I’m one of those who tried to find the “perfect tool”. It’s the fight between perfection and execution, perfection (excuse) wins most battles.
I tried a lot: OneNote, Evernote, Joplin, Notion, Obsidian, Keep, Apple Note, and OneNote; it never ends, just circles.
Somewhere along the line, rules form:
What worked? Spreadsheets, document, folders, and cloud.
2023 was challenging. Having significant increase in work time from my first time manager journey and taking care of my daughter, it was really really tough to keep up with exercise. All major indexes reached all time low.
This is a major focus of 2024, I’m happier when I feel physically strong. Building up a morning exercise routine is crucial, since it’s the only time I have.
This must have been the watch I wore the longest, it’s been close to 5 years.
I had two smart watches in between, a Xiaomi and a Huawei, none of which lasted more than few months.
What I learned about myself with this watch?
– I was wrong about TV, I thought it would throw away the few family time, but it gave us more things to talk about. Plus, it gave me a bit more time for myself.
– My second try on iPad went well so far. Don’t treat it as a computer, treat it as a messy notebook. It’s not a device for organization.
After reading the first chapter of Psychology of Money, I flash backed on the event of my life that shaped the way I see money today.
Questions and attempted answers I had with myself.
Why do I keep track of my expense and income?
I started to receive allowance since the second grade, but my mom has a rule to play by. Before I knew how multiplication works, mom would ask me to list down all the date and the amount that I receive allowance, then add it up, have it checked by her (making sure addition weren’t wrong) before I receive the money. It looks something like this.
May 1, Bht$1
May 2, Bht$1
May 3, Bht$1
……
Total Bht$30
This tradition continued to 12th grade. By the time I entered college, I have been budgeting for a decade. This stuck with me ever since, from analog notebook to excel file to google sheet, from being single to a father.
Why does it take me forever time to make a purchase decision?
There’s a formula that my mom used to adjust my allowance. Bht$2 per day in second grade, Bht$3 per day in third grade, all the way until 11th grade when it flattened at Bht$20 per day. There’s an additional Bht$1000 for Lunar New Year and birthday. So even when I max out, it’d Bht$9300 a year and that’s all the money I have for going out with friends. A set of McDonald’s is 15% of the monthly budget, a taxi ride is 10%, so I need to save for months for a purchase.
Some purchase turned out to be a bad decision and I think that shaped followed me until this day. I remember saving $5000 in middle school to get a branded basketball shoes. I spent $3500 on a pair of NIKE, just to find out in the week after, that the shoes gain traction on the outdoor court I play in.
Why am I lazy, passive, and risk aversive when it comes to investing?
A good thing about budgeting for 2 decades is precise understanding and forecast for my expense. I rarely overspend my salary so there’s no urgency to make big money since I don’t ran out of them. Consequently, there’s really no urgency to get rich through risky investments.