🧠 Goat Quote

🪙 Two Cents

Here’s a math question for you: if you currently have $10,000, what is the max amount of money you can save or invest?

Don’t worry - it’s not a trick question.

The answer’s simple: $10,000 is the max amount of money you can save/invest (not considering your living expenses). We’ve talked a lot about budgeting, saving, and investing, but the thing is you can only budget, save, or invest a finite amount. Money isn’t created out of thin air and saving $15k when you only have $10k is impossible.

However, the earning potential of every individual is infinite. Back in university, I was working at a campus grocery store making $7.50/hour. I remember 5 months in, I got a raise to $7.75/hour. During my engineering internships, I started earning $34/hour. Now, my hourly rate is probably double or triple that. The more senior you are in your industry, you are bound to make even more $$.

The point I’m trying to make is this: there’s no finite cap to how much you can earn. We’ve only talked about our main source of income. What if you added in your rental properties, your side business, and your investments? How much could you earn then?

My goal is to help you think bigger. I encourage you to think about how you can grow in your current industry and unlock those earning potentials.

💡Career Corner

One of the best pieces of career advice I’ve ever received is this: no matter what happens, don’t burn bridges. 

This is referring to maintaining your professional relationships during difficult actions, choices, and words. When I first heard this, I’d never experienced having a bad situation in the first place. But what I took away is this: the world is actually a small place and you never know when you’re going to work with the same people again or how they’ll be a part of your life.

I’ve already had several instances of working with the same people I did 4+ years ago. In fact, I believe a huge factor of me re-joining Cisco recently has to do with the way I maintained my professional relationships.

Despite being at a startup, I continued to stay up-to-date with my mentors at Cisco. I scheduled a few catch-up calls with people I wanted to continue to learn from, and eventually, it led to this amazing role I’m in right now.

At the end of the day, it’s true what they say: “people may not remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel”. This is something I want you to keep in mind as well.

❗Lessons Learned

Distractions are everywhere, nagging at you every hour and every minute of your day. It’s becoming deadly.

One crucial step in detaching from these distractions is acknowledging that we may be more attached than we realize. Take a moment to honestly ask yourself: Am I truly addicted to my phone or laptop?

For me, coming to terms with my own attachment was vital. It made me realize how much I craved and sought out constant notifications and distractions. This awareness is a stepping stone towards reclaiming our focus.

Consider extending this reflection beyond technology to other areas of your life. Are you unconsciously addicted to taking on certain meetings, tasks, or even thoughts acting as distractions that hinder your overall progress?

If so, admitting and recognizing them is vital so that we can take the first steps toward regaining control of our focus and productivity. Embrace this awareness as a catalyst for positive change in your daily habits.

📝Featured Resource

This week I’ll be giving you a list of my favorite tools that help me manage my goals/habits:

1. Rise: Habit List (android) & Onrise (apple)

   • Super simple habit tracker, lets me check off habits as I complete them

2. Google Calendar

   • Staple of saying organized online, I even manage 4 separate calendars through this

3. Clever Fox Pro Planner

   • Where I physically write out and plan my entire year

4. Notion

   • My ‘2nd brain’ — includes books, notes, ideas, etc

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