What fevers, fans, and CRM automations taught me about gratitude

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Hello friends! And a warm welcome to those who found me through my LinkedIn post announcing my adult gap year.

If you’re new here—I’m Tim. I left behind my 9-5 as a product manager to travel across Asia and explore what’s next. This newsletter is basically my public diary. Expect travel tales, personal finance musings, experiments with new tools, and conversations with creators and entrepreneurs.

This week, I’m writing from Siargao, also known as the surfing capital of the Philippines.

🤒 Food poisoning AGAIN

A few days ago I caught a stomach bug that knocked me out. I was feverish and sweaty, and somehow I ended up in the one room in our hostel without AC—dubbed “the fan room”.

While lying there, I found myself journaling about how I missed my cushy life in the Bay Area. Things like:

  • Temperate weather

  • A well-stocked kitchen

  • Not fearing for my life crossing the street

In the midst of my feverish journaling frenzy, I thought back to a recent quote I read:

So I gave it a shot. I wrote down what I was grateful for:

  • A roof over my head

  • A bed to sleep in

  • Electric fans to cool me down

  • The opportunity to connect with people from all corners of life

Naturally, two hours later the power went out in the middle of a tropical downpour.

But somehow, I still felt okay. It seems like focusing on the positives, rather than the negatives, made me more resilient against the challenges I was experiencing.

The next day, I bounced back.

Suddenly, everything was amazing again—from impromptu chats with travelers to discovering a hidden gem cafe at the end of a dirt road. It’s wild how health flips your whole world.

🏄‍♂️ The Siargao Curse

I was talking to a few Filipino travelers when I learned about The Siargao Curse: once you visit Siargao, you have to come back.

My new friend Rey visited Siargao 5 times in the past year, staying for weeks at a time. I have to say, now that I’m in good health, I see the appeal.

On another note, I love seeing Filipinos exploring different parts of their own country. It seems to do a better job of keeping the culture alive, compared to places that cater only to Western tastes. And selfishly, I tend to get better, more authentic recs from Filipino tourists 😎 

🧠 Boredom and business

Since I started traveling full time, I’ve found myself with a lot of empty, unstructured time. Eventually, I hit the elusive state of feeling bored.

Which is why when my brother asked me to help out with his small business, I was eager to jump in.

This week, I’m helping him:

  • Redesign his CRM in Airtable

  • Automate his client intake and onboarding process with Make

And it’s fun.

Making systems run more efficiently really scratches my optimization brain. I know, I know, I’m a nerd 😂 

And in the spirit of gratitude, I’m glad I’m interested in things that happen to be valuable for businesses, so work can be engaging instead of a chore.

What’s next?

I’ll be leaving for Singapore next week, where I’m planning to meet up with a few folks in the local tech / media scene.

If you have any recs for the city, let me know!

Until next time,
Tim

P.S. Have you ever bounced back from a terrible experience, only to feel more grateful afterward? Hit reply—I’d love to feature some guest stories in the future!

📖 What I’ve been reading recently

  • From Third World to First: The Singapore Story by Lee Kuan Yew – Can I just say it’s crazy that we can read the first-hand account of how someone built a modern nation? There’s a lot to admire about Singapore’s development story as well as its policies around housing, retirement, and car ownership. This book is a fascinating look into how Singapore transitioned into independence, and the big bets that Lee Kuan Yew made to turn the city-state into a global powerhouse.

    • I have to admit that from my experience as a PM, I’m very sympathetic to the idea of designing systems that work without relying on individual choice (or unnecessarily complex knowledge of tax codes).

    • Example: Retirement systems

      • In the US, retirement is supported by Social Security, which is dependent on taxes paid by younger generations and may become insolvent by 2033. Whatever’s not covered by Social Security is supposed to come from your own savings in a mish-mash of tax-advantaged retirement accounts, which many people don’t understand fully or contribute to. This leads many to be fully reliant on Social Security in retirement.

      • In contrast, Singapore mandates employers and employees to contribute 20%+ of the employee’s income towards a centrally managed pension fund that guarantees income at retirement. This makes the system self-sustaining, without passing the burden on to future generations. That said, adopting a centralized system like Singapore’s requires an extremely low level of corruption and transparent governance, which is… optimistic in many parts of the world.

  • Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky – It’s been a while since I’ve tackled one of the classics. I’ve attempted to read Crime and Punishment several times in the past, but ended up dropping it early on. It’s psychologically intense, making it difficult to soak it in all at once. Luckily, this also makes it a great “project book” where I can squeeze in a couple of chapters here and there during unstructured time.


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