It has almost been 2 years since I left my first job in a startup which paid me handsomely as a fresh-grad to explore my own path in trading and writing.

To be honest, it is one of the scariest decisions I’ve made in my life so far.

I knew nothing about trading at all when I first started.

I had no clue on how I could build a website at all, other than my neglectable experience with free website builders back in university times.

So, I did whatever I could – take a deep breath, leap, make tones of (noob) mistakes, and keep learning.




Fast Forward to Present Day

2019 has been a challenging year – and an amazing one as well.

This year, I had the opportunity to embark on many great adventures.

For one, after months of effort and painstaking mistakes, I finally made some significant breakthroughs in the skills & mindset in my trading journey (read: strategy with edge, disciplined routine & risk management, strong desire to succeed).

As someone with the goal to pursue a professional career in proprietary trading firms, this massively boosted my confidence to keep going.

Not only that, No Money Lah also opened me up to various great experiences.

First radio station interview? Done. First podcast interview? Done. First REIT investing knowledge-sharing workshop (and another 2 more after that)? Done.

Even better, I got to know and meet many like-minded readers and equally, if not even more enthusiastic folks of the personal finance & investing scene.

The best of all?

I learned a ton and enjoyed most moments in this adventure.


Gathering with other personal finance folks in 2019, courtesy of the StashAway team.




Outcast of the Norms

Whatever I am doing, I guess that made me an outcast of the societal norms with ever reliance on certainties.

I have a clear goal, but I can’t be 100% certain where exactly I will be by the end of 2020.

For sure, I can’t be 100% certain that I will have a fixed amount of income by the end of every month (Do you really think that No money lah is just my website’s name?).

When it comes to trading, it is even more obvious that I can’t be 100% certain of the outcome of my trade results every month.

In short, the only thing that is certain in this journey is risks and uncertainties.


REIT Investing Workshop – September 2019 Intake Group Photo




Lessons Learned in 2019

With that in mind, I have to take aggressive actions and mindsets to keep me going on this journey.

It is easy for one to slack off when you have no one to be accountable to. Hence, to progress in my journey, I have to:


  1. Follow a very disciplined routine to optimize my productivity (more contents about routine in 2020).
  2. Create a systematic workflow around my trading and content creation work.
  3. Be mindful of my personal expenses & financial decisions.
  4. Develop a very strong purpose and desire to succeed to keep myself motivated, and whenever needed, pull myself out of challenging times.

Most importantly, I have to embrace the fact that uncertainties are the only certainty in my journey, and make this to my advantage.


The Future Belong in Those Who Believe in the Beauty of Their Dreams.




What are your goals in life?

To be more specific, what is the ideal life that you visualize yourself in whenever you close your eyes?

For me, I want to give my parents a retirement life where they do not have to worry about money at all. I also want to have flexibility in time where I can explore the world of experiences.

Even more so, I want to be in peace and happy in my very own way of living.




Are we ever truly ready in this pursuit of ‘life’?

Why do I ask and share with you this, you might guess?

The reason is simple.

This is because I’ve seen and talked to people that want to wait for the ‘moment’ when they are ready to take the necessary actions to pursue their goals or ideal life.

But would we ever be ready for life?

If there is one key takeaway that I got in my nearly-2 years’ journey pursuing my goals, I am almost certain that most people are never truly ready for the adventure.

The fact is, you will always find hundreds, if not thousands of excuses on why you are not ready to start.

For me, it was the fear of not being enough. Not enough of a writer, not enough in knowledge, not enough in relevant experiences.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Truth is, you only need one of these reasons to make you feel overwhelmed to start. But since we are creatures with imagination, we flood ourselves with even more reasons for why we will not succeed.




You Don’t Have to Know Everything, and You Only Need One Reason to Start

Give this a thought:

Our parents never really asked if we are ready for school – we just adapt and learn along the way.

Our university never really asked if we are ready for that damn tough paper – we (most of us) just grit our teeth and went through it anyway.

Isn’t it obvious that for the most part of our lives, we have never really been fully prepared for anything at all?

Yet, we still make it through and conquered life like a pro – until now.

Now’s the time to decide if you really want to be ‘truly ready’ or ‘fully prepared’ to pursue that goal or ideal life in this new decade.

You will find strong mental resistance and excuses as it would be deeply uncomfortable.

But you only need one, and only one strong ‘WHY’ to go take the leap.

I wish you the very, very best – and I would love to hear your journey someday. 😊



2019 has been a great year, and it would not be possible without my supportive parents, 2 of my lifelong friends (Victor & Eddie), and of course – you.

Thank you for being such a great supporter and motivation to me – be it if you are a reader and/or attendee of my REIT Investing Workshop in 2019.

This journey is much more meaningful and fulfilling with all of you, and please accept my gratitude from the bottom of my heart.

Wishing you a great year, and the decade ahead!

Yi Xuan

 

Last Updated on May 2, 2022 by Chin Yi Xuan