It's painful how sometimes you can put in lots of effort and sacrifice into a project (or a career) in the hope that it will pay off, only for it to fall through in the last moment. It's worse when the motivation that was used sustain that effort was based on the fact that "there's... Continue Reading →
The net is set for the fish
The following passage is taken from the beautiful book Master of the Three Ways by Hing Ying Ming (which libraries might classify as "Eastern Philosophy"): The net is set for the fish, But catches the swan in its mesh. The praying mantis covets its prey, While the sparrow approaches from the rear. Within one contrivance hides... Continue Reading →
How I became an analyst
I just approved a comment on one of my earlier posts, a post about my possible foray into sales. A post that, as I re-read it, brought back plenty of memories. A post that reminded me how my career as it stands now, that of data science and analytics, is quite different from what I had once... Continue Reading →
Feeling Sorry for Yourself in this Complicated World
I was feeling sick. I mean really sick. Walking five steps would leave me gasping for air. My throat felt like murder (:bad). My head throbbed like a discotheque. But I had work to do. Work I didn't feel like doing, but which my professional self wouldn't let me off not doing. Let me share... Continue Reading →
Wanderlust
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. Attributed to Augustine of Hippo, the quote above reignited latent wanderlust. If I had to be honest though, as much as I like the idea of Travel, the execution of the act of Travelling is very different. Alain de Botton,... Continue Reading →
I don’t need to be good. Just better than you.
Abstention on the part of those who won’t venture in creates opportunities for those who will. The quote above comes from Howard Mark's The Most Important Thing Illuminated, who was referring to investors who, believing they cannot beat the market, stay away from the investing game. In doing so, these people allow those who think they can (and... Continue Reading →
The World as it Should Be
Just thought I would share with you what has to be, for me, the quote of the week. Taken from the book Getting More, a beautiful book on negotiation by Stuart Diamond (emphasis mine): Lower your expectations. If you come into a negotiation thinking that the other side will be difficult, unfair, rude, or trying... Continue Reading →
The Trolley Problem and Being a Leader
In my previous post I wrote about the trolley problem (aka "the train dilemma"). Though an interesting problem in its own right and one which rightly deserved its own post, it wasn't really just for the sake of interest that I wrote it. As regular readers of my site would know (yes, all 60,000 of... Continue Reading →
Revisiting the train track dilemma or “trolley problem”
Part I: The Classic Train Track Dilemma, or: The Trolley Problem Imagine that you're at a train station "open house" of sorts. People are there to admire trains and see how they operate. No trains are scheduled to run that day, so people are scattered all over the place. There are some people gathering at... Continue Reading →
Going beyond economics
"So," he asked, "what should he do?" Straightforward as the question may seem, it was anything but. There were two tracks I could take: (1) the economic, rational track; or (2) the moral, slightly irrational track. I can't quite share with you what the exact nature of the discussion was, but the question would be... Continue Reading →
Donn, fragments 