Weekend Engagement - Thinking About The Short Term

What challenges do you face in the next twelve months and how have you personally planned to overcome them?

It's interesting that I always have a rough idea of my medium to long term goals in life but I haven't looked at them from a short term perspective, i.e. in the next twelve months. So I thought this is a good opportunity to sit down and reflect on some of the possible near term challenges.

Health

Health is and will be featured at one of the top priorities and I have some upcoming check ups and some scans coming up in the next 3 months, and fingers crossed hoping everything will be fine. Otherwise, it will definitely be a challenge to cope with any new conditions and still juggle with the rest of the commitments in life. In a way, it's more of a potential challenge rather than a real one.

Finances

The challenge for me I think is how to juggle risk and return for my portfolio. Markets have been more volatile ever since Trump took charge and it's not always a bad thing. Volatility is double edged sword and while it can be scary at times, there are also windows of opportunity for investors to take advantage. So I think I will need to spend more time following what's happening in US and the rest of the world, especially when there's always something new every other day. It doesn't necessarily mean I am timing the market or have to trade frequently, but knowing what's happening in the world would be more important now compared to the past.

Work

My team is facing a reduction in headcount starting 1 Apr (that's in 2 days!) and this effectively means the same amount of work will have to be managed by a smaller team. This is definitely not uncommon and many employees are probably also facing a similar issue. So the challenge is how to cope with this arrangement, and since we can't change what has already happened, it's really about thinking hard and finding ways on how to be even more efficient, because it's never healthy or sustainable to be burnt out at work.

All in all, I guess you can probably see that my life is pretty routine and predictable and at times boring. Which is fine with me. I don't seek excitement for the sake of seeking it. Another observation that I must confess is that I don't have huge problems or challenges, and it's something that I am grateful and thankful for. That said, we all have own internal battles and for me, it's always all about self improvement, how to be healthier, how to be better at things we do, and how to be a better person to myself and to people around me.

Finally, photo of the week! I happened to be in the vicinity of the airport this week and it's always amazing to look at this indoor waterfall. May we face our challenges with determination, just like the relentless waterfall! Have a great weekend everyone!