Had been able to meet up with quite a number of friends/ex-colleagues recently for CNY business gatherings, and it seems that the news of my new job has travelled far and wide.
I have been in my current regional sales position for 5.5 years.
Finally I'm going to make a step up to cover the entire APAC region as a program manager.
It's a pretty rare opportunity to be able to cover China. (rest of APAC as well)
This will be a huge step upwards, and there will be a risk of not being able to do well in the new role. Then again, life is about taking calculated risks and learning new things.
Not moving and staying in my old position may not
necessarily be a good move (pun intended), given the crazy upheaval and
restructuring going on in the company.
My position was getting untenable as well.
I had received friendly advice that Gen Y people like me are sometimes too eager to move up the corporate ladder when we believe that we have reached a certain level of skill maturity, but don't realize that we may not built up enough network base to help bail us out in times of need.
Well this is true to a certain extent, but it really depends on what one wants in life.
Building career can be like doing investments.
Some like slow, low risk and returns - Bonds
Some like average returns and risk - Equities
Some like high risk high return short timeframe - Forex CFD
Gen Y people probably belong to the Equities group.
Go along with the ride. Enjoy the journey.
Whatever the outcome, que sera sera
Will be officially starting in the new role on 1st April, but I had already started work in the background so that I can hit the ground and start running immediately.
So far things are moving pretty nicely for me after attending many calls. The skills and knowledge that I had picked up over the last 5.5 years is serving me well now.
Definitely issues will still probably pop up from time to time, and I can foresee that there will be times in the future when I meet with difficulties, and start to digress if I should had stayed in the sales position.
When that happens, I just have to remember 1 word:
MAJULAH!
Monday, March 09, 2015
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
172 days to Cebu 70.3
And I'm growing fat, losing my stamina, not doing proper training at all.
Haiz
Gotta come up with a shape up plan fast.
Difficulty is not in the actual physical exercise, but more on the logistics and support for the two kids at home.
It will be irresponsible to just scoot off for my own workouts and dump both under the care of Dear at one go at this point.
Haiz
Gotta come up with a shape up plan fast.
Difficulty is not in the actual physical exercise, but more on the logistics and support for the two kids at home.
It will be irresponsible to just scoot off for my own workouts and dump both under the care of Dear at one go at this point.
Friday, February 06, 2015
Rainie reaching 1 month of age soon
Time passes really quickly.
Rainie is turning 1 month old tomorrow.
Her baby shower will be much more managed this time, not as over-the-top as what we previously did for Ryan.
It isn't about whether we love Ryan more so his baby shower was a much bigger event. Nor is it that we are tired and just want the easy way out.
With the first child, our world revolved about Ryan. If there are choices to be made, we will always choose to pay the premium for supposedly "better stuff". This ranged from diapers to milk powder to the size of his baby shower and 1 year old birthday party.
Was it absolutely necessary to do that?
The politically answer was: I want the best for my kid, and I can afford it.
Taking a step back, looking at the stuff that we had done.
Elaborate baby showers/birthday parties looked good and felt good. For the parents and grandparents.
Does the kid know or appreciate that he had an elaborate party?
Probably no, and didn't matter that much.
So the question will go back to the point, whether it is necessary to throw a huge party for the baby?
My Answer now? It really depends on your POV.
We have to get more pragmatic in life, and prioritize the really important stuff.
Throwing a baby shower is still a significant event, as it is an important milestone for baby.
Saving the resources in holding a smaller event, and spending it on the more important stuff for baby, that's what really matters.
When the kids grow up, and start to better understand human relationships/ interactions, then it will be the correct time to place a bigger emphasis on such events. It doesn't mean that it is ok to go over-the-top then. It's the quality that matters.
And how the quality is defined? It is really up to the parents' upbringing for the kids.
Hmmmmm.
Suddenly getting philosophical tonight when I was going to write something else...
~~~~
Important milestones for Dear and Me:
As of 3 Feb 2015, we are made our final payment for our HDB-CPF loan.
So technically speaking, we are finally debt-free (not taking into account the internal processing time for HDB to clear this up)
Looking back, it was a good decision for both of us to take up the BTO flat back in 2008, just when the property prices were heating up.
We got our HDB apartment at a relatively low price (compared to my peers who bought later), so naturally the loan that we took is much lower.
Of course our CPF OA were emptied back in 2008/09 when we signed the documents, so the loan that we eventually took up was around 60% of the total price for our flat.
It took us about 4 years from TOP to clear our loan, which is relatively fast in this era.
I insisted on making consistent partial payments every year to bring down the loan size as quickly as possible, since the loan interest was higher (0.1% is still higher!) than the CPF OA interest, so it wouldn't make sense to let the OA balance grow and waste away.
Having a peace of mind now that we are technically debt-free is priceless.
With a secured base of a debt-free home, the next mission is to grow our retirement funds.
I'll need to pad up my OA & SA quickly so that I can use it to invest in a second property.
OA + SA have to be >50% of prevailing Minimum Sum before it can be used for payment on 2nd property
Still some distance to go.
Good thing I realized last year (better late than never!) the Minimum Sum Top Up scheme was going to help with income tax relief, and started to pump some cash in then. And just did the same for this year as well.
Getting income tax relief and bringing up my SA balance quickly so that I can use CPF OA for 2nd property installment payment? Sounds like a good deal to me!
I see it as my duty as a father and husband to do proper financial planning, so that the family doesn't have to worry that much about finances as we grow up/old.
Rainie is turning 1 month old tomorrow.
Her baby shower will be much more managed this time, not as over-the-top as what we previously did for Ryan.
It isn't about whether we love Ryan more so his baby shower was a much bigger event. Nor is it that we are tired and just want the easy way out.
With the first child, our world revolved about Ryan. If there are choices to be made, we will always choose to pay the premium for supposedly "better stuff". This ranged from diapers to milk powder to the size of his baby shower and 1 year old birthday party.
Was it absolutely necessary to do that?
The politically answer was: I want the best for my kid, and I can afford it.
Taking a step back, looking at the stuff that we had done.
Elaborate baby showers/birthday parties looked good and felt good. For the parents and grandparents.
Does the kid know or appreciate that he had an elaborate party?
Probably no, and didn't matter that much.
So the question will go back to the point, whether it is necessary to throw a huge party for the baby?
My Answer now? It really depends on your POV.
We have to get more pragmatic in life, and prioritize the really important stuff.
Throwing a baby shower is still a significant event, as it is an important milestone for baby.
Saving the resources in holding a smaller event, and spending it on the more important stuff for baby, that's what really matters.
When the kids grow up, and start to better understand human relationships/ interactions, then it will be the correct time to place a bigger emphasis on such events. It doesn't mean that it is ok to go over-the-top then. It's the quality that matters.
And how the quality is defined? It is really up to the parents' upbringing for the kids.
Hmmmmm.
Suddenly getting philosophical tonight when I was going to write something else...
~~~~
Important milestones for Dear and Me:
As of 3 Feb 2015, we are made our final payment for our HDB-CPF loan.
So technically speaking, we are finally debt-free (not taking into account the internal processing time for HDB to clear this up)
Looking back, it was a good decision for both of us to take up the BTO flat back in 2008, just when the property prices were heating up.
We got our HDB apartment at a relatively low price (compared to my peers who bought later), so naturally the loan that we took is much lower.
Of course our CPF OA were emptied back in 2008/09 when we signed the documents, so the loan that we eventually took up was around 60% of the total price for our flat.
It took us about 4 years from TOP to clear our loan, which is relatively fast in this era.
I insisted on making consistent partial payments every year to bring down the loan size as quickly as possible, since the loan interest was higher (0.1% is still higher!) than the CPF OA interest, so it wouldn't make sense to let the OA balance grow and waste away.
Having a peace of mind now that we are technically debt-free is priceless.
With a secured base of a debt-free home, the next mission is to grow our retirement funds.
I'll need to pad up my OA & SA quickly so that I can use it to invest in a second property.
OA + SA have to be >50% of prevailing Minimum Sum before it can be used for payment on 2nd property
Still some distance to go.
Good thing I realized last year (better late than never!) the Minimum Sum Top Up scheme was going to help with income tax relief, and started to pump some cash in then. And just did the same for this year as well.
Getting income tax relief and bringing up my SA balance quickly so that I can use CPF OA for 2nd property installment payment? Sounds like a good deal to me!
I see it as my duty as a father and husband to do proper financial planning, so that the family doesn't have to worry that much about finances as we grow up/old.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Better pacing for Rainie
As the old Chinese saying goes
第一胎照书养， 第二胎照猪养
It definitely holds some water.
Having went through Ryan's infant stage, we are not as uptight and panicky when it comes to Rainie.
Afterall, we now know that infants are not as fragile as we first thought.
Some well thought processes, even though are for the good of the infant, does not make sense to execute daily, and people end up with truncated versions which get the job done as well.
Taking extra care to pace ourselves better this time round, and not go all out with burning passion and enthusiasm from the start, and get burnt out in no time. There was still time for me to go for a swim today
Caring for baby is not a 100m sprint, No, not even a marathon.
It's a full time whole-life-encompassing Ironman journey that lasts till your last breath.
The old photo collage that I had done for Ryan's baby shower is still hanging on my living room wall, and it makes an easy reference to compare Rainie's everyday changes to Ryan. I gonna do a similar photo collage for Rainie's baby shower too
第一胎照书养， 第二胎照猪养
It definitely holds some water.
Having went through Ryan's infant stage, we are not as uptight and panicky when it comes to Rainie.
Afterall, we now know that infants are not as fragile as we first thought.
Some well thought processes, even though are for the good of the infant, does not make sense to execute daily, and people end up with truncated versions which get the job done as well.
Taking extra care to pace ourselves better this time round, and not go all out with burning passion and enthusiasm from the start, and get burnt out in no time. There was still time for me to go for a swim today
Caring for baby is not a 100m sprint, No, not even a marathon.
It's a full time whole-life-encompassing Ironman journey that lasts till your last breath.
The old photo collage that I had done for Ryan's baby shower is still hanging on my living room wall, and it makes an easy reference to compare Rainie's everyday changes to Ryan. I gonna do a similar photo collage for Rainie's baby shower too
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Precious Princess Rainie
My precious princess Rainie has finally descended into my world on 8 Jan 2015!
It only seemed like yesterday when Ryan was just born, and now we have a new member in the family!
Gonna get real busy again but I'm loving every moment of it!
It only seemed like yesterday when Ryan was just born, and now we have a new member in the family!
Gonna get real busy again but I'm loving every moment of it!
2014 Review
Jan -
Feb - Family Retreat at Hong Kong
Mar - Completed 2XU 42km run
Apr - Completed Putra Jaya 70.3
May -
Jun -
Jul - IPPT gold again!
Aug - Visited Yosemite
Sep - Completed TriFactor OD. Started Stock class and swim class
Oct - Holiday @ Bali with Dear & Ryan
Nov - Done SwimExpoAsia (not considered as completed due to a DNF in 1 race)
Dec - Completed 13th installation of SCMS and crossing the finish line in hand with Weicheng for the 1st time
As I get more experienced in Triathlon, I get more selective of the races that I join.
Racing for race experience isn't necessary for me anymore.
How did I fare on my 2014 To Do List:
Clock 2 x 70.3 Races - Only managed to do 1 this year. Wanted to do a 2nd one but have to put it off till next year as Lishan was pregnant and it won't be feasible to have a Race Holiday.
Test a proper business idea
Plucked up the courage to approach a couple of vendors for product distributorship.
The initial business plan was good, but couldn't reach a mutual agreement on pricing so I decided to drop the idea.
On hindsight, it was good that I didn't forcibly enter a bad business, as it wouldn't be sustainable at the prices that I was given. No point jumping in when the conditions ain't right. Especially after seeing my BIL sports venture fall through after 1 year of effort.
1 Full overseas trip with Dear and Ryan
Bali!
Expand portfolio by 75%
The initial goal was pretty random when I first decided on 75%.
I'm glad that I went in the other direction of going for proper classes and learning more rather than just going after illusion of having a bigger portfolio = a bigger safety blanket
Bigger portfolio of bad stocks will just push me further away from my goal.
Pick up martial arts
This was replaced by my swim and stock classes.
The original motivation for martial arts was to keep things fresh and to keep learning new stuff. Martial arts definitely is still on my list as one of the to do items, but choosing the correct skill to learn at the correct time, and with time-skill compounding (it works like interest compounding), it is a correct choice to pick up trading and swimming first than martial arts.
Learning to trade properly earlier means I got more time for compounding effects.
Learning good swim techniques means I get more focused on what I should be doing in my Ironman trainings rather than just going after aerobic & anaerobic gains which come and goes.
Clock 3 interviews
Now this is something which I should have really done much better.
I'm definitely too far into my comfort zone that even though I kept saying that I want to look for new jobs but didn't even bother to find the time to update my resume and send it out, much less spend time looking for openings.
However, the good thing is that some of the extra stuff which I did, beyond my scope of work, has unexpectedly opened new horizons for me, as it lead me to new roles and even possibly new business that I can operate.
On the 3x interviews target that I had set, I had only managed to do 1x.
And it was an internal interview, which went pretty well.
Hopefully I will get some good news within the next 2 weeks.
Time to write 2015 goals!
Feb - Family Retreat at Hong Kong
Mar - Completed 2XU 42km run
Apr - Completed Putra Jaya 70.3
May -
Jun -
Jul - IPPT gold again!
Aug - Visited Yosemite
Sep - Completed TriFactor OD. Started Stock class and swim class
Oct - Holiday @ Bali with Dear & Ryan
Nov - Done SwimExpoAsia (not considered as completed due to a DNF in 1 race)
Dec - Completed 13th installation of SCMS and crossing the finish line in hand with Weicheng for the 1st time
As I get more experienced in Triathlon, I get more selective of the races that I join.
Racing for race experience isn't necessary for me anymore.
How did I fare on my 2014 To Do List:
Clock 2 x 70.3 Races - Only managed to do 1 this year. Wanted to do a 2nd one but have to put it off till next year as Lishan was pregnant and it won't be feasible to have a Race Holiday.
Test a proper business idea
Plucked up the courage to approach a couple of vendors for product distributorship.
The initial business plan was good, but couldn't reach a mutual agreement on pricing so I decided to drop the idea.
On hindsight, it was good that I didn't forcibly enter a bad business, as it wouldn't be sustainable at the prices that I was given. No point jumping in when the conditions ain't right. Especially after seeing my BIL sports venture fall through after 1 year of effort.
1 Full overseas trip with Dear and Ryan
Bali!
Expand portfolio by 75%
The initial goal was pretty random when I first decided on 75%.
I'm glad that I went in the other direction of going for proper classes and learning more rather than just going after illusion of having a bigger portfolio = a bigger safety blanket
Bigger portfolio of bad stocks will just push me further away from my goal.
Pick up martial arts
This was replaced by my swim and stock classes.
The original motivation for martial arts was to keep things fresh and to keep learning new stuff. Martial arts definitely is still on my list as one of the to do items, but choosing the correct skill to learn at the correct time, and with time-skill compounding (it works like interest compounding), it is a correct choice to pick up trading and swimming first than martial arts.
Learning to trade properly earlier means I got more time for compounding effects.
Learning good swim techniques means I get more focused on what I should be doing in my Ironman trainings rather than just going after aerobic & anaerobic gains which come and goes.
Clock 3 interviews
Now this is something which I should have really done much better.
I'm definitely too far into my comfort zone that even though I kept saying that I want to look for new jobs but didn't even bother to find the time to update my resume and send it out, much less spend time looking for openings.
However, the good thing is that some of the extra stuff which I did, beyond my scope of work, has unexpectedly opened new horizons for me, as it lead me to new roles and even possibly new business that I can operate.
On the 3x interviews target that I had set, I had only managed to do 1x.
And it was an internal interview, which went pretty well.
Hopefully I will get some good news within the next 2 weeks.
Time to write 2015 goals!
Thursday, January 08, 2015
Management Skills Nugget
Recent issues had got me thinking about my own management style, which I can summarize as below:
Managing your team well is similar to commanding your troops well.
A good leader should have set well defined expectations in his team, and train his team to understand his actions and the rationale behind it. The team shall be well drilled in their own responsibilities, so that when issues arise, they will be able to broadly predict what will the leader do, and they will be able to react quickly, sometimes even without direct input from the leader.
Unclear directions within the team will create confusion that will result in uncertainty and the team will not know how to react in crisis/situations.
Confusion has it's place, and that is on the battlefield, and reserved for the enemies. Not your own troops.
一个好的领导者要懂得如何带兵。
操兵是为了要让兵士知道如何应对号令, 日后在战场上才不会兵荒马乱
战场上的混乱应该留给敌人，而不是自己的士兵
当士兵无法理解号令，那将领就是个失败者
Managing your team well is similar to commanding your troops well.
A good leader should have set well defined expectations in his team, and train his team to understand his actions and the rationale behind it. The team shall be well drilled in their own responsibilities, so that when issues arise, they will be able to broadly predict what will the leader do, and they will be able to react quickly, sometimes even without direct input from the leader.
Unclear directions within the team will create confusion that will result in uncertainty and the team will not know how to react in crisis/situations.
Confusion has it's place, and that is on the battlefield, and reserved for the enemies. Not your own troops.
一个好的领导者要懂得如何带兵。
操兵是为了要让兵士知道如何应对号令, 日后在战场上才不会兵荒马乱
战场上的混乱应该留给敌人，而不是自己的士兵
当士兵无法理解号令，那将领就是个失败者
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Big changes coming
A man will probably experience the most changes in his life between the age of 30~50.
Some changes are positive, some bad, some uncertain.
Positive change for me at the age of 33?
My 2nd baby is coming soon. Real soon.
It's a good change to have for sure, but with it comes more responsibilities in life.
男人就要担当 - A man has to carry his responsibilities
I'm not so worried about taking care of my dependents.
The other thing that I get more worried about is dad and mum's health.
Bad change is that it is getting more evident that Dad & Mum are really getting old.
Dad was hospitalized this morning for complications.
Probably initiated by food poisoning, which lead to issues with the intestines and subsequently kidney not functioning properly due to poor blood circulation.
Visited him in hospital just now and he seems weak but is generally ok.
Health is important.
No.
It should be "Health is GOD DAMNED important"
Taking good care of one's own health is the best gift that you can give to your loved ones, so that they will have you by their side always, and not have to worry about your suffering.
Dad's constitution has not been the strongest one around.
Even though he had been taking plenty of health supplements and stuff and went vegetarian, the lack of physical exercise in his younger years and many years of working under the sun probably took it's toil on his body.
Just hope that dad will recover quickly and without any sequela
Even though I'm a self professed health freak, given my rather active lifestyle, there are still some undesirable habits that I should weed out from my life.
My #1 bad habit is the chronic lack of sleep/rest.
Mostly due to my heavy workload, sometimes I don't really get to sleep much at night.
I know exactly how bad for health this is.
Try telling smokers that smoking causes lung cancer and expect them to quit immediately. Now try telling me to sleep more without first resolving the workload issue
Perhaps my #1 resolution for 2015 should be mandating a better Life-Work balance (life comes before work) with a minimum of 6-7 hours sleep per night
Uncertain change at the workplace.
I don't really fancy writing about my work stuff in public domains, but sometimes the parallels with some Chinese history is just too uncanny to ignore.
Maybe I watch too many period war shows and fantasize too much about myself being a great general in ancient China...
Drawing parallels with 蘭陵王
He was an amazing general and was well revered as the God of war during his time.
His super human efforts to repel invaders and turned the tides of a losing battle, incurred the crown prince's jealousy, as people start to talk about him being superior to the incompetent crown price.
The crown prince was fearful of 蘭陵王 clocking too much credit in the battlefields and winning the people's heart with his benevolent ways, which will pose as a serious threat to replacing him as the next in line for the throne.
功高盖主 - outperforming your superior.
Subsequently 蘭陵王 was sidelined politically, first by losing the power to command his own troops, and then moved to a position where he is of less threat.
Even though he was held in high regards by the common folks, he was eventually killed by the crown prince (who assumed the king position later) for fear of rebellion.
Let's see what happens next IRL
Some changes are positive, some bad, some uncertain.
Positive change for me at the age of 33?
My 2nd baby is coming soon. Real soon.
It's a good change to have for sure, but with it comes more responsibilities in life.
男人就要担当 - A man has to carry his responsibilities
I'm not so worried about taking care of my dependents.
The other thing that I get more worried about is dad and mum's health.
Bad change is that it is getting more evident that Dad & Mum are really getting old.
Dad was hospitalized this morning for complications.
Probably initiated by food poisoning, which lead to issues with the intestines and subsequently kidney not functioning properly due to poor blood circulation.
Visited him in hospital just now and he seems weak but is generally ok.
Health is important.
No.
It should be "Health is GOD DAMNED important"
Taking good care of one's own health is the best gift that you can give to your loved ones, so that they will have you by their side always, and not have to worry about your suffering.
Dad's constitution has not been the strongest one around.
Even though he had been taking plenty of health supplements and stuff and went vegetarian, the lack of physical exercise in his younger years and many years of working under the sun probably took it's toil on his body.
Just hope that dad will recover quickly and without any sequela
Even though I'm a self professed health freak, given my rather active lifestyle, there are still some undesirable habits that I should weed out from my life.
My #1 bad habit is the chronic lack of sleep/rest.
Mostly due to my heavy workload, sometimes I don't really get to sleep much at night.
I know exactly how bad for health this is.
Try telling smokers that smoking causes lung cancer and expect them to quit immediately. Now try telling me to sleep more without first resolving the workload issue
Perhaps my #1 resolution for 2015 should be mandating a better Life-Work balance (life comes before work) with a minimum of 6-7 hours sleep per night
Uncertain change at the workplace.
I don't really fancy writing about my work stuff in public domains, but sometimes the parallels with some Chinese history is just too uncanny to ignore.
Maybe I watch too many period war shows and fantasize too much about myself being a great general in ancient China...
Drawing parallels with 蘭陵王
He was an amazing general and was well revered as the God of war during his time.
His super human efforts to repel invaders and turned the tides of a losing battle, incurred the crown prince's jealousy, as people start to talk about him being superior to the incompetent crown price.
The crown prince was fearful of 蘭陵王 clocking too much credit in the battlefields and winning the people's heart with his benevolent ways, which will pose as a serious threat to replacing him as the next in line for the throne.
功高盖主 - outperforming your superior.
Subsequently 蘭陵王 was sidelined politically, first by losing the power to command his own troops, and then moved to a position where he is of less threat.
Even though he was held in high regards by the common folks, he was eventually killed by the crown prince (who assumed the king position later) for fear of rebellion.
Let's see what happens next IRL
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