-able in the long term?

I am not exactly sure about  how to get started for now but I may give it a shot soon while still holding on to my full time job. That will also means I will have less fun/play time and more personal 'overtime' to try this 'Work from Home' thing and hopefully it will blossom into a success story for me to brag about in front of families and friends. :)

Important vs Urgent Tasks

A complaint from an ex-colleague of mine during lunch today reminded me of a lesson I learned from a mentor many years ago.

This ex-colleague (J) does not like her current job. Besides being asked to wear many hats (multiple job functions and dotted-line bosses), she is not getting all the due appreciations (her version of the story) from her superiors. In short, she is unhappy and have been contemplating whether or not to quit her job.

I changed topic shortly as I did not want to goad her into quitting her job so soon. Instead, I shared with her a few tips on how to manage her workload better which I am going to share with you below. These couple of tips was taught to me many years ago and it worked well for me till today. Give it a shot if you are in a similar predicament in your career.

Important vs Urgent tasks

Which one of the above do you prioritize when you do your daily task planning? Are you handling all the urgent things first as they comes in to you? Do you let the urgent task overwrite the high priority items on your to-do-list? Or do you hold your ground and focus/prioritize mainly on Important tasks?

Let's do a comparison, shall we?


Example of Urgent Tasks:

- attending a course on 'How to Use Excel' just because it is a free coupon given to your boss and today is the last day to attend.

- help a colleague do up an invoice (not your duty) because her computer went bonkers this morning and the customer is waiting for it

Example of Important Tasks:

- preparation of agenda for CEO's meeting tomorrow morning
- finishing up that payroll excel so that everyone can get their pay in time
- applying Visa for the CEO who is leaving for Japan next week

Hence it is obvious that we Go for important tasks first. Important tasks are things that may cause you to lose your job if they are not done in a efficient and timely manner. Whereas for urgent tasks, it is really up to you to decide if it is really worth doing it immediately.

Like I mentioned, urgent tasks may not be important and it is only urgent to the person who is assigning it to you. If that person is not your immediate boss, always check with your boss first if it seriously conflict with your ability or schedule to fulfill the more important tasks on your list.

Learn to say NO

 

Yes, it may not be easy to say NO to your boss but it may be necessary to highlight to him or her the important things that you are current doing and let him or her decide which one you should do. If something goes horribly wrong after you do it, at least your boss will be the one to take the rap.

Learning to say NO is a skill hardly practiced by people these days as they are often fearful of losing their job if they say NO.

Well, it depends.

Saying No to a colleague who is obviously taking advantage of your kindness to help would be the right thing to do and of course, saying No to your superior will depend on what the task is about. Is it Important or Urgent or Both?

What if You Really Need to Quit?

There is really no fix time on when to quit. It is ultimately your call but before you quit, always try to have the following in place (best effort basis):

- have a few job offers (highly recommended)

- have enough saving to cover your personal expenses for the next 6 months (recommended)

- test the market to see if there are vacancies for your current job in the market

- get support from your family and friends

Quitting a job may have impact and repercussions if not handled properly. If you burn your bridge with your ex-company when you quit, it may affect your chance of landing a new job in the same industry as words tend to spread fast.

If you are really thinking of quitting your job and it is due to heavy workloads, I would strongly suggest that you try out the Important vs Urgent Tasks filtering method and see if it works for you.

If nothing else work and your boss is really an asshole, quickly land another job or save up like I recommend above and then say this to your boss:

You Are Fired!

Do you Deserve it?

I am sure you have often hear people complain about not getting that long-awaited promotion, salary raise, enlistment into prestigious colleges and the list goes on...

Except for the very scarce minorities, most of us are not born rich or have special talents, innate superhuman memories, physical abilities and so on...

So for the rest of us, we have to 'work hard' for what we want in life, don't we?

Want that promotion to be departmental head in your company? Yes? Then make sure you deserve it.

Did you do that extra bit of networking with the senior management whenever possible? Did you take up that extra course on leadership and management? Did you pick up challenges that your peers would not even dream of doing? Did you practice an extra hour for that forthcoming product presentation that will potentially move the company's profit margin northwards? If your answers are YES to the above, then you most likely will deserve that promotion when opportunity arises.

Jealous and envious of that new female colleague who has such slim and slender figure? Well, you deserve to have it too, if you care to exercise more, eat wisely and in moderate proportions and so on...

For the most part, life is fair - in my opinion. I recently lost 8 kg and yes, I do deserve it. Read about it here if you are not sure what I am talking about. :)

So the next time you think life is unfair, think again. Have you done enough to deserve what you want in life?

The Art of Letting Go

Letting go sounds so easy when we say it - giving advice to close friends, colleagues, family members.

But when it is our turn to let go, we tend to hold back.

Most of the time.

It is never easy to let go.

It's hard to let my kiddo walk and play by himself at the playground when he was two and the half of age. He may trip and fall. Other kids may push him. Unforeseen accidents always happen at the playground.

But little did I realize that he has been doing that since he started his playgroup at the childcare center. The teachers bring them out to the playground and let them roam around with or without our presence. 5 years went by without any accidents.

Most things will start and end the right way with or without our presence or involvement. I was on leave recently and happen to check my email and went through a few presentation slides of my staff - who presented our latest market research to the senior management team.

I would have added and amended  the slides the way I always wanted it, I would have tweaked and edited some of the wordings. No. I went on leave and had one of my team member do it. I did not have the chance to do anything and the whole presentation went well. Extremely well in fact. With or without my involvement and participation.

The world around us will continue to roll and evolve with or without our involvement. Thousands upon thousands of successful presentations to senior management happen everyday, without or with our involvement.

Successful events like weddings, company celebrations went well without me controlling and orchestrating.

Our involvement may make things better (the presentation slides) but it may rob others of the chance to present their best effort and work. We must learn to let go and live a more fulfilling life instead.

These 5 Effective Anger Management Techniques Work for Me

People around me knows that I am never the easiest person to get along whenever my temper flares up.

I used to fly into a rage when things go wrong. I still remember how I roared at one of my ex-colleagues over some very minor office politics. I am a rather timid person by nature but whenever something fuses up my anger, I would almost turn into a female version of Incredible Hulk and loud hurtful words would start shooting off my mouth. When things got worse, I would even bang the table or kick the chair as I walk away.

Well, that's me few years ago. :)

Fast-forward to 2016. Here I am typing this very post to share the few anger management techniques that have served me well over the last few years. Have the 5 techniques totally 'extinguish' the fire within me?

I would be lying if I say yes. Of course there are times when I still get "fired up" but the frequency of that happening has gone down by more than 80%.

80%? How do I know? Well, believe it or not, I do have a simple excel sheet to help me track the frequency of my anger blow-ups. I even journal down some of my thoughts on it, more on that later. Although these techniques are not perfect but when I start using them on a frequent basis, people around my life starts noticing the sweeter side of me, isn't that marvelous? :)

Ok, without much ado, lets get started and I sincerely hope these 5 techniques would be of great help to you too.

#1 - Deep & Slow Breathe Plus a Pint of  Positive Thoughts

This method doesn't really work all the time but trust me, it has 'saved me' from doing something rash or say something hurtful in quite a few occasions. It helps a lot when I see something that angers me right away.

For example, whenever I see careless mistakes on homework or test papers done by my kiddo, I would take deep breaths and tell myself to let it go. We have all been careless when we were younger and we survived, didn't we? Positive thoughts like these got me going so far...:)

But of course, if there is something that is fundamentally wrong, I will not choose to ignore it, I will try to find ways and means to resolve it. Doing positive thoughts do not apply to things that are problematic.

Try not to live with problems, solve them.

#2 - Exercise

I am not 100% sure about this but having adequate exercise do help a bit as I slowly discover. I try to exercise up to 4 times a week if possible and I notice that on days when I exercise, I am better able to control my emotion and hence less angry moments for me. :)

What exercises do I do, I heard you ask? Well, any form of exercise should do as long as it makes you sweat a little bit. For me, I personally like brisk walking and cycling. We have a cycling bike at home shared by hubby and myself.

#3 - Change of Environment a.k.a Isolation

This works especially well during heated arguments or facing someone you are angry with.

Whenever I gets angry with someone, I would excuse myself and walk out of the room or house. I would isolate myself and usually after about 5 to 10 minutes my anger would cool off. And if I happen to be in the office, I would go inside an empty meeting room or somewhere to re-compose myself from there.

Strong and hurtful words which I wanted to say are gone by the time I cool off.

#4 - Soothing Music

This method is my favorite but I do not always have the chance to do it since I spent a huge portion of my time in the office. I do not think listening to music in the office would help me with work too much since my line of work requires a lot of thinking and analyzing.

But whenever possible, I would. If I happen to do overtime in the office, I would play some slow soothing music in the background while I slog away. Has it help with my angry? Not sure but I am sure it has help to unwind me during stressful days. And as you may already know, stress are what fuses anger most of time, no?

#5 - Anger Tracking

Like I mentioned earlier in the post, I do journal and track my 'angry' days or moments. By tracking them, I would be able to tell if a certain technique works for me or not. For example, I find that on day when I exercise early in the morning before I start work, the rest of the day are quite easy going for me and I do not really flare up much even when things do not go well for me.

I would pen down my thoughts on angry days and most of time, I wonder why I became so worked up and angry in the first place. Things weren't as bad as I thought after all. :)

The journal is also for me to know if there any improvement in my pursue for better anger management. Yes, looking at the journal, I am glad to say that my temper has definitely become better over the years since using the above techniques.


Clarification Notes

Before I end the post, I have to clarify that these 5 techniques may not work for you as everyone's mental condition is different. So please do not send me ugly email or write harsh comments complaining that these techniques do not work. While I do hope they are of help to you but if you are really unable to control your anger after using them, I would strongly suggest that you seek professional help.

For those who do experience success using the techniques I shared above, I would very much appreciate if you would share your experience with me. :)

I Hate Gambling - Lost Close to $900000 Yesterday

Damn it. Lost all my 'hard-earned' money yesterday. I saved up a long time for them. My mood was down the entire day, couldn't sleep till 3am...

Ya ya ya...if only they are REAL cash. I lost close to $900000 yesterday in an online slot game call Slotomania yesterday. I was greedy and was betting $20 million per spin and while I could REALLY win BIG, I lost BIG too.

Although the cyber fake cash is gone, it does teach me a lesson though. Gambling (using fake or real cash) will never make you rich in the long run. It is like a small bud that starts growing within you when you get your very FIRST big win - when you are truly hooked, you will begin want to spent more and more to win back the lost (fake or real) money.

This is exactly what happens when you play in a real world casino. They will probably most of the time make sure you get to win some cash initially but when you are hooked, you will begin to gradually lose back all the winnings. And when you start to lose more money than you first started with, most of us will want to "invest" more and more in futile attempts to win back the lost money.

In the cyber gambling arena, the same goes to online slot games like Slotomania. You, too can lose lots of money through buying coins to play when you run out of them. And depending on your level and status within the game, the amount of coins you get when you buy varies.

Since I am a member in a very popular Slotomania FB group, I have always hear members swear they are going to stop playing after spending multiple thousands to more than $50000 (USD) in real money over the month/years. Too late buddy! Money lost is money lost. With that kind of money, these people could have invested in a real house or car with it.

While it is fine to spent a little bit of money (a few dollars) to pass time once in a while, BUT to spend $50000 in an online slot machine game which will never earn back any REAL cash in return, is in my opinion plain STUPIDITY! Those people could have win back some real cash if they had gambled their $50k cash in a REAL casino.

No wonder the creator of these slot game apps are mostly multi-millionaires.

What seems to be a harmless online slot game to pass time could potentially make you lose lots of REAL money if you are somewhat hooked. Not to mention the amount of time you have to commit in leveling up through the never-ending spiral of status points and levels. The highest level to date was someone who somehow manage to hit level 14000!! I wonder how much cash and time this person have spent to reach such an insane level.

For me, I do like to play slot games, but I start saving up (through daily coins and friends' gifts etc) when I lost all the coins. When I first started, I have admittedly spent some amount of money with them but after a while, I begin to realize that these games are designed to make people spent more and more to achieve higher level and status - playing on the basic vanity nature of us human beings. :(

So yeah, while I do feel sad and sore about the lost "cyber" millions yesterday, I am certainly NOT gonna invest any REAL money to win back those FAKE money like many others do.

These 10 Food Blogs Show You Where to Eat in Singapore

As a fellow Singaporean foodie, I really cannot afford NOT to read up food blogs to update myself on new places to eat yummy-licious food. I read and check out new posts from them out at least once a week and hence my hubby and I have never run out of idea on where to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner over weekends. :)

Below is a list of food blogs which I feel are quite worth their salt when it comes to introducing top rated food and desserts and if you are a senior foodie like me, I am sure you will want to bookmark them for future reference too.

1. iEatiShootPost








2. LadyIronChef

3. SethLui

4. iEatandEat

5. MissTamChiak

6. RubbisheatRubbishGrow

7. ChubbyHubby

8. Gninethree

9. DanielFoodDiary

10. SgFoodonFoot

The blogs listed above are in no particular orders and I may update the above list of food blogs as I come across new ones and if you are a food blogger, do send me your site and I will be sure to check it out and will list it here. :)

Weekend Visit to Singapore Arts Muesum

It has been a few years since our last visit to Singapore Arts Muesum. If I remember correctly, our kiddo was only about 4 years old when he first visited the place. When I asked him about it that day, he has totally no recollection of it whatsoever. :(

A simple Google search for Singapore Arts Muesum brings up the above

Anyway, you are a foreigner or tourist, please note that you will have to pay an admission fee. See below for the amount to be paid. As Singaporean, we went in for free after showing the counter our identity cards.

SAM is very accessible by public transportation and below is a screenshot of the location and some related information.

Below are some pictures that we took that day. Before you plan your trip there, it may be better to check out the latest exhibition they have there and see if they are of interest to you.

Yeah, the last picture was kinda of scary, isn't it? Our kiddo was absolutely frightened by the images, lighting and sound effects. It was from a special gallery located at the 1st floor. Most people would have missed it if they do not really explore. :)

Although it was a short 2 hours visit, our kiddo did enjoy himself and asked lot of questions regarding the artworks and exhibits. I am pretty sure he will be one of the tour guides if his school does organize such a trip. :)

How I Lost 8kg in 5 Easy Ways

YES! I just found out I have lost close to 8kg over the last 2 months.

What did I do? Well, as part of the 2016 new year resolutions, I decided to lose some excess weight (all thanks to being a couch potato during Nov/Dec last year) and so I decided to follow some advice given to me by a close friend.

Not sure about you but losing 8kg to me is a pretty big deal. After following these daily and weekly regimes over the past 8 weeks, I have come to realize that losing weight is really NOT that difficult. The real killers (the real difficult parts) are NOT having the willpower and consistency to follow through the entire 8 weeks daily routines.

Ok, without much ado, read on to find out my 5 tested and proven weigh loss formulas. :))

Main Ingredients: Strong determination + Consistency

1. No More Sugary Beverages and Junk Food

Yes, I know. This is a biggie for most people, myself included. I love soft drinks and I must have junk food at least 3 times a week when I watch my favorite TV shows in the evening. So it was a pretty tough challenge for me initially. Anyhow, I was super determined to give it a shot and after the 2nd week, my craving for them became weaker as I pressed on...

And, I have been drinking Oolong tea and mineral water for the most part in between meals and I also told my hubby to stop buying me junk food.

Truly a case of -> See No Evil, Eat No Evil. :)

2. No Eating After 7pm

When I first heard of it from my friend, I told her it is quite tough for me as I usually reach home at around 630pm. Anyway, since I was suppose to eat light dinner ( more on this below), I manage to finish up my dinner before 7pm (most of the time) by not bathing first.

This little tweak in lifestyle really make a big difference. I now bathed at around 830pm and have ample time to pack my things + ironing for the next day while catching some of my favorite TV shows at the same time.

p/s: a total cut off from junk food (while watching TV shows) was really tough for me but I persisted through. :P

3. Sleep More

I have always had the impression that by sleeping less, our body has the chance to work more and burn more calories. Well, it turned out that I was wrong. By giving our body its needful rest, it will become more efficient at digesting our food in the stomach while burning away some unwanted calories.

I have been clocking about 7 to 7.5 hours of sleep every night and yes, I could feel its positive effect on me within a day or two. These days, I feel much more refresh in the morning and my mood seems to be better too.

4. Big Breakfast + Medium Size Lunch + Light Weight Dinner

Not sure about you, I almost gave up on this after the first two days. It was pretty tough for someone who was so used to having medium sized dinner (plus junk food after that).

My tummy finally gave up grumbling after 6 days of making so much noise in the late evening. The craving for junk food was really intense. I do eat some fruits at times when the hunger became unbearable.

5. Slow down, Chew More

Although I am not really a fast eater, I do not really chew my food well prior to swallowing them. During the first three days, I had to constantly remind myself to chew more in between meals and fortunately by the 4th days, I found myself chewing more and eating a little slower than usual. Chewing the food into smaller chunks allow the stomach to digest it more efficiently and hence no excess storage around the waistline.

If you are a fast eater, I believe you will witness better results...:P

Well, that's it. Effective or not, it is up to individuals. Having the right amount of determination and consistency are the essential part of these 5 formulas. So if you have these 2 main ingredients with you, I am pretty sure you will be able to achieve at least a 5kg weight loss.

Try it and let me know how it worked out for you by commenting below, ya? :))

My Personal Travel Essentials Checklist

Like I mentioned in my earlier post regarding how I organize my life, I have a few online or mobile apps that handle tons of stuff for me. Inside my Todoist app, I have a travel checklist that I can print out whenever I do luggage packing.

Below is a basic essential checklist for me whenever I go for oversea trips. Do you have one too?

What to Prepare

1. VISA -

This site has a list of nationals of countries that have "Reciprocal Visa Exemption Arrangements" with Japan. Be sure to check and apply for VISA before booking your air tickets.You may also want to check out the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website for Japan too.

2. Passport 

Needless to say, always check to make sure your passport is not close to its expiration date (renew it if it is less than 6 months from expiry date) or you may get into trouble in certain countries.

3. Medications

I have a travel medication bag which I never fail to bring along whenever I am oversea. Medications for headaches, fever, diarrhea, gastric etc are must-bring-along medications for me.

4. Winter/Summer Clothing

Although you can always buy them aboard, it is often better to buy it local or bring it along if you already have them at home.

5. International Chargers 

Invest in a few international chargers will provide a smooth "juicing" time for all your devices.

6. Foreign Currency 

Be sure to change them in your local country as the rate is often lower when you are at the hotel or bank.

7. Time zone difference

Make sure to tune your watch to the correct time zone.

8. Battery Powerbanks

It's a torture to run into low-battery situation when you needed the devices most.

9. USB Thumb drives

Off load the photos/videos from your camera or camera phone.

10. International Calling Cards

Just in case your mobile get stolen or lost.

The above 10 items are my travel essentials. What are yours? Do you have a checklist too?

Daily Routine of a Working Mum

I am sure everyone has some sort of a daily routine to run every single day. You may not have a 100% fixed daily routine like those boys in the army camps but it is still pretty much a routine if you happen to religiously do it most of the day.

Below is just an account of my daily routine which I kind of separate them between weekdays and weekends since the activities I do are quite different.

Weekdays

Unless I happen to be on leave due to medical reasons or personal/family commitments, my routine for weekdays is pretty standard.

6am - 6.30am => prepare kiddo for school

6.30am - 7am => stalk check Facebook updates from friends and family members

7am - 730am => get ready (bath, doll up and get dressed) for work

730am - 830am => leave for work

8.30am - 5.30pm => slogging away in the office with an hour for lunch at 1pm. I love to
prepare/cook my own lunch when I am in the mood.

5.30pm - 6.30pm => journey back home. I do not usually never cook after work as I am already dead tired so yeah, you may guessed it. My and my hubby will usually take turns to packet dinner home or may choose to eat out depending on the weather, occasions and sometimes the mood. :)

6.30pm - 7pm => bathed and get ready for dinner

730pm - 8pm => family dinner + TV (if eating at home)

8pm - 10pm => TV time!! Yup, I will checked for Facebook updates in between commercials. Hubby and kiddo may join in if that's good show on the TV.

10pm - 11pm => prepare kiddo for bed and I will play a little bit of mobile game and Facebook updates before entering slumber-land. I may stay up longer on Friday nights or/if I happen to be on leave the next day.

Weekends

830am to 930am => Weekends are valuable and although I would have loved to sleep till 10am or so, I would usually wake up at about 9am +/-.

930am - 10am => breakfast + TV with family

10am - 12pm => I would usually do my laundry on Saturdays and laze around  watching some Toggle catch-ups on Sunday.

12pm - 1.30pm => Unless there are plans to go out for retail therapy or family outings, I would usually cook a simple meal for the whole family.

1.30pm - 3.30pm => If we are not going out, we would usually catch a online movie together in the bedroom (yeah, there is a wall-mounted TV in the bedroom) while munching junk food.

3.30pm - 6pm => usually catch a nap or do some online shopping or watching more video on my Samsung Galaxy Tab while hubby brings kiddo out for various outdoor activities (badminton, jogging, cycling etc)

6pm - 6.30pm => bath and get ready for dinner

6.30pm - 730pm => dinner time. We would usually buy back home and eat if there are good movies to be watch on TV. If we are out and about, we will eat at the malls or coffeeshops.

7.30pm - 9pm => More TV shows or occasionally go out for a stroll at parks (very rare).

9pm - 10pm => more TV shows or play mobile games

10 pm - 1030pm => prepare kiddo for bed + check Facebook updates

1030pm - 11.30pm => more TV shows or games till the eyelids become tired.

I stick to the above routines about 80% of the time but it can become very different whenever we go out for family outings/social commitments.

Do you have a routine that you follow religiously? Do you think sticking to routines is bad for our life? Let me know what are your thoughts, will ya? :)

3 Tools that I Use to Organize my Life

Unless you have been living off as a hermit high up in the mountains or cave, most of us already have our life deeply integrated with the advances in modern technologies.

Take SMS (Short Message Service) for example, I seriously cannot imagine writing letters to friends a.k.a penpals anymore when a few SMSes could have been written and sent within minutes.

Whenever the Internet or the mobile phone service provider is down, most of us feel totally crippled. Life becomes meaningless for me when I could no longer stalk check updates from my families and friends in Facebook or other social media platforms. :)

Beside all these techie stuff that already form part of my/our life, there are a few online tools which I, too cannot live without. Truth be told, these 3 tools are what glue my life together as it is right now - my daily to-do-lists, my appointments, my grocery list, shopping lists, my health insurance details, my passwords and PIN numbers and hundreds more...

These 3 tools may look similar at first glance but they each serve a separate functions (at least to me) and I hope they will be useful to you too should you decide to make use of them. All of them are totally free although there are paid/premium versions if you wish to upgrade.

1. Trello

Trello is my "can't live without" project tool. I have to have it for any new projects or when existing projects' milestones and timelines need to get updated.

Yes, Trello also allows you to share out your boards and notes and what I like best about Trello is that every single change you (or anyone you share the board with) make to the boards or notes will be recorded with date and time stamps.

 

2. Evernote

Evernote is a different animal altogether if you were to compare it with Trello. For me, I love to make use of Evernote to keep all my important business cards, utility bills, meeting notes, photos and so on. Since they have a built-in scan function, I scan most of stuff into Evernote.

For privacy reasons, I can only showcase a screenshot from their blog

What's really cool about Evernote is that every single thing can be found using their awesome search function. Yes, you can even search for images and also words within PDF scanned documents. So yes, it is essentially my personal secretary where anything I need is just a simple search away. :))

3. Todoist

My daily life would be in total ruin if I do not have my fair share of this app. Most of appointments, daily routines, to do lists and shopping lists are all within. I have depend on it so much that I even have checklist for oversea travel all neatly tucked away within Todoist. :)

Again, this screenshot is from Todoist blog.

Besides sending me daily email reminders on what's due and forth coming, I can also choose to churn out reports on what's been completed over the weeks and even months.

Do you really need all 3 Tools?

No. You really do not need to. Different people have different needs. You may have other tools that you like and that's perfectly ok. Like I mentioned before, these tools are already deeply integrated into my life and have saved me from the edges of insanity on countless situations. If you feel that your life is currently in a big mess right now or you have a messy project that need some serious organization, one of these tools may be what you need.

If you have some cool and awesome tools that you would like to share, feel free to comment below.