Safety & Security, Self-Mastery, UnconditionalRelationship, Worldly, Financial Freedom, Holistic Fitness
Joshua Tiong
Our Six Pillars for Purposeful Living

This has been frequently requested of me ever since my earlier post about ‘The Six Month Conversation’ resonated with so many people. This follow up is about the framework Alexis and I devised with hopes of guiding our life journey together independently and as a couple. I know this post is arriving several years late, after tons of requests, so thanks everybody for your patience!

Our Six Pillars for Purposeful Living

Shitty First Draft

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The Burden of Leadership

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The Burden of Leadership

"I'm ready to be a leader!"

I've been hearing this theme come up in many conversations with folks I've mentored during the past couple of years. It's such a joy to see that they are now at the point in their careers where they are pursuing a move into managerial positions, have been recently promoted into leadership roles, or are beginning to forge down the entrepreneurial path.  

If you are in such a position, this post is for you. This post is about something which is most commonly referred to as the burden of leadership. The burden of leadership can be hard to understand because it's not altogether logical or intuitive. When it is discussed among people not already in such a role, it is often with limited information and only in passing during a conversation about other topics. However, the burden of leadership is something that comes with the territory and its implications should be seriously considered beforehand. 

I am writing this post to offer my thoughts on this topic, and I hope it will help you consider how you might approach your new leadership roles and help you plan ahead to set yourselves up for success…

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Memorable Advice I've received

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Memorable Advice I've received

The benefit of having amazing mentors, colleagues, and conversation partners has been an absolute blessing in my life. Recently, I've taken the time to do some deep-dive reflection exercises and realized how much crazy good advice I received from these people so far in my journey.

I'm sharing some of the advice* to pay it forward, in hopes that it will contribute positively to your life, love, business, and other pursuits.

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Thought-Provoking 'Dinner Table' Talks

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Thought-Provoking 'Dinner Table' Talks

Last summer, inspired by the incredible range of topics explored in depth on the Wait But Why (WBW) site, I wanted to start a local, personalized instance of 'Dinner Table'. The plan was to have a 4-hour get together every week with 5-6 people in a private space. At this gathering, we would enjoy a home-cooked meal, discuss a single topic (pre-arranged and agreed on by participants), transcribe the conversation into a summarized post, and then share the post to serve as thinking fodder.

In the end, the level of involvement required to arrange guests, topics, and logistics turned out to be too much for me to take on given my then circumstances. What ended up coming to life was a scaled-down version of this, where people got together weekly at a set location, at a stupidly early hour of the morning, and on a drop-in basis, to share in conversation about whatever they fancied. Throughout the four months of summer sunshine we had in Vancouver, we got together and enjoyed some really great conversations.

Tips To Become An Excel Ninja

Tips To Become An Excel Ninja
To efficiently operate a computer, using only the keyboard.

This was a goal I pursued for the first few years in my early 20s, during my then-search for high levels of personal efficiency. During this earlier phase of my life, I often evaluated software based on whether they had hotkeys (i.e. keyboard shortcuts) available. Along the way, I learned some tricks for navigating the programs I used most often, including a local version of Microsoft Excel.

This post is to share some of the hotkeys I found helpful. As more come to mind, I will include them here :) feel free to bookmark this page if you find it helpful!

[Rant] 'Fair competition' of liquor industry in BC

[Rant] 'Fair competition' of liquor industry in BC

Reading the commentary section in this 2015 Vancouver Sun article about public vs private competition of retail liquor stores in BC has left me absolutely livid. Between the exaltation of BC Liquor Store's supposedly efficient/effective business model and the cries of 'oh business is so bad, business people are evil', I couldn't stop myself from writing this rant post.

Note: this rant is entirely directed at wider social stigmas evidenced, rather than the specific people who wrote the linked posts/comments.

 

Public vs Private entities on the open market

There are so many variations on 'Competition is good, so go compete!' (e.g. "Hard to believe that somehow private stores that pay mostly minimum wage and no benefits are struggling against government run stores that pay more than minimum wage and have benefits. // Good on the employees at the government stores for being so competitive. I have no trouble with the government stores being open on holidays/Sundays and having a cold section. This actually levels the playing field.") ARE YOU SERIOUS??

How about the jobs produced? How about supporting families?…

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Getting The Right People On Board

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Getting The Right People On Board

Getting the right people on board (for whatever type of organization) is a topic I've been wanting to cover for a while now, either via blog or podcast. The problem is that I hadn't found a good way to put it concisely, given my tendency towards long-winded pieces. 

A friend recently lent me a copy Jim Collins' book, Good to Great, where Collins describes: (1) how companies transition from being good companies to great organizations, (2) how most companies fail to make the transition, and then (3) offers some practical suggestions to implement these ourselves. 

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Joshua & Vipassana; FAQ (Part 3)

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Joshua & Vipassana; FAQ (Part 3)

This is the final of three (3) posts about this experience, detailing my advice/suggestions to people who want to give Vipassana a try. If you haven't already, I suggest first taking a look at Part 1 (general overview, some logistical questions), and Part 2 (specifics about my experience before, during, and after).

My partner did it together with me; here's Part 1 and Part 2 of what she wrote.

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Joshua & Vipassana; FAQ (Part 2)

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Joshua & Vipassana; FAQ (Part 2)

This is the second of three (3) posts about this experience,  and it will be written in a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) format. If you aren't familiar with Vipassana, I suggest first taking a look at Part 1 (general overview, some logistical questions). If you find yourself interested after reading the first two posts, you can see Part 3 (advice for people who'd like to give it a go).

My partner did Vipassana together with me; here's Part 1 and Part 2 of what she wrote about her experiences.

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Joshua & Vipassana; FAQ (Part 1)

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Joshua & Vipassana; FAQ (Part 1)

This will be the first of three (3) posts about this experience, written in a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) format. There will be a list of further reading at the end of this post. My partner did it together with me; here's Part 1 and Part 2 of what she wrote about her experiences.

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Digging Deeper

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Digging Deeper

The reason I'm writing this post is to encourage you to dig deeper. Ask questions about absolutely everything. Take stock of and challenge existing assumptions/biases that have taken root in your lives. Deepen your understanding of the world around and inside of you.