Kelly Huang

Author: kelly huang

  • Not finish a book

    Two books I did not finish recently and the reason.

    • The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias
      • A fundamental book. If it dates back to 2017, I think this would be a nice read. For now, it feels like a reminder; there’s nothing wrong with that, but I haven’t found big insight to keep me going.
    • Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts
      • A highly to-the-ground, practical book. I think it will be a good read when I’m on the road, but that ‘s not the case at this moment. It felt distant and hard to follow through.

    Why do I feel obligated to finish a book?

    1. I paid. I want my money back. or: it’s a waste not to.
    2. There’s something, I just haven’t stumble across it yet.
    3. It’s a book. It has to be right.

    But a book is an idea, and idea doesn’t always translate for everyone. At 35, I think there’s no guilt in that; although at times I imagine myself to have to like it.

  • No clear instruction? Make a call

    • Year 2022: promoted as the team lead for product marketing when 3 of 5 members left.
    • Year 2025: got a new job as team lead for product marketing unit employee no.1.

    Both jobs shared one thing similar: a direction to head to, but lack of clear milestones. At least not given to me.

    What I learned is to make call on my own KPI, on what I think the organization needs and how I will implement this. If no one tells me to stop, then I continue to work on my roadmap. Remember frequent status update is a must.

    The lessons I learned:

    1. Have a plan to work on and being less panic. Doing nothing or passively doing little gets you killed.
    2. Autonomy and freedom to make a plan and execute the plan.
    3. Do it differently. Instead of learning to use Indesign to create multi-lingual datasheets, which underperforms even with someone dedicated, try to automate with script and template. Try 10x to result, not 1.2x.
    100 day action plan at Luminys

  • Saving up for

    10th grade, I saved up THB 3,000 for my first Nike basketball shoes. At 30, I start to see people save up 20% for their home down payment.

    Once we start to make a paycheck or receive our credit card, that stopped. Everything seemed so easy now. The wait is gone. So was happiness. It was both less and short.

    Fun money gave some of that that back: having a thing or service to want and the progression to reach that. The result feels happy, the progression feels happy, and the anticipation feels happy.

    Side note: that basketball shoes was made for indoors, so it didn’t last long. I never bought another sneaker or sports shoes surpass 3k.

  • Gamification and doing hard things

    Millie’s turning 5, school began to teach numbers and alphabets. I found this as an opportunity to learn to do hard things.

    Every time she writes from 1 to 50, a box is slashed, she accumulates 4 minutes of iPad or Switch time to redeem.

    It works for adults too. What’s that one anticipation we reward ourselves when we finish our work? Or may be in smaller pieces: I’m having a cup of hot mocha after 3 pomodoros on this deck.

  • Writing in a to-do app

    I’m a great procrastinator. I paid for Bluehost, I switched to Hostinger. I changed a dozen or so themes. But I avoided the thing that should be done: to write.

    • 2021: 3 posts
    • 2022: 3
    • 2023: 5
    • 2024: 30
    • 2025: 25

    I began to write on TickTick and reached 22 straight days. I found writing in my todo list to be a tactical move stay away from perfection.

    1. Removes the mental barrier, it’s like writing on a post-it note.
    2. Smaller screen landscape compared to an empty webpage.