Save, Spend & Invest

I haven't written a Thought-of-the-Week article for a while, so I thought I spend / invest some time doing so... on a rather sleepy, rather lazy Sunday afternoon.

I thought I'll write something along the lines of my "Thinking about Thinking" series, especially in relation to the English verbs "Spend, Save, & Invest".

Too many times, in my work with Leaders, their Teams, or with Individuals, I find that people subconsciously think in bi-polar terms. So... we win, or we lose. We save or we spend. We change or we remain (status quo). We accept or we reject.

Thinking in bi-polar terms is not wrong. But oftentimes, it over-simplifies the situation. This is because things & situations are rarely, simply, bi-polar.

Let's take the English verbs "Spend, Save, & Invest". We can "spend our time" reading, or we can "spend & invest our time" reading & preparing ourselves for the (seeable and/or unforseeable) future. We can "save our money" through a savings account, or we can "save & invest our money" through a savings account, in conjuction with investing in property and/or equities.

Many of us can smoothly & sophisticatedly multi-task (in our work, our play, & our lives), so in our Thinking, it's very important to be conscious about our possible subconscious tendency of over-simplifying our Thinking to bi-polar terms.

We can "spend our time" with our loved ones, or we can "spend & invest our time" with our loved ones. We can "save a youth-at-risk" from falling grades and a life of possible crime, or we can "save, invest, mentor, lead... & steer a youth-at-risk" from falling grades and a life of possible crime... towards a Life of not just "work, live & play" but also one which is flourishing, thriving & achieving.

Likewise, we can have a Singapore Dream for ourselves & our loved ones to lead happy, achieving, fulfilling lives, or as we get more successful in our lives, to also help someone along, such that they too, with their loved ones, could be like us & our loved ones, --- living & leading happy, achieving, fulfilling lives.