During a hackathon competition, I met a mathematician/programmer who was a recent grad. He was talented and a hard worker, though a bit socially awkward. While we were sharing details about ourselves, he said to the group, “By the time I am 25, I will be the founder of a company, or will have achieved something exceptionally great. Otherwise, I will feel that I have failed my mentors.” My mind immediately came up with this equation: Disappointment = Reality – Expectations. (more…)

In hot and humid Singapore, having an air-conditioner is absolutely essential. When you rent a condo/HDB unit in Singapore, you are required (by contract) to hire an aircon servicing company for quarterly maintenance. But when you own your home, it’s easy to forget to maintain your aircon units. This might be why aircon units in rentals tend to last a bit longer than aircon units in owner-occupied homes.

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“You don’t need to be frugal anymore,” is a common piece of advice I often get from friends and family. Though I tell them that I’m happy living this way and truly content with what I already have, they just can’t believe it. The concept is so foreign to them. “You have the money. And it’s not going to benefit you when you’re dead,” they say. “So why not enjoy it?” That’s when I have to start listing the global reasons as to why I still practice frugality (and why they should too).

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They say that the average 4-year-old laughs 300 times a day; the average 40 year old? Only 4 times. Recently, I decided to make more time for laughter. And here’s what came of it.

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As mentioned in the previous article, our experiential (present) self often dictates how we think and feel moment-to-moment. But we also have a future self which likely will view our present situation very differently. The future self also has different interests and goals, often in conflict with our present self. In a sense, many of our current world problems — even the biggies like climate change and species extinction — can be seen as a conflict between our present and future selves.  (more…)