Jamie Lim Yin Yin : Version 2021 🌱

Hi friends!

Happy New Year 🎆! Finally 2021 has come - and I really hope it’ll be a better one for all of us!

Personally, I didn’t find 2020 too bad. Of course Covid-19 was (and still is) terrible, but I’m lucky to be based in Singapore where strict measures had been taken to ensure that the country was safe :) The great thing was, most of my loved ones were basically stuck with me too, so it was nice knowing that my family was safe altogether!

The introverted side of me actually really enjoyed staying home because I was just SO efficient and effective! I even learnt new working techniques from reading ’Deep Work’, which I could probably only ever employ at home because office would be too distracting with awesome colleagues and meetings galore!

I also took some time to do my annual review and wanted to share my top lessons learned for the year - they may sound cliche but these are just what I’ve gained from my experiences:

Why are you doing something? Are you doing it for the sake of doing it? Make sure you’re doing stuff that fills your life with purpose and meaning.

Really, most people only care about themselves. I hear a lot of folks say that they are scared to hit the gym because they feel intimidated. While I can empathize with the feeling, as a regular gym go-er I can also tell you that no one is caring about what you’re doing in the gym. They are either busy working out or listening to music. Trust me, with the amount of grunting and squealing noises I have made in the gym - you’d think people would stare but really, I PROMISE YOU. No one gives a damn. Luckily, this applies to other life scenarios too. I guess it’s a good thing that humans are generally a selfish, narcissistic lot? 🙊

I hope everyone is in pursuit (or are developing skills) to ensure they are primed to do something they enjoy for life. I’m expecting to live for another 50 years or so - with 1/3rd of that taken away for sleep and the other 1/3rd taken away by work (current economic engine) - we really should try to find things / people in life that keep us happy and fulfilled in that last 8 hours we have to ourselves. There really isn’t any time to waste.

I’m generally a nice and pleasant person (I HOPE, I THINK?) and some days, you just end up meeting folks who snap at you and are incredibly grumpy. I’m also the sort of person who gets quick to anger IF the behavior from them is unwarranted - but now I try my best to just be calm and not let it bother me. Maybe I’ve heard several cases of suicides happening over the years that have deeply affected friends of mine - and it’s really sad to see so many folks in the world feeling so sad and lonely, especially if they feel that no one understands and that there is no way out. So, always be nice to people (even if it’s hard!) Always let them know that they are loved.

I wrote about ’being present’ in one of my previous newsletters - and this is one of the lessons that I have taken most seriously to heart this year:

What were some of the lessons you learned from 2020? Please share them with me - I’d really be curious to know :)

Till next week!

Jamie

I’ve recently become somewhat of a board game freak! A few years ago, I recalled playing a game with a panda eating bamboo. Googled it - and I found Takenoko! I LOVE THIS GAME!

Here’s the storyline of the game: as an alliance between China and Japan are made, the China emperor gifts a Panda to the Japanese emperor. The game revolves around needing to completing objectives to gain the Japanese Emperor’s favor by 1) plotting out beautiful lands 2) growing beautiful bamboo and of course 3) keeping his new panda pet fed and happy!

Can I just say - it’s absolutely gorgeous! The game’s artwork is really beautifully made - together with the cute green / pink / yellow bamboos and little wooden tiles that make up ‘irrigation’. The amount of attention to detail that went into game design is absolutely sick!

Of course, this wouldn’t matter much if the game wasn’t fun - which it thankfully is! The game is easy enough to pick up without too many complicated rules to learn! You can see how to play it here on this 5 minute video by Geek & Sundry (a YouTube Channel on board games I’ve clearly been binge watching). I can’t wait to get the expansion pack (featuring the pretty girl panda!)

I guess I really like the idea of board game night. Being able to gather with a few close friends to sit down and have a nice social evening in the comfort of our own home - is just really simple and nice.

So…board Game night, anyone? 😉

Ryan Holiday has written most of his books on how to live everyday life based on the principles of ancient philosophy: Stoicism. From my realizations from weeks before, I plan to get ’Ego Is The Enemy’ and ’The Obstacle Is The Way’ to start reading up on how to live a better life :)

I came across this blog post that he had written just as he was turning 28, and being a productivity enthusiast, I really enjoyed his nuggets. Here are my favourites:

If you are interested, he also has another article on ’33 Things I Stole From People Smarter Than Me on the Way to 33’ which also provides some interesting insights to life that he has gained over the years.

Please watch it, and give it a like 👍🏽 as it really helps support the channel and subscribe to my channel here if you found value in this video! 🙏🏼

Of course, sharing the videos with anyone who may potentially benefit from this information would help me a ton as well! 🤗

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