Philson 2020: Young, Rich, Active

It's finally here! The launch of my Philson 2020 plan! Though it's not exactly the same as I had originally imagined. It has undergone several transformations and iterations even internally in my head as I conceptualize it. As it seems, I am a being that constantly strives and seek changes and improvements. Not all the time, but when I am in the mood for it I am really serious about it. Never settle, never stay still. Warning! This is going to be a long read! But I sure as hell guarantee it will be worth it. You may find some meaning in changing your life after reading it. Your choice.

So as you recall some time back, I talked about launching 3 initiatives (namely: Young, Rich, Active) to shape the direction of how I want to lead my life in the coming years? Then even longer ago, probably last year, I talked about the need to chart out a 5 year plan to transform my adult life, and called it the Philson 2020 plan. So I was thinking to myself, why not put 2 and 2 together, and combine the 2 ideas into a holistic vision for my future.

Now, how I am going to do about doing this is way different than I had initially imagined when I decided on doing Philson 2020. Initially, I had imagined that I would have all the intricate details, down to the last line item, on what exactly I wanted to achieve for myself by 2020. Then the gargantuan scale and thought of having to pen down that plan, scared even myself away. Procrastination set in, and 1 year later I still had nothing.

And now we have this, what you are about to read. What I am doing now, is not to pen down all the goals right away, but to just put forth a general mission and vision, and chart the path using 3 distinct but complementary initiatives. This is totally counter-intuitive to me, because I have always been told to set specific and measurable goals. However, it never really seemed to work for me. Maybe, just maybe this method will work better. I can't explain how crazy this mindset change is for me, or how it came about. But I think it's to do with age, getting wiser and garnering more experience, seeing things in the real world. It changes us you know?

Ok so more on the specifics on what I will be doing. Basically, this will be the LAST post that I will be making under the category tag of Next Stage. That tag was created as a temporary place-holder when I graduated from university, and had officially closed off Chapter Eight. Honestly, I didn't know what to do with this blog back then. There were moments of joy, regrets, and sorrow. It just didn't feel right opening a Chapter Nine to continue it. But yet the nostalgic and sentimental me wouldn't want to kill it off for something else. So it HAD to change somehow, I just didn't know how yet. Busy work life set in afterwards, and that was that.

Moving forward, I will be splitting my posts into 3 main tags/categories. Project: Active, Project: Rich and Project: Young. Naturally, Action Plans and Events and the other smaller miscellaneous posts will still carry on. Believe me, I take this tagging thing pretty seriously, because I know how difficult it can be to navigate a poorly managed blog. So if you noticed, most of my post are appropriately tagged, and you can access the list of all tags on the sidebar of this blog.

So, how I will be doing this is, instead of doing an unrealistic one big bang post on what my life will be like in 5 years from now, I will let the planning happen more naturally and organically. I will constantly work on the 3 areas by updating and planning under the different blog tags, and as long as I am consistently targeting the 3 areas, I will know that I am on track. It doesn't even need to be all 3 exactly balanced! I just need some improvements now and then in each area. That's the beauty of it! Simplicity.

So without further ado, let's get right into the 3 initiatives shall we?


Project: Young
Project: Young is literally, about staying young. Looking young. Feeling young. Remaining physically energetic and able to carry out the rest of the other initiatives effectively. How to achieve this? I am mainly coming from the physical aspect here. Basically, it involves getting more exercise in, and possibly cutting back on excessive binging. Some of the things I am looking at, is to increase the frequency of my gym sessions to 2 or even 3 times a week if time permits. I also intend to try to cut down on food portions, and reduce snacking. It's way harder than it sounds man.

That's mostly the physique part. Project: Young also involves actually looking young. Inspired by my colleagues, I do intend to look very similar when I am in year 2020 as I did when I was in year 2014. I don't want to grow old and look very haggard so fast. I do intend to age gracefully too you know. This part is not as straightforward as exercise and diet. I intend to work in some skincare routine to preserve my face and youthful appearance. Also, probably the toughest part of them all, is to get enough rest and sleep! This is the painful part. Ever since I met that girl and changed my habits for the worse during university days, the nocturnal habit of sleeping late had stuck so permanently. I need to stop it!

Overall, that's the general idea of this initiative. Certainly this brief introduction does not even cover everything. But the whole idea is to remain young. To preserve both my physical state, energy levels, and my appearance. I think if executed perfectly, people should not be able to tell my age right away. In fact if the weight loss thing succeeds, I should look EVEN BETTER than I did 3 years ago. THAT is how important Project: Young is going to be. Certainly an integral part in enabling Project: Active and Project: Rich. LET'S DO THIS.

Project: Rich 
Project: Rich is a little harder for me to put down right at this moment. Much of it is still in a fuzzy state of planning. After all, markets and economies are unpredictable and I am not currently following as closely as I would like to. The gist of it, is to amass wealth in smart and unconventional ways that result in a good amount of income for me to lead any sort of lifestyle I choose. By unconventional, I don't mean robbing the bank. But rather, making decisions that people don't usually do, certainly not in this point in their life. Just doing crazy things smartly! :)

Ok fine! I shall let in on a bit of the more sensitive details. After all I had shared this briefly with Thomas when I talked to him. The idea, is to first wait for the market to crash. Like seriously in the shitty depths of recession. Then smartly purchase a selection of shares and hold onto them. And then when the economy heads to a high point, sell them all off to make a big profit. I will then pump that money into opening up some businesses, probably through franchising first. These business will help me generate multiple streams of passive income. Eventually, to the point that I can stop working and retire.

So that's what Project: Rich is. A lot of the finer details have not been ironed out yet. Right now I am just amassing capital for the stock purchases in future. The whole idea of this plan, is to unbind me from my day job. To free me so that I can do what I enjoy and not have to worry about money anymore. With this new-found freedom, I can then execute Project: Active fully, and maybe even take it even further. I can chase the dreams and desires that I will otherwise have no time for if I work a day job. Getting rich is not just about splurging and living a luxurious lifestyle you know? For me at least, it is all about being free to do whatever the heck you want, whenever you want! I WILL BE FREE!

Project: Active
Project: Active is a little trickier for me. Partly because I have never been particularly active even in my youth. So you could say that I DON'T KNOW how to actually be active. I have never went out with friends much. Never gone clubbing and drinking. Never dated, never spent after school hours outside. Honest to god, I was a damn boring person that had not many friends. Such was my sad life until now. But I want to change it! I am willing to try out different things in order to remain active and appear more energetic and outgoing. I say this is the toughest part because it's about really doing and venturing into the unknown for me. Alone, if I have noone to do this with.

I do not have concrete plans for this right now. At the moment, it basically involves attending as many events as I can. Trying to go out every weekend to do stuff. Being active. If you have noticed, I had been attending all of the anime and cosplay events in the recent months. This is part of the impetus of Project: Active. Go about and attend events, and eventually talk to some people, get introduced around, make more friends. Once I have built a few more friendships, hopefully the rest should come naturally. Going out with friends, eating and drinking at new places, catching movies together, and just having fun! It's a slow and painful process, and honestly seems quite tryhard, but it has to happen eventually.

And that's Project: Active. I may not have been able to articulate it as clearly as I wanted. But it's really quite an unknown are for me. The important thing I feel is to have the courage to be brave and just do things. Go places. Don't let any circumstances stop me. Go alone if I have to. JUST DO IT. And all of this, will be enabled by Project: Rich. With the wealth and freedom, I can have more flexibility to experiment. And honestly I will have greater confidence and ego to do bolder things. But back to the point, Project: Active is complementary to Project: Young. It doesn't matter if you just look young, but behave like an old uncle. The whole idea is to have the full package. Look Young, be rich, and behave active. The triad of desirable awesomeness.


With these 3 initiatives, I hope that by the year 2020, I can safely say that I am Young, Rich and Active. Focusing on 1 alone without the other 2 would be pointless. I trust that with such a framework and vision in place, I can slowly but surely make it towards that goal. It is not easy, but with incremental steps IN the right direction, I believe that I can do it. And by then, I will savour the fruits of all my hard labour. I will be able to relish in the successful and accomplished me that I have always strived to be. Only then will I be satisfied with myself. Or perhaps I wouldn't! I will continue to chart out the next things I should improve on! NEVER SETTLE!

An inspirational video.