As much as I love NYTimes’ list of key articles (morning/evening briefing) that I should pay attention to, I’ve noticed that I’m much more anxious and stressed when I read them during my commute. Instead, reading a book during my commute makes me more productive and energized.

I also have an on and off relationship with the news. At times, I’m that person who lives under a rock, missing key moments in current events. Other times, I’m the annoying news addict, keeping up with every detail of current events. Read More »

“I have forgotten how to read” by Michael Harris touches upon how our reading behavior changed as we become more intimate with our smart phones. Below are my notes from this article.

To read was to shutter myself and, in so doing, discover a larger experience. I do think old, book-oriented styles of reading opened the world to me – by closing it. And new, screen-oriented styles of reading seem to have the opposite effect: They close the world to me, by opening it.

What a brilliant way to describe the impact of reading in our lives!Read More »

I’ve been mulling over Huffington Post’s long form article about poor millennials for a couple of months now. I’m not sure why this piece stayed with me, maybe because it hits so close to home, but I think it’s time to gather my thoughts and move on.

Side note: love the design of this webpage!

The piece started out with basic stats of our generation, which can be summed up by below.

We are delaying partner-marrying and house-buying and kid-having for longer than any previous generation…Add it all up and it’s no surprise that we’re the first generation in modern history to end up poorer than our parents.

Compared to my parents, I got married a decade later than them and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make as much as they did and retire as early as they did as well.Read More »

I’ve been loving Jocelyn K. Glei’s newsletter for some time now and this morning, she shared this little gem. I’m a sucker for good commencement speeches, and Tim Minchin’s speech is up there, along with Steve Job and David Foster Wallace.

See excerpts from speech with my notes below.

One. You don’t have to have a dream…Be micro-ambitious. Put your head down and work with pride on whatever is in front of you. You never know where you might end up. Just be aware the next worthy pursuit will probably appear in your periphery, which is why you should be careful of long-term dreams. If you focus too far in front of you, you won’t see the shiny thing out of the corner of your eye.

What an interesting way to think — to be micro-ambitious. It goes along with everything else that I’ve been reading and feeling lately. The importance of baby steps or micro-steps, micro-goals, small achievements, feeling progress, etc etc.

However, it does take patience and a lot of work to realize that life doesn’t unfold like it does in the movies. On the contrary, everything in life seems slow and gradual these days.

To get out of this funk, I want to celebrate small wins. Maybe keeping a log book of my day similar to Austin Kleon is a good start. Read More »