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How well do I know myself? After more than 50 years on planet earth, I am confident to say that I know myself much better now than when I was a 21-year-old. The best measure of this would be the recognition of your strengths and weaknesses.

One self-improvement course I attended many moons ago had suggested that after identifying your strengths, maximize them while you de-emphasize your weaknesses. I don’t necessarily agree with that approach on weaknesses.

One needs to come to understand your weaknesses, admit them and perhaps try to turn a weakness into a strength instead. That is the path to one’s acceptance of who we are and how to make yourself a better person in the process. Life is a long learning journey, one never should stop learning, else the hunger for life will diminish accordingly.

One of my major weakness is that I am not good at thinking on my feet. I tend not to be able to reply back quickly with snappy answers when faced with a tense situation. I am the type that likes to mull over the issue at hand, sometimes for days, before I come up with a quality answer that I think I am satisfied with. I used to have a boss that demands quick responses and being in a Treasury environment, I have been trained over the years to be decisive and to respond immediately. I believe that there are some situations that require this approach. But for major decision making, thinking over it will definitely provide for a better quality result. Hence I try to differentiate the problems at hand nowadays and then make a call on the approach to take. Those that require more time, I will write it down to remind myself and let it stew in my mind for a while. During my long running sessions on Sundays, I might run over these again with a clear mind. I believe that by doing so, I have turned my weakness into a strength.

Knowing my strengths is also as important. I think I am good at strategic business planning, having had successes in the corporate world with a proven track record. I am able to see opportunities where the incumbents only see brick walls in front of them. My marketing experience comes in handy to get buy-in from others to share with them my vision on how we should move forward. Being optimistic is also a strength, as pessimism is a poison that we should all get rid of from our system.

The more I get to know myself, the better my quality of life. I am better focused on what I want and it helps me plan strategically to create a concrete roadmap on how I want to get there. Execution of the plan is then the next key step to achieving it. Life has greater meaning as a result. It also encourages me to strive for new knowledge all the time, to better myself, and I become more hungry with a zest for life. Meanwhile, one should always also learn to stay happy and healthy all the time!

 

Another long weekend ahead, thanks to labour day on Monday.

National Service (NS) is our country’s version of compulsory military service that was started in the 1960s as a means to provide us with a greater sense of security in a time where neighbours were hostile to the birth of a new country.

Back then, the founders had no choice by to enlist the help of Israel to kick-start the NS program. Urban legends still exist today that the Israeli trainers do throw their daggers at the recruits and punishment were sometimes inhuman. Henceforth, NS became a rite of passage to manhood for 18-year-old boys.

My NS journey started in 1987 and it was for 2.5 years. It was a real eye opener for me as I was forced to interact with different social classes of people I have never met with before and pushed me out of my little comfort zone many times. That immature spoilt brat became wiser to the bigger real world outside of his cocoon and started to realize how lucky he was, compared to his many other army mates who had not much of a future ahead of them. I had written about this in my previous blogs.

Anyway, this week was nostalgic for me again. NS has come full circle for me as my older son prepares to get ready for his NS journey that would start early next year. He had been recently called up for a routine NS medical checkup a few months ago. For the first time in the 50 years of NS, they are now allowed to select the vocations they prefer. As he was with his softball mates, they decided that being in Guards was cool. A few weeks later, most of them received a letter to attend a Commando interview instead, as the army decided that they may want to up the game and join a more elite force… hahaha So there I was, a proud old man, sending him to the Changi Commando camp on Thursday morning at 730 am for that interview.

Then this morning wifey and I attended an NS briefing organized by the school. It was a very enlightening session where I learned about the new NS versus what I have experienced more than 30 years ago. They even have a youtube series called “Every Singaporean son” as a good intro to NS life (link below).  They even had a website for all relevant info : www.ns.sg

I am feeling as excited as my 2 boys, seeing them turning from boys to men within the 2 years in NS when they reach 18. The older one will start NS next year and mummy is naturally worried. I still have a funny knot in my stomach though, just like all those years ago when I gave part of my life to serve the nation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxmp8nwQ43Q

https://www.ns.sg/nsp/portal/site/mindef-pe

 

What is Intensity? The definition is “the quality of being intense”. If the intensity is towards something that consumes one’s heart totally, the sweet smell of success is so euphoric and uplifting that you hit a natural high. On the other hand, if the intensity is constant and involves things you cannot control, it can break you down.

This word has been coming up to me constantly this week. It started with a periodic lunch from the CEO for a big group of senior management members. The sentence from him that stayed with me was: “I see a lot more of intensity nowadays. It is good and I want everyone to keep it up.”

Yes, since I joined 5 months ago, it has been nothing BUT intensity. Changes are so constant that every day is an adventure, not knowing what will hit you next. You just bear with it and push ahead. People who have been around the bank longer have also told me that they feel it too. Apparently, for the last 5 years, there were 5 top management changes and hence nothing long-term could be implemented effectively and people have just been following the tide. This time, things seem more serious and we get news of people being let go every other week, tighter timelines and full head on challenges coming fast and furious…  Seems like every other global bank work environment is like that now. The clock is ticking faster and faster, timelines are getting more urgent and the rat race treadmill is spinning out of control.

That recent numbing tightness at the back of my head does not seem to be going away. My tensed shoulders look like the result of the stress I am going through. I need a good massage. I like to think that I want to continue to give it my best for as long as I can, or until I come to an “enough is enough” moment.

Nearing the tail end of my career now, so this is my final run towards the retirement finishing line. I would like to end this with a bang and say that it was a good finish, that I have accomplished something and left a legacy behind. It sounds a bit cliquish but one should always aim high to overachieve, then plan meticulously on how one can reach that goal. If I get it right, the upside is big. If not, then at least I can say that I have given it my best shot.

 

 

So glad that we have a long weekend ahead. Been a while since the last one. Most countries even have Monday off too.

Today is Good Friday, the Friday before Easter Sunday, on which the Crucifixion of Jesus commemorated in the Christian Church. It is traditionally a day of fasting and penance.

We should constantly give thanks to the Man upstairs for all our blessings and appreciate everything that we have been given because there are many others in the world that are less fortunate than most of us. ew and

As we grow older, more joy can be derived if we consciously aim to help others and try to make their lives better, even by just doing a small good deed. If you believe in karma, the more good deeds done by oneself onto others will, in turn, see one get more in return.

Happiness studies have also shown that many small happy moments are more sustainable than a big one. Buying a fancy car is a big happy moment, looking forward to and enjoying a simple happy moment every day (eg. a walk in the park) is a small one. Having many small happy moments is a far superior long run experience to having an infrequent big happy one. It is also good for the emotional health of oneself and it makes life, in general, a more enjoyable journey. I try to make this a habit of mine, by looking forward to an event in the day that will make me happy and then my day ahead becomes more manageable.

Just like yesterday, I had a really long day with B2B meetings and thousands of things to do. But the thought of having dinner with a group of old friends that evening cheered me along. And the dinner was wonderful.

Always look to the bright side of things, it will free up your mind and we can make the IMpossible become Possible !

Is the world getting more cynical nowadays? Gone are the days where a piece of news will shock the markets and stock markets go into a tailspin or financial markets volatility shoot off the charts?

We had a crazy Friday where Trump decided to bomb Syria for the sarin attack, another terrorist attack in Stockholm and markets hardly moved. Russia is now trying to escalate the pressure by further arming Syria. What is happening? Are people now so immune to shocking news that nothing scares anyone anymore?

Volatility is continuing to fall and I have a big hole in my pocket for my long TVIX positions… The theory is that in a search for yield, hedge funds having been doing a sure bet trade for the last few years, creating short positions on volatility with time decay on their side.  Volatility has hit historical lows and no end in sight. What does it take to shock the markets anymore? Not since Lehman in 2008 have we seen fear in the markets. Traders are afraid to take leave nowadays because the few hours that may help make or break their chances to achieve their budget may just slip pass them if they step away from their trading desks for a few hours.

Separately, people are also getting jaded at work. Again on a Friday, as in the last few weeks, half the project team of 20 were told that they were let go. This was 3 weeks after the head and deputy were fired. The remaining senior guy was on vacation in Japan and received a call that he lost his job. What a way to spoil a vacation… A clean the shop execution plan. Job security? It is non-existent nowadays.

 

Another busy week at work and time did pass quite fast with multiple back to back meetings. The second half of the week was in Hong Kong for business.

The Hong Kong weather was pleasant and this time around (3rd HK trip in 4 months), I decided to book a different hotel, opting to put up in Causeway Bay instead. It is the main shopping district and I spent both nights walking around the area looking for interesting restaurants to try while grabbing some of my favourite street food along the way.

Work wise, there is so many twists and turns every day. It makes for an interesting environment, where the clock is ticking and you get surprises (both good and bad) constantly and then try to make the best out of them while being on your toes. One has to be brave enough to stick one’s head out and make a call in a company where it historically prefers consensus agreements – many meetings and many signoffs required. Don’t blame them for the mindset, given 5 CEO changes in 5 years. It was better then to just keep your head low and cruise. Seems like that is not an option for a newbie like me now.

So many things happening now and my plate seems a bit full and overstretched. Does not help that my 2 man team will become one man in 2 weeks time. I tell my colleagues that I have 3 persons working for me now: “I, me and myself…”.

Got to give this my best shot and try to make it a success with whatever cards I am dealt with. Everyone’s getting more stressed at work and Cost/Income (CI) ratios are not very healthy. Just saw a mass front office group resignation in HK after bonus payouts. This will hurt CI even more as there will be an immediate revenue impact.

Hang in tight and just work my butt off. If I tried my best and it is still not good enough, then I will know soon. A job is a job is just a job…

Happy April’s Fool day!

 

Call it third sense or something, but I felt uneasy the whole weekend into Monday. It was a feeling as if you may get fired or something terrible may happen. We have been seeing senior heads being taken out with a 4 pm Friday email every week for the last 3 weeks. My new job looks a bit wobbly, given that the boss that hired me had his role made redundant 2 months after I started. And it is almost 2 months after that episode…

Late Monday afternoon, the only person that reports to me directly asked for a one on one meeting. He has decided to quit. Mid-level positions are in hot demand as banks look to cut expenses, taking out seniors (MD, D) that have experience and replacing them with cheaper staff (AVP, VP). They figured that experience is overrated and with machines taking over, they just need to get more junior staff to do the same work.

The signs are all there : machines don’t complain, don’t ask for bonuses and work 24 x 7. Even sales staff can be replaced with more efficient Algos that can analyze big data and spot trends faster. Facebook already sends you ads that you want to see, based on your views. Management of people? Uber already does that with sharp analytical accuracy, without emotions.

Where does that leave us? New jobs are being created at a faster pace than ever before in our digitized world. We just need to learn to catch up to make ourselves relevant. We must maintain the hunger to strive for more and have a can-do spirit, else we will be left behind pretty soon. It’s hard but I guess we need to be very disciplined and continue to stay focused. I constantly need to remind myself of this, though it is hard sometimes and moments of doubt and despair creeps in.

Anyway, we tried to counter offer the staff with a similar role he wanted but after a few days, he decided to go. It is now a mad scramble to look for a new person to fill the role and meanwhile, I would have to take up the extra load…

Stay focused, my friend. Tomorrow will get better. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Take a step back and think big picture. Chill and de-stress with friends and activities over the weekend… Sous Vide the Tomahock steak and go for your midnight Sundown half marathon run. Things will ALWAYS get better 🙂

 

People who know me will realize that I like to eat good food and also occasionally cook during important events like Christmas eve or CNY reunion dinners. The attraction of cooking for me : (1) learning new dishes and (2) it is quite therapeutic at times, to help me destress.

Recently, my interest has been sparked again by the process known as Sous Vide. It is a well-known cooking technique used by most fine restaurants to cook food that is close to perfection every time by inserting food packed into a plastic bag and then placing the bag into a water bath. By slowly cooking food in a warm water bath at a constant temperature, one can achieve a consistent cooking texture. This method is very scientific and less of an art. The end product will come out perfect every time because it is idiot proof. Think of it as a science experiment where the food is cooked from the inside out. It will never overcook because the controlled temperature is not high enough to allow the food to be overdone.

Just some history here. The French refined sous vide processes in the 1960s and American chefs rediscovered it in the 1990s and slowly brought it to the mainstream audience over the last 20 years, refining it into a simple process with technology. The sous vide machines are normally quite expensive but prices have been dropping drastically over time.

In the last 2 years, an American company called Anova had built a cheap sous vide machine that looks like a simple metal tube which can click onto any large containers. My friend says it looks like a big vibrator (see photo below). It simply contains a heating coil, a tiny fan to circulate the water and a very sensitive temperature control sensor. The basic one costs about US$200 and the advanced version even has WiFi control capabilities. I happen to be shopping in Qoo10 a few weeks ago and pleasantly found a made in China model for half the price.

For the last 2 weeks, I have been experimenting with my new toy using eggs as a starting point. The research from the web proposes temperatures between 63 degrees Celsius (63C) to 75 for difference eggs textures. My personal favorite at the moment is 63 C for 40 minutes to get an onsen like egg. I happened to have a whiskey+meats friends get together dinner the other weekend and we also had some lamb chops to try at 63C. It turned out perfectly pink inside and nicely cooked, full of flavour out of the bag. Apparently, one can cook food in sous vide in batches and then keep the uneaten balance in the refrigerator for a few days and then warm them up to room temperature when we want to eat them later, since the food is never overcooked.

Next to try on my list was steak. Ideally, I will get a Tomahock steak, bag it with rosemary, salt and pepper plus a few slices of garlic into a Ziploc bag and sous vide for 2 hours at 55C for a medium rare outcome. Just before serving, one should use butter to pan sear the meat, to provide a nice outer crust.

There was some cause for concern on the use of plastic bags for sous vide. Based on what I found on the web, the issue was EPA found in some plastic products that can decompose to a toxic substance if heat was applied. I reasoned that sous vide only uses temperatures that are 80C or below and that the warm water bath is not for a long period of time, hence it should be ok. Also, I try not to reuse the bags, getting a new one each time. With greater awareness of EPA, most commonly sold bags should be alright. Alternatively, one can use silicon bags.

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/what-is-sous-vide

Anyway, I will continue to experiment with my new toy. Seems like there is a better way to prepare food that is cheap and easy to do. We can all cook like a pro now!