Lessons I’ve learned

On relationships and communicating with others

  1. Learn people’s first names. To them, its the sweetest and most important sound in any language. Making a concerted effort to remember names is difficult, but rewarding (From Dale Carnegie)
  2. As humans, our greatest desire is to be important. So appreciate people - but don’t flatter them. Be genuine and sincere. (From speaking with other people)
  3. Be a good friend before seeking out good friends. When you find good friends, keep them close (From my own friends)
  4. Seek to help people first and don’t ask for favors. When you really need something, make it very clear that you are asking for help and don’t brush it off as a simple request. (From Gary Vaynerchuck)
  5. Actually listen to people. You don’t have to agree, but you do have to pay attention. (From Dale Carnegie)
  6. Meaningful conversations cannot be replaced by superficial likes and a text message. With all my communication, if given a choice between sending a text or calling someone, I’d always call. (From Cal Newport)
  7. Despite cultures and borders, at the end of the day, people are people, no different to you. (My mother when I expressed my fears of moving to a new country to study)

On Business and Finance

  1. The first rule of compounding is to never interrupt it unnecessarily. (Charlie Munger on the importance of slow and steady growth)
  2. Always support the people that support you. (My father when I asked him “Dad, why would you pay your own client more money to do the same job when we can get a cheaper rate with this company?”)
  3. There’s always a bigger fish. A bigger house. A better car. A more expensive watch. Take some time to be grateful. (From people that can never have enough)
  4. Eat little and live long. (My father on the importance of sustainability in the ambition of making money)
  5. Success isn’t for a chosen few, but is chosen by a few. (This is one of the oldest sayings I can remember. It’s plastered in big bold letters across my dad’s office)

On Productivity

  1. Perfectionism is just a lazy excuse for fear. (From Austin Kleon)
  2. If more information was the answer, we’d all have abs. We’d all be rich. But it isn’t. So the difference is in action. (The Joe Rogan Podcast on the abundance of information we have access to)
  3. Be an amateur and work with the garage door up. Cultivate a novice mindset and always be willing to learn from others and show your progress. (From Austin Kleon)
  4. Treat failure as a regular part of your life. Think of it as a science experiment. The idea of iterative failure means that you make little tweaks each time and constantly improve. (From Josh Kaufman)

On Life in General

  1. A healthy person has 1000 wishes. A sick person has only one. So take care of yourself. (From a global pandemic)
  2. Don’t try. Approach things with a lightness and curiosity. (From Charles Bukowski and Andy Puddicombe)
  3. Picture a wave in the ocean. You can see it and measure it. But then it crashes on the shore and it’s gone. But the water is still there. The wave is just a different way for the water to be for a little while. (From an illustration my brother created reflecting on the transient nature of life)
  4. You can find inner peace through simplicity and minimalism. (From Zen Buddhism. This principle is known as Kanso (簡素))
  5. Drive Slow. (From Kanye West in his song from Late Registration, always reminding me to take life easy)