How to be proud of your job when you just can't.

1) don't shit talk. You might start to believe those shit given long enough. 

2) as much as you think your boss hates you and just wants to work you like a cow, he/she probably doesn't really give a damn about you and just wants things to be done right. 

3) think about your boss's KPIs. Try to make it happen for them. 

4) think about the company strategy and how you're contributing to that. 

5) think about how the company will train your replacement when you're gone (not in the morbid or bitter sense but in the most rational way if you can). 

Suddenly I can feel a bit of life in my mundane job. 

I am my own CEO

... and CFO, CIO etc etc.

I know this is not some world-changing revelation in the financial blogging world, but recently this idea of taking a more hands-on approach to managing my own life (as opposed to being led around by conventional ideas) has started to take root in my mind. And I'm really liking it.

I have suffered, blissfully unaware, from not taking control of my life for the first (at least) 23 years of my life up until the point when I graduated from university. When I went up on stage to collect my degree, I remembered thinking "this was it, life as dictated by myself starts now."

Of course, that did not happen until at least 3 years later. It takes time to identify and remove the invisible shackles that you have been taught to think of as normal. Things like:

-"You must work until you are [insert retirement age]" The inevitability of that statement caused me to spend on creature comforts to allay the pain, which if I had continued doing would make it a self-fulfilling prophecy really. Now I know better.

-"It's risky to invest" As opposed to *surely* losing money by keeping it "safe" in a bank account? To be fair, the people who eschew this advice probably came from an era of real positive interest rates. Blindly passing on advice just because it has worked for you? Now that's a story for another post.

-"You need a lot of capital/time/good ideas to start a business" Bullshit - you can go out there and hustle and start selling right now if you're so inclined.

-"Animal fat and eggs are evil" I almost raged in a health seminar I attended when I heard this line the presenter said in relation to high cholesterol or something. I would say that going paleo was the best thing that happened to me in life far. I'm not saying this works for everyone. I'm saying: don't take what everybody says at face value. If going to the gym 3x a week and depriving yourself of delicious food (because everyone knows delicious food is bad for health) ain't working like it should, you probably should examine why instead of going harder at it like ol Boxer.

Just a year ago, if you had asked me to prepare my shareholders' report, it would have consisted a lot of: slacking off at work, watching youtube after work, spending excess money on beauty packages and online shopping, lots of short shopping trips overseas that did little for personal growth whatsoever.

Everyone has finite amounts of time, money, energy and space. Finding the best use of each through proper allocation, automation and outsourcing (among others) is the key to maximizing efficiency and success. And it is your job as CEO to see to that.

First post!

Hi there. Just a (pretty) normal 20 something in Singapore with a keen interest in living a good (efficient?) life, especially in the personal finance and personal effectiveness area. I've always been a voracious reader and today I decided that I should stop procrastinating on sharing my thoughts and thereby contributing my thoughts to cyberspace as well.

Some of things I hope to write about are on personal finance, early retirement (in 30s-40s?! Yes it is possible!)/ financial independence, health and exercise, learning and just work and living in Singapore, which is not perfect but still pretty damn underrated in my opinion.

I do tend to have some unconventional views (not all, after all I am Singaporean and our best trait is to not stand out) so consider this a disclaimer. I'd love to receive feedback so comment away!