For the last 5 years since 2019, I have been diligently planning my New Year resolution / KPI (Key Performance Indicators) list at the start of the year and then assessing/grading myself when the year ends before writing another list.
This annual exercise helps to keep me focused via a 12 months big picture macro overview of what I want to set out to achieve. I will keep a softcopy on my iPhone Notes app and review/add details to it throughout the year as I work towards the targets like the number of books read by adding a short book summary when I finished reading a book.
I used to do the same annual KPI exercise for my team during my Treasury sales career. It was to get buy-in from the team heads first. Then we will eventually communicate to the whole team when we have our first team meeting in Jan. Every member will be aware of each teams’ KPIs. It will also foster team work as each person will strive to help others achieve the overall group revenue target.
My 2023 KPIs were as follows:
- Read at least 20 books (B+)
- Complete at least 10 online courses (D)
- Edit videos (F)
- Develop my consultancy pivot (A+)
- To create a personal GitHub page (F)
- To stay healthy and happy always (B)
Read at least 20 books. I managed to complete 14.7 books last year, a slight improvement from the previous year. A short summary of each book read is listed below. I am a slow reader and I should try to read faster and also add some fiction books to the mix this year. There should be one hour set aside before bedtime every night just to read, instead of watching TikTok and Twitter…. I give myself a B+ grade here
Complete at least 10 online courses. I did 2 full day classroom classes -ACI one-day sake course and ACI one day whisky course, Complete only one online course: “Google Introduction to Generative AI”. Generally lazy to do more as I was disappointed that a full time 3 months course I signed up for did not materialize and I did not want to do the part time one offered as it would burn week nights and every weekend. I grade myself a D here.
Edit videos. I had a backlog of more than 2 years after the autoedit video software company I was using for the last 20 years went belly up and ceased to exist. I tried to buy a few newer ones but they were so complicated and not idiot proof enough for me to pick it up fast. I was stuck in a limbo. Hence I did zero editing eventually. I get a F for Fail here.
Develop my consultancy pivot. I am happy to say that this was my best achievement for 2023. The Oct 2022 consultancy project turned into a fulltime job in Sep 2023. I have been at the job for 4 months now and loving the new challenges I have to face every day. It is going to be my last career move to the finishing line of retirement. I plan to get this my best shot and hope that this venture will succeed. It is a golden opportunity that I will cherish and not waste it. I give myself an A+ here.
To create a personal GitHub page. This was an ambitious tech KPI which I thought I could pull off. Then with the launch of ChatGPT, I had to serious consider that no-code could become a reality and programmers will be out of a job soon. AI can easily help to spot coding bugs, translate code from one language to another or even provide one with the codes based on a sketch/drawing of an end result website. Why do we ever need to code any more? It makes no sense for me, a non-IT person, to try to learn to code this late into my life journey, no? I give myself another F here.
To stay happy and healthy always. 2023 was filled with many happy moments of quality family times but also a realization that our parents are aging and moving to the next phase of human limitations and medical deterioration. I give this KPI a B grade.
I did a HK trip to follow my wife for her business trip in Mar. Then we joined younger son in Seoul in Jun. This was followed by a Osaka/Kobe trip with older son when he was back from his overseas study. Finally at year end, we did a family trip with my in-laws joining us in Macau and HK.
We came to realise that dementia had started to progress quite rapidly for my mum and mum-in-law in 2023. This next phase of aging requires all of us siblings to force ourselves to face some tough choices and to make decisions on their behalf, to see what is best for them. I had to be the bad guy to talk to my dad to give him some hard facts to wear down his resistance to having a full time maid. Both of them cannot continue to live on their own any more without external help.
A new year ahead, a new 2024 KPI list soon. I will aim to pen it down next week. It will be my proclamation to the world of my annual intentions and goals for this year, whether anyone reads it or not LOL.
Appendix:
- To read at least 20 books
1 – Too Big To Jail by Chris Blackhurst – All about HSBC and the money laundering of drug money from Chapo in Mexico in pursuit of growth and profits to turn a blind eye to compliance. Governments are too fearful to give out criminal charges for fear of financial meltdowns but rely on big fines which don’t work as the bank can afford to continue to pay them. It is an ongoing problem.
2 – Seeing the Unseen by Guoli Chen – A review of Chinese tech firms. Interesting read and new info. How the dog-eat-dog competition onshore May not have prepared them well to adapt to their overseas push. A lot of names and examples are mentioned. Talked about the evolving small overseas successes while the preference to keep resources for onshore China is still strong.
3 – Alibaba – The House that Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark – good intro to the Alibaba story from the start till 2015. A better understanding of the man and how he built the company in his image and beliefs, what he had to do and also learning from his past mistakes.
4 – The Big Short – Michael Lewis re-read the book again because of the recent SVB banking crisis and watched the movie again. Had a better insight into the book now how the synthetic CDO works and what went wrong. Some similarities but generally the leverage was much crazier in the 2008 GFC.
5 – Adrift (America in 100 charts) by Scott Galloway – a first audiobook I borrowed since I listen to podcasts all the time. 3 hours. Lotsa charts for factual explanations of the state of America and its problems, especially of white men falling behind, which is his favourite topic. Most of his observations align with what I see too, like USD printing, military push, education issues etc. He suggested a few big-picture solutions at the end of the book.
6 – Ikigai- The Japanese secret to a long and happy life – Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles – Find passion and meaning, stay healthy, connect with others, and lifelong learning. The authors summarize 1. Stay active, 2. Take it slow, 3. Don’t overeat, 4. Be with good friends, 5. Get in shape, 6. Smile, 7. Connect with nature, 8. Give thanks, 9. Live the moment, 10. Follow your Ikigai with passion and meaning.
7 – The Most Important Thing – uncommon sense for the thoughtful investor – Howard Marks – A few things highlighted to watch while investing. Manage and understand the risk. Markets always move in cycles. Markets swing like pendulums. Avoid negative influences, contrarianism, and patient opportunism, know where we are now, invest defensively, avoid pitfalls, and add value.
8 – ChatBot – The New Future of Content Creations – Dwayne Anderson – Short 88-page book written in 2022 on how to use ChatGPT for various marketing and chatbot functions, training it and making the process more efficient for areas like blogging, education and learning tools creation.
9 – Chip War – The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology – Chris Miller – Better understanding of the rise of chips and countries like Japan, Korea and Taiwan. How strategic it has become to the global economy and the decentralization of the supply chain. The complicated manufacturing process between mass producers like TSMC versus the chip designers is mainly from the USA. Interesting new information read.
10 – Lee Kuan Yew, the grand master’s Insights on China, the US and the World by Graham Allison – interesting take on LKY views over the years as the book was written in 2013. Most of his views still ring true today after 10 years, about the US-China conflict and tension, plus many other observations of various nations. Worthy to reread in a few years to reflect on his wise words again.
11 – Small Actions – Leading your career to big success – Eric Sim. He was my ex-colleague in Citi and we worked together so I was able to read the book while cross-checking against what I know about him. He has successfully managed to pivot himself to this new coaching role which I am learning from. His idiosyncrasies aside, it was a well-thought-out guidebook to help the young navigate their careers in this ever-changing work landscape via 66 different teachings and observations in bite-size chapters.
12 – Scary Smart – Mo Gawdat – 2021 book on the inevitable advancement of AI and its impact on us, before ChapGPT changed the world in late 2022. He builds a picture of AI that can be bad or good for us and frames a possible solution that all of us can participate in and train AI by being happy and showing it on social media – his One Billion Happy goal ties back to making AI a positive impact. Show AI love and it will develop in the right direction.
13 – Going Infinite – Michael Lewis. His latest book on FTX. Effective altruism EA motives that shaped SBF behaviour. A real shit show waiting to explode that lasted so long due to Covid and people turning a blind eye to so many red flags, including professional investors… Interesting psychoanalysis of SBF and his thinking. Unexplained end on whether the money was missing or that it was always there. No idea until the court case unravels further.
14 – Number Go Up – inside crypto’s wild rise and staggering fall – Zeke Faux. A mishmash of stories around crypto and various characters like SBF, Tether and various scams. All over the place at times making it quite hard to read, like magazine articles being strung together to make this a 200+ page book. Some insights but generally a light read.
15 – Elon Musk – Walter Isaacson. 2/3 way through the 600+ page ebook. Great insights of the mind of Elon doing the crazy things he did and the reason behind the madness
2. Complete at least 10 online courses
1 – Did ACI one-day sake course 2 – Did ACI one day whisky course 3 – Google Introduction to Generative AI
3 – Edit videos – I have a backlog of 2 years+ of raw video footage data from 2020 till today which I need to edit and compile to create summarized finalized shortened versions
4 – Develop my consultancy pivot
Started consultancy with L-energy in Oct 2022 for MAS application of LFMC/CMS license in Dec. Eventually started fulltime in Sep 2023 when the In Principal Approval was obtained
5 – To create a personal GitHub page
6 – To constantly remind me of my life motto: to stay healthy and happy always
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