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STIMY #53 Year of Travel Read past STIMY Newsletter editions & subscribe here! 👋🏻 STIMIES, Can I be honest? ↳ I never thought I’d enjoy Japan. The first few times I came, I was ready to go home after a week. Which I've always found to be weird (for me) I love travelling and being in new environments but there was just something about Japan that made me go, “No, I’m good. I’ve had enough.” Then some dear friends moved to Japan (👋🏻 Saran & Jared!) and they invited me to stay with them to...

STIMY #52 Let's Hear It From the Horse's Mouth Read past STIMY Newsletter editions & subscribe here! 👋🏻 STIMIES, Many marketing/branding 'experts' have called 2025 is the year of the creators - But let's be honest - it's be the creators' era for quite awhile now. Particular with the rise of platforms like TikTok, CapCut, and Lightroom who make it so easy to create, edit and publish high quality content for free. You still face a learning curve - it gets steeper the fancier you want your...

STIMY #51 What Are Other People Doing? Read past STIMY Newsletter editions & subscribe here! 👋🏻 STIMIES, Happy New Year! Right now, most people will be asking themselves existential questions like: " Who am I?" "What am I doing with my life?" "Is it time to quit my job?" While there are no easy answers to the above, some my recent conversations have helped me to rethink how I measure my life and year ahead. You might find them helpful: 1. What does a 'successful year' mean to you? I've always...

STIMY #50 Wanna Hang Out? Read past STIMY Newsletter editions & subscribe here! 👋🏻 STIMIES, Can you believe that it's already December?! Scary. Since we're nearing the end of the year, I thought it might be time to do a final STIMY Hangout - which is happening next Saturday! If you're around Kuala Lumpur and would love to make new & interesting friends, you're more than welcome to join us: 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 14 Dec 2024𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞: 2 pm𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞: Somewhere in KL City Centre (Malaysia)𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞: Wicked meets...

STIMY #49 It's Time for War Read past STIMY Newsletter editions & subscribe here! 👋🏻 STIMIES, Culinary Class Wars might be the hottest thing in Asia right now. It's a 12-episode Korean reality show that pits elite/celebrity chefs against lesser-known but talented chefs in a battle for 300 million won (US$225,000). This includes multiple Michelin-starred chefs & even a US chef of Korean descendant (who was once the guest chef for a White House State Dinner). Which prompted a question in the...

STIMY #48 Stop & Clean Read past STIMY Newsletter editions & subscribe here! 👋🏻 STIMIES, Have you heard of 'Stop & Clean'? It's a Japanese concept taught in school where the school children are expected to clean up after themselves and also their community/school during allocated times (these responsibilities shift every week). It's one of the reasons why Japan is one of the cleanest countries to visit! This came into play when I went for a pickleball session in Karuizawa. When the clock...

STIMY #47 Kon'nichiwa! Read past STIMY Newsletter editions & subscribe here! 👋🏻 STIMIES, From the misty, rainy Nagano prefecture 🍂! I've been here for over a week and found it a dream. It's been too easy settling into life here while experiencing many new things, like: Curling (aka Chess on Ice) - I still have two very bruised knees! Pickleball - those 70-year-old Japanese ladies are vicious & told me, very kindly, that it was only their 2nd time?! They were also the first to pick up the mop...

STIMY #46 You Don't Ask, You Don't Get Read past STIMY Newsletter editions & subscribe here! 👋🏻 STIMIES, There are now 6,055 STIMY Newsletter subscribers! I'm writing this in a lovely cafe on a public holiday, blown away by how 1.5 years can change so many things. I now have: The freedom to work from anywhere (I'll be in Japan next week for about a month!); The inability to keep up with Malaysian public holidays - I now understand why employers complain that there are too many holidays 🤣; and...

STIMY #45 The Madness Begins Read past STIMY Newsletter editions & subscribe here! 👋🏻 STIMIES, There are 5,725 of you now subscribed to this newsletter! My mind is blown. 🤯 These are crazy times - I'll be recording 10 interviews in 6 weeks on top of everything else. The fourth interview was completed 2 days ago & next week, I'll be doing 3 interviews in one day! Sometimes, I wonder why I do this to myself. 😂 Some quick reflections: (1) Lighting Matters I never understood the importance of...