Day 9 / 108 Challenge

#9

"I bow to appreciate the life I live today"

I finally did it. I cleaned the whole house. Unfortunately, this was assisted by a pressure to leave a good impression on visitors, but still. Just for my future reference, it took about 2.5 hours to tidy up the week worth of a mess I created.

Majority of the day was dealing with my real estate deals. Strategy session with the stager in the morning, and checking out properties with a realtor in the afternoon. I had to skip a meal due to a busy schedule, but I got to try the new ramen spot. Sadly, it was not one of the better ramen I had.

6/10 Miso Ramen - Kinton Ramen

Broth 7/10 - Garlic oil and miso added much needed complexity, but the soup base lacked depth in the flavour. If one were to taste regular broth, they would be disappointed.

Noodle 8/10 - Thin noodle was cooked well in al-dente style. Though I wish I had an option to control the firmness. Slightly firmer noodles would have been nice.

Chashu 2/10 - I got two Chashu with the meal, and one of them was pure fat, and another one was 90% dry cardboard. I suspect it was once cooked, frozen, and reheated. Not impressed.

Toppings 4/10 - The basic toppings I got were scallions and corn. Sure I can add other toppings by paying extra, but I'm not going to pay $1.50 each to add some bean sprouts or bamboo shoots. If they were serious about making a good tasting bowl, they would have offered better basic selection of toppings.

Egg 8.5/10 - Probably the best part of my meal was this added extra egg in my bowl. Well marinated, and cooked just right - soft-boiled with half-runny yolk inside 👌. I ordered two of these.

Overall 6/10 - Not an impressive bowl of Japanese ramen. Definitely DO NOT get their original one. If you are in desperate need of Japanese ramen and this is the only place open around you, try it.

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	No snacks, but I ate out vs. my meal prep. Still in line of my macro though.
Water intake (max 2L)	2L Didn't feel uncomfortable, but I drank coffee. That usually makes me not feel dehydrated.
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Bit of Ch 6
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	Outdoor walk for 45 mins Supposed to be a PULL day, but I had to go look at properties all day.
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(EDUCATE) Investment Property Analysis (cost and ROI analysis)

Should've/Would've/Could've

-- I could be paying more attention to industry exam prepping. Real estate is taking majority of my attention at this moment.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 1

Day 8 / 108 Challenge

#8

"I bow to find myself and to learn how to control myself"

My first self-analysis of the day - the harder you discipline yourself, the harder your brain will try to be lazy. My morning started off as I was woken up by an alarm at 5:30am. I was not necessarily tired, but my brain immediately instructed to stay in the bed. And this is where my brain decided to go a step further. It told me to keep the blinds down, so I can rest better. Once I realized that I immediately got up and got the studying done.

Still majority of my time and effort goes into making decision on my next real estate investment, and I spoke to three different people in the industry about my idea. I still had not made a decision. I am starting to worry that it is taking up my capacity to study for my portfolio management exam, which should be my priority. Do less, better. Do the essential things only and excel at it.

I am going to take a look at few more properties tomorrow, so hopefully I can make up my mind soon. Then I will be able to focus on other goals I had set for myself.

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	No snacks, but I used two of my tickets on drinks
Water intake (max 2L)	2L So far no sign of severe dehydration (lips feel dry a little though)
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Bit of Ch 6 + real estate investment piece
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling + publishing daily market digest
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	LEG DAY 1. Machine squat 260lb 4x8 2. Leg curl 70lb 6-6-6-4 3A. Leg extension 100lb 4x8 3B. Arnold press 25lb 4x8 (explosive) 4A. Split DB squat 30lb 4x6 ea. 4B. Side lateral raises 30lb 4x8
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(EDUCATE) Investment Property Analysis (cost and ROI analysis)

Should've/Would've/Could've

-- It's great that I have a lot of different moving parts, and maintaining relationship with other people. But it is getting to a point where it is unsustainable to keep all parties satisfied. I should pick less area I want to focus on each day and put more energy on to it.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 1

Mystery drink my friend offered (it was tequila)

Day 7 / 108 Challenge

#7

"I bow to think about my true desires"

I lost the edge. Now I wake up like a regular human being. Struggling to get up by 7am. I planned on doing a light cardio in the morning as it is my off day from the gym. An hour in the morning is crucial to be productive throughout the day, because usually there are less distraction and people demand less attention from you. Plus you will not be drained from daily activities, so you can bear more stress. Honestly, I can probably list endless reasons why it is beneficial for me. I must get the jet-lag edge back.

I was off to a rocky start, but I was performing better as the day went by. One thing I started to notice was that I became more articulate. I heard journalling improves your communication skills (that's why I wanted to start writing more), but I never knew how effective it would be. I mean it's only been a week, but I am noticing a significant improvement.

If I must explain, I can better process sentences I am about to deliver and put together words in a timely manner. I still struggle to finish off what I started, or easily get distracted by the next topic my brain decided to spiral off to, but I am much clearly able to deliver the intended message.

Rethinking my investment decision now that I saw this on CNBC

The evening took a quite interesting turn when I decided to go for a site-seeing (yes, it is not a typo) on a property I had my eyes on with my friend. This was an impulsive decision followed by an hour of discussing couple investment candidates. I got to learn more about construction side of the real estate business, and a unique way to raise capital to fund the projects which might provide more alpha to my investment thesis. More on this later when I make a decision. Funny enough, today's prayer is to think about my true desire.

A reward after HOURS of property hunt

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	Extra meal temptations are persistent
Water intake (max 2L)	2.5L I intend to experiment to limit my water intake to 2L for another week or two. I saw a research on our bodies losing minerals if we consume more than 2L a day (I have been having issues with lack of minerals).
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	1/3 of Chapter 6 with 2 flows
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling + publishing daily market digest
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	REST DAY - outdoor walk 45 min
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(PRODUCE) Investment Property Calculator Marketing materials at work

Should've/Would've/Could've

-- I have attempted to clean the kitchen, but decided to work more on scoping real estate or writing this journal longer. I could have cleaned it in the morning if I woke up earlier...

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 3