never too late to startup, the power of compound interest

[this post is an 8 min read]

Has it been a week already?

I don’t know about you, but I know I’m getting older when I catch myself unconsciously saying things my parents, aunties and uncles would; from the line above to comments like

“oh my, you’ve grown so quickly; oh my, where did all the time go?”

And while I used to roll my eyes at what I thought were gap-fillers, these days, I reflect on how loaded those simple remarks actually are.

It reflects how the passage of time is something that we have no real control over, and how many of us have big chunks of time taken up by our responsibilities in adulthood.

This brings me to this week’s top 3 picks below.

Enjoy,

(1) Habit Stacking

Every action and inaction you take everyday is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.

How are you spending your waking hours, and what is this saying about you? What are you exchanging your time for?

I’ve been digging into James Clear‘s #AtomicHabits frameworks this Sunday. Here are my favorites so far:

– Habit stack to win:

Morning coffee+news, kiss your partner just before bed?

These are habit stacks you unconsciously already have: After/Before [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].

The idea here is to build one habit on top of another.

– Focus on how each habit makes you feel and see how you can manipulate it:

Eg: a hack I didn’t realize I was already practicing: pair something I hate (like folding clothes) + guilty pleasure (mindless Netflix show) when I’m brain dead at end of day.

No time to read the book? Here’s a cheatsheet.

(2) The Power of Compound Interest

Love him or hate him, Naval who built AngelList has mastered the art of succinct thought-provoking tweets.

“So, compound interest is a marvelous force, where if you start out with 1x what you have, and then if you increase 20% a year for 30 years, it’s not that you got 30 years times 20% added on. It was compounding, so it just grew, and grew, and grew until you suddenly got a massive amount of whatever it is. Whether it’s goodwill, or love, or relationships, or money. So, I think compound interest is a very important force.

You have to be able to play a long-term game.”

(3) This week’s #BillionDollarMoves feature: Never Too Late To Startup with Rosaline Koo, CXA Group

“In a startup, you’re in a warzone all the time.

True character shows- not everyone can deal with adversity.

Some people let it drag them down, and they drag everyone down, you can’t afford that.

Don’t be fooled by brand names.”

We love rooting for the underdog- but what does it really take to rise despite the odds, as THE underdog? Rosaline Koo founded CXA Group from her living room in 2013 after a storied career with multinationals, with ambitions to transform health benefits for employees.

Tune in to her story from risking all her family savings to build her startup; to scaling to over a million users and raising over $50M from the likes of Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group, EDBI, Openspace Ventures and more.

👊🏻 3 THINGS YOU’LL LEARN:

How an underdog emerged to challenge global insurance players
Why Rosaline left a prominent rise in the corporate world, to build her startup
Hard lessons in leadership: why toxic lieutenants need to be removed immediately to the sacrifices of a founder

Tune in now on the Tube or wherever you get your podcasts:

@Spotify, @Itunes

Have a great week ahead—and chat more soon!

Keep playing it big.

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