2019 Reflection - 50 Q&As

2019 has been nothing short of change. The recurring pattern appears to be change. This year, I decided to mix up the way I review my year, and this time, I've taken 50 random Qs from this website, and forced myself to answer. Historically, I've typically just wrote the key milestones/accomplishments I've hit, and lessons I've taken on where I could improve.

I would encourage all readers to reflect on the calendar year that is 2019. Whether that means writing it down, meditating for a few minutes, or talking with friends and family about it, I think this has been a helpful exercise for me, and that is why I'd encourage others to follow.

Whilst I am not encouraging everybody to publicly share their reflections, I felt comfortable sharing mine, and hope it can inspire others to reflect whether publicly or not it doesn't matter.

I admit I am being somewhat vulnerable about myself, but I am pushing myself to be brave and to own my writing.

Without any further ado, here are the 50 Qs below:

1. The most important goal that I achieved this year was:

Surviving my (almost) 1st year at work in Antipodes Partners.

2. My biggest fitness accomplishment was:

Moving houses and the items within, a total of 6 times this year.

3. My biggest career accomplishment was:

Getting my 1st stock idea into the Asia fund.

4. My biggest relationship accomplishment was:

Finding a 2nd mentor in my funds management industry who is also a christian, and who is about a decade older than me with experience as a family man.

5. These are the skills I acquired this year:

Investment research (I hope so); Hyper attention to detail (but one can never get enough of that); Curiosity to think beyond my normal circle of competence.

6. A big mistake that I made this year—and the lesson that I learned as a result—was:

Misinterpreting an excel task requested from my superior to be done, and delivering him a result that was different to what he asked for. Although it asks for 1 lesson, I think I learnt 2 and they go hand in hand. One, recognising the importance of clear communication, and two, developing the confidence required to think more critically about what is the purpose for achieving the tasks I am given and thinking it more thoroughly through before executing.

7. An obstacle or a challenge that I overcame this year:

Passing the CFA L1 exam. That meant a lot to me. I was convinced by my mentor, that investing in the CFA was a wise decision for me. That has cost me many hundreds of hours of study. I am now focused of my L2 exam.

8. This year, I learned the following about myself:

I have a LOT of blind spots. Particularly when it comes to relationships. I have upset a few people with my inability to recognise context and put myself in other people's shoes. I also found my personality has been hardwired to be very passionate about investing in stocks, staying organised, and funding missionaries and other causes (e.g. Sri Lanka, where I volunteered back in 2016).

9. Here’s something I learned about other people:

People change. That is ok. Some friends will stay but the reality of life is some will go and that is ok too. Learn to accept and be happy for those people who move on.

10. This made me laugh the hardest this year:

Can't say... Maybe any interview with Dax Shepherd on YouTube?

11. The most fun I had all year was:

Taking annual leave in November this year to see cousin's wedding in Hong Kong, despite the protests and political turmoil going on there. It was a first time for me in many parts of HK, given I had not gone back in over a decade.

12. My best memory of the year was:

Being invited to give a guest lecture in a post graduate international financial analysis course at UNSW thanks to a supervisor whom I spoke with when I was a PASS leader for accounting back in 2018.

13. My biggest regret of the year was:

Not handling a certain rejection from a person very well. In fact, it was delusional of me because I knew she was also not christian but I brought this uncomfortable situation on her, and on myself. It was never meant to be.

14. My biggest disappointment of the year was:

Not buying EOS stock.

15. The books I read this year were:

More Money Than God by Sebastian Mallaby; Principles by Ray Dalio.

16. My favourite movie of the year was:

Toy Story 4.

17. A TV show I really enjoyed watching this year was:

I'm debated on Disney+, so I'll give 2. Mandalorian, and High School Musical, The Musical, The Series.

18. I really enjoyed this live performance (concert, play, musical, or dance performance):

Funnily, it was a Lion King live performance in HK Disneyland.

19. Here’s a song I listened to over and over again this year:

Into the Unknown by Idina Menzel (Frozen 2).

20, This is something I wish I hadn’t bought this year:

A certain pasta dish from a certain Italian restaurant in Wynyard, which consequently gave me a minor food poisoning.

21. This is the best thing I bought all year:

Lenovo T580 laptop for work.

22. Someone I really enjoyed spending time with this year was:

My 1st mentor, Albert. I learn so much from him, beyond investing in stocks. He's a role model to me as a christian, and I look at this frame he gave me for a Christmas gift last year, which has the words "Energy" written in Chinese. It reminds me to work hard for what I love.

23. I adopted this new positive habit:

Being tougher on myself with executing on the time schedule I hold to myself. Specifically, devoting Friday night /Saturdays to meeting friends, and reserving Sunday nights to purely catching up and reflecting on work for next week.

24. I dropped this negative habit:

Doing my best to straighten my back because of the advice of plenty of my friends.

25. One time I stood up for myself this year was:

When defending my stock idea, that eventually went into the Asia fund.

26. The scariest thing I went through this year was:

Presenting 3 walk through lessons on an excel/VBA template that I had built for work that would help them with their investment research on a regular basis.

27. A really cool thing I created this year was:

A reporting/technical template that is constantly being used by the traders in my work place, and discussed in our weekly meetings.

28. My most common mental state this year was:

Generally busy and occupied with the global stock markets.

29. Here’s how I grew emotionally this year:

I think it has improved in certain aspects. I'm a little more aware of my weaknesses emotionally, and I try to develop barriers to prevent these emotional mistakes happening again. For example, I am trying harder to be more well read before I share any opinion at all with friends, family, etc.

30. Here’s how I grew spiritually this year:

I've maintained going to church at Macq Baptist Church, and volunteering for service on computer and welcoming at church. Also been attending City Bible Forum, and getting the opportunity to build a similar minded network of christians to support each other. Finding myself also continuing to donate to mission causes at church for missionaries on top of my regular offering to church.

31. The best gift I received this year was:

My sister gave me a Google Home.

32. The nicest thing someone did for me this year was:

A lot of my high school friends giving up a Saturday/Thursday to help me and my family move from Marsfield to Epping, with all the lifting boxes, items, etc. from 1 building to another.

33. The nicest thing I did for someone else this year was:

Wrote a letter to a friend leaving for Taiwanese exchange, but before that, helping her several nights on call, and in person with her excel model that she was building, despite the somewhat busyness of my own work (but I pretended I was not busy to not make them worry).

34. I showed real gumption this year when I:

Making the decision following a site visit at the school, to invest in my chemistry and physics tutor's first STEM senior private school in Sydney! I'm really excited about the prospects of rethinking the way senior education is taught at high school in Sydney, and being a part of the Sydney Science College's development as a long term private investor with my own personal money. More details here.

35. If I could change one thing about this year it would be:

Triple checking all my work (double is not good enough), and asking what is the fundamental purpose of my task.

36. A new food/dish I tried this year was:

Chicken feet. Believe it or not, even though I am HK background, I have not had any in my 23 years of life.

37. This year my physical health was:

Not very good to be honest. Whilst weight has stayed the same, I have been neglecting exercise which all my friends are telling me I need to begin doing or else. I do find it difficult to do it however...

38. Here’s a new friend I made this year:

A colleague in the same "Tech" sector as me, who has inspired me to think beyond my comfortable circle of competence, and question what the world will look like in 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 years from now. Also thinking a little bigger than I am used to thinking. I have a newfound love for technology and science now because of Leo.

39. This year I travelled to:

Melbourne, Palm Beach, Wollongong, Hong Kong.

40. Here’s one adventure I had this year:

Going to Wollongong with a close group of "actuarial" friends (even though I dropped actuarial after a week at UNSW), was a really great adventure. Nothing outlandish, but the going with friends made it memorable.

41. One contribution I made to my community was:

I am thinking of my global community, and so donating my regular $500 to the Foundation of Goodness in Sri Lanka.

42. This year I spent a lot of time here:

I hate to say this, but it's true. My work desk and my home desk.

43. This year I broke out of my comfort zone by:

Picking up opportunities to speak with c-suite level executives (e.g. CEOs, CFOs, etc.) and asking them tough questions as an investor to learn more about their companies.

44. A hobby I loved spending time on this year was:

Reading about market news. I never get sick of that. I love it.

45. This year I practised self-care by:

Making an effort to reflect on the factors in my key decisions to try and understand the good and bad factors, and the patterns that I tend to make for key decisions.

46. My biggest time waster this year was:

I hate to say this, but the small amounts of free time I have, I can get carried away watching YouTube.

47. Here’s a great time-saving hack I learned this year:

An exercise I recently did, was writing out everything I did on a daily basis on a weekday that was recurring, e.g. my morning routine at home/work/etc. and trying to figure out where time wastage was occurring and where I could be optimising my pathway in my repeatable actions better, e.g. doing 2 actions at once where possible?

48. What I am most grateful for this year is:

A friend, Jack, who with his mother, gave me a place to stay for a week in Hurstville whilst I was stuck in the 2nd half of the year in frantically waiting to move to my new house, and having left my old house. It meant a great deal he was hospitable to me, despite everything that was going on in his life.

49. Here are three words that would sum up this year:

Antipodes, CFA, Family/Friends (I cheated by grouping family and friends to supposedly 1 word).

50. If I could travel back to the beginning of the year, here’s some advice I would give myself:

Be hyper focused in your work. You can never fully predict what is going to come in the markets, but whatever it is, stay calm, plan, get help when needed, and execute cautiously and critically. Take the chance to absorb more by listening before speaking out your opinions.

These are my answers to those 50 Qs. What are yours?

Thanks and wishing everybody a merry xmas,

Michael