Grandma's Death, Crushing the Half Marathon, Q3 Goals

In January 2024, I went snowboarding in Niseko, Japan. Flying back to NYC was a looonnggg flight, so it 100% made sense to make a pit stop: Honolulu, Hawaii. More importantly, I got to spend time with my grandmother.

She was 98. We couldn’t do much, but we did the simple things. We ate chinese food. We watched TV. We had simple conversations. When I left to head back to NYC, I gave her a kiss on the cheek and she’d say in chinese: “such a good boy.”

In May 2024, she had a heart attack one day after mother’s day. I miss you Grandma.

Q2 Review

Become as clean as my girlfriend.

I’ve noticed myself adopting small habits, such as putting my clothes away right away, wiping the tables when Ie’m finished. I still think there’s room for me to improve my cleanliness, but it’s trending in the right direction. And when I do leave things out, she’ll remind me. 

Build an initial draft of a financial/investment plan for my dream life (Shaping).

Here were the results of the initial financial plan I set up for myself. I’d target a $2.5 million in net worth as minimum net worth for “retiring” myself. $5 million is the target for myself and spouse. $10 million minimum for an entire family and two kids. If we wanted to live large (fat fire), we’d likely need more than that.

Of course this is dependent on inflation, the period of time and a number of other factors. However, this gives me a good proxy to aim for, which is all I need. I’ve outlined three paths to retiring early:

  1. Earn at least $1 million per year through job promotion. This would likely take another 5 to 7 years.

  2. Earn at least $10 million through a one-time liquidity event. This would likely take 7 to 10 years to accomplish.

  3. Earn at least $400 to $500k in net income on minimal working hours through a lifestyle business. Looking at others, this took them ranging from 3 years to 10 years.

The takeaway here is that it’d be a good idea to do some research into the different paths, their pros and cons, and what’s required to get there.

[Career]—Build an initial development plan for myself (Shaping). There are too many goals, so this one is slotted for this quarter as the financial/investment plan is a good context for my personal development plan.

[Health] - Brooklyn Half-Marathon Prep - Run an 8:00 minute mile. I crushed this goal as I paced at 7:30 for the half-marathon, totaling a time of 1:39. This project was a massive success and I can attribute it to a few things.

  • Pre-Determined, Doable Schedule: I use intervals.icu to track my workout performance. And my coach basically added my workouts into this app. Each workout was scheduled for the week so I wasted no time “deciding” whether I should workout or not.

  • Progression: Seeing myself progress is a self-reinforcing motivation loop. The great thing about running as a sport, is its clear whether you’re improving or not.

  • Performance: Since I had actually signed up for a half-marathon, there was a “final performance.” I basically had to perform on a larger stage, which pushed me to execute my plan effectively.

Q3 Goals

Find a new place to live in NYC. This is the most important as any new apartment I move to is going to dictate my lifestyle in NYC. A new apartment is going to subconsciously influence how I behave, my habits and my schedule. I also didn’t renew my lease, so I’ll be homeless if I don’t get this done.

Career Decisioning Research Post. Given the paths I outlined, I’ll need to research the different paths, read through examples, the pros and cons, and evaluate my own strengths/weaknesses. If I spend more time thinking about this upfront, I can go into the decision with full conviction that it’s the right one. Especially if some of these paths will take multiple years, it’s probably worth the three month investment to think through whether it’s the right path for me.

Reset my habits by beginning daily meditation. Whenever I meditate consistently, I scroll on my phone less, more conscious of what I eat, more present with others. Meditation is an anchor habit that makes me more aware of my behavior throughout the day. 

Moving to a new environment is also an opportunity to reset habits. So it makes sense to focus on meditating consistently, as it will improve everything else.


Complete Eight Dates. I’ve finished four out of eight dates with my girlfriend. This book has been great for prompting us to talk about important issues and for helping us learn more about each other. It’ll be key for us to talk through these important issues sooner, rather than later, to help move our relationship forward.