I am reading Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers: The Story of Success” and am finally able to make the connection to the reference of “10,000 hours”.
Basically what this means is that from research, the differentiating factor between people who are very successful in their chosen fields i.e. competitive sports, musical performance artistes, professionals is that they put in the magical 10,000 hours or so to be good in their field.
What does that mean for us?
I was catching up with three of my good buddies (ex-colleagues from my first job) over lunch and one of them remarked that he was not so sure that the growth and “good vibes” of the growing economy for 2010 was sustainable. He could see rising COE prices, prices of good class bungalows and private property as well as long queues for taxis and crowds thronging restaurants and cafes being signs that prosperity is flowing around. But can the tap continue to flow?
As I gain more little grey hairs and my skin starts to become less soft and flexible, I realise that age is catching up. But with age comes wisdom. Not because I can predict what will happen in the future, but because I have seen what had happened in the past. Continue reading
I went through a bout of throat infection recently and it took a course of antibiotics plus lots of early nights for my body to fight off the invaders. The GP bill was $64.40 (4 medicines – antibiotics, cough mixture, tablets for throat swelling and nose block) at one of the big group GP chains which was somewhat expensive and set me thinking about what medical fees would face me when I grow older?
We know in theory that health is truly wealth but how much do we practice it day in and day out?
I for one have been telling myself that I need to exercise and to lose weight. The irony is that the lack of exercise, coupled with a few late nights saw my body succumb to a bug that made me lose weight due to lack of appetite. I realise that I need to really sleep by 11pm on most days as I get up around 6.30 am for work from Mondays to Fridays. My health has been something that I neglected a bit as I indulged in more than my usual share of soft drinks, snacks and fried foods.
It took a toll and a 5 day course of medication made me re-examine how healthy (or unhealthy) my habits had been for the last month or so.
There’s no point in me rambling on and on about getting healthy if I don’t do anything. In terms of diet, I would focus on more soup based foods as they tend to be less oily and with lesser fried stuff. In terms of exercise, I am trying to get myself back into the groove of doing some light jogging at least 2 x a week and something more strenuous 1 x week. My stress level was high last week because my staff was resigning and another staff was on long MC. Fortunately, the one on long MC was able to come back to work today and now I only have to contend with a short period it takes for the replacement staff to replace my staff who is leaving by mid September 2010.
Ultimately, financial freedom still has to exist in the context of being healthy enough to enjoy it. No health means that even if you are financially free, your quality of life would be poor.
Life is about balancing one’s needs and wants and to be healthy and happy in relationships with people who matter.
The closer I get to 40, the closer I realise that this balance is something that one has to constantly work on to make it happen.
How do you achieve your own balance in life?
Be well and prosper.
Tweak. by digitalpimp
MM Lee’s comments about retirement has highlighted about the changing paradigm of retirement, in that it is increasingly becoming less of an automatic ritual upon reaching a pre-defined age and more of a lifestyle choice.
Traditionally, retirement is an age where one is able to stop working, collect a pension and to take time to smell the roses and to take care of grandchildren. My parents count themselves fortunate in that they were school teachers their entire careers and stayed in the pension scheme (and taking pay cuts in the last few years of their working life) even as it was slowly phased out by the CPF scheme.
However, the Civil Service has all but abolished the pension scheme except for a few select schemes e.g. Administrative service and some specialised services. Majority of public sector and statutory board employees are on the CPF scheme, as are virtually all the private sector and GLC or TLC organisations.
Thus, the concept of choosing not to work becomes one of income versus lifestyle needs than an age per se.
Flickr image "I am Here for the Learning Revolution" by Wesley Fryer
I’ve read the book, “The Art of Learning” by Josh Waitzkin and was completely blown away by some of his ideas as well as his personal achievements in the world of competitive chess and martial arts (Tai Chi Quan).
If you are interested to learn how we can learn better and to achieve peak performance in whatever fields of endeavour; which includes the field of personal finance and financial freedom, then you should consider reading his excellent book.
You can read more about Josh Waitzkin here.