One of the most fun things about dabbling in Twitter is that pretty regularly, there are various initiatives that promote engagement. I usually enjoy these more as an audience because I’m curious about these folks behind the writing!
One of these is rather similar to the idea of passing the baton whereby the blogger is tasked to do something, then tags a few others to do the same, and the cycle goes on.
SideHustleRich tagged me to answer ten of his questions and so, I sportingly did it! His own blog post answered the ten questions that were posed by M & S who are currently retired.
Yep, now you’ve got an idea of how the process goes and you can see how it drives engagement because people are generally very interested in the real personas behind the blogs that we’re writing.
1) Do you believe in aliens?
Definitely! Humans are such primitive lifeforms with endless flaws and imperfections! I don’t believe that we’re the only intelligent life forms.
2) Elon Musk has successfully gone to Mars and is looking to form its first colony. Will you go and why?
Not a chance.
Basically an engineer at heart and I have encountered enough situations to understand that whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. That is why I generally approach the issue of retirement akin to a problem to be solved.
Like what I have mentioned to my wife – divide and conquer. The idea isn’t as daunting as it appears to be. Use my blueprint for FIRE if it helps you with making that first step.
3) What do you want your legacy to be?
Sounds really simple but not easy – I want to be remembered for doing the right things.
Regardless of whether it is for my family, for social life (friends), for work (colleagues), for the community (blogging) or for the world (public service).
4) You can have 1 superpower. What will it be and why?
I want the power to be able to grant selective amnesia. Sounds odd but hey, that’s what I’m settling for. Having the power to change lives is a huge responsibility on one’s shoulders and one I wouldn’t wish to possess.
Having had the experience of working in the payments space, healthcare and a niche IT space, I think I have had enough of “live-changing” powers. The idea of making a mistake that could potentially screw up someone’s life? Intensely meaningful work but not always easy to live with.
Personally, I find it impossible to stop dwelling on certain things once they embed themselves in my mind. Born this way. My choice would be to have the ability to “let go” of things, either for myself or others.
5) What are your fears?
Loss. Of. Control.
For me, the whole idea of pursuing financial independence, retire early (FIRE) revolves primarily around the ultimate choice of freedom. The way I want to live my life that nobody else can take away from me.
6) Favourite blog and why?
Oh man, there are so many! I’m going to take the term blog very broadly to mean content creators and say that a little known YouTuber – Little Boat is currently my favourite. Well, a vlog is a subset of blog, right?
I was initially attracted to her channel because the content revolves around my core interests, and that’s building web-based businesses, alternative and passive income, digital and affiliate marketing, and the digital nomad lifestyle. And make no mistake – although she coaches mainly around her core expertise areas, the exact same lessons are applicable to blogging too.
Besides adding incredible value via her videos, her back story is super inspirational and her vlogs explain how she built her current lifestyle as a web entrepreneur. Started from nothing and the gradual progress to a successful digital nomad with her own business! Personal favourites are actually of the ones of her travelling solo in the villages of Thailand (I dig travel stuff) and times when she recounts her previous life as a Chinese working-class employee in corporate Japan.
Note – the content is in Mandarin only.
7) If you only had time to impart one thing, what would it be?
Don’t live our lives for others.
Live for ourselves – seize the day.
8) What was your biggest regret/missed opportunity?
My biggest regret was that too often in the past, I cared too much – about failure, about possibilities and about what people think.
A bad combination is the typical engineer mindset plus a good dose of perfectionism, I suffer from analysis paralysis and I find it difficult to embark on something until I have done ALL the necessary ground work which impedes progress and lots of missed opportunities.
That was why I quit my job right when everything was going perfectly in my life – got married, purchased my own apartment, career going well with promotions and a new supervisory role. I didn’t want to be trapped in my forties (that’s like in a few years) and lamenting that I didn’t do this and that when I was younger.
I took a leap of faith in my early thirties and never looked back.
9) One dinner with anyone in the world, dead or alive. Who would it be?
My wife! I don’t care for dinner with anyone else! :)
10) How has blogging helped you?
Oh wow – blogging has helped in so many ways!
- Writing is an excellent way of providing clarity of thoughts. So many times, I think I know something but when I want to write it down in the form of blog posts, I realized that there much certain perspectives that I have neglected to consider or failed to understand fully.
- The blogging platform has allowed me to reach out to so many people! The amount of new connections I have made is amazing. I have shared a lot of my own experiences and at the same time, learnt plenty from others.
- Needless to say, it has also improved my communication skills via writing. Not the best writer but hey, I’m happy to do my own thing and improve my writing ability.
- Consistency is key. Not to be mean but let’s be realistic. We can take a look at the new blogs that are started in December or January every year. Inevitably, life comes along and things happen. I started mine in December 2012 and have only missed three months – June 2013, April 2014, June 2014 and they all corresponded to huge events in my life. So far so good since then with blog posts every month!
That’s it
And so, the above ten questions are all answered! Hope that you have enjoyed reading them! :)
From a social engagement perspective, these exercises are basically meant to be engagement magnets and traffic sharing mechanisms (check out my blogging series) so here are my six tags for financial independence, retire early (FIRE) bloggers which might be interested in this exercise! Regardless of whether they do take this up, do visit their blogs!
And here are my ten questions –
About Yourself
- How do you view the FIRE movement and if you’re pursuing FIRE, why?
- What would you be doing after achieving FIRE?
- Where would you choose to retire?
- One thing that most people don’t know about you?
- What would your perfect day be like?
About Blogging
- What was the catalyst that influenced you to start blogging?
- Which are the most challenging aspects of blogging?
- Which are the most surprising benefits of blogging?
- Do you see yourself blogging 5, 10 or 15 years from now?
- What advice would you share with someone who is starting a blog?
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Kevin started Turtle Investor after hitting rock bottom at negative $25,755 net worth. Today, his monthly alternative income pays for all his daily expenses. He shares what actually works (and what doesn’t) for Singaporeans building wealth. Learn more about Kevin here.
Many of your replies to the 10 questions resonate with me as well, maybe our innate similarities is what attracted me to keep coming back to your blog. lol. Anyway keep on writing and I’ll keep on reading. I will need to reflect on point no 10 and what you said earlier about starting my blog.