Jia Yang Li

Hi there! Welcome to my blog. Here I talk about making an impact, finding purpose and leveling up in all areas of life. You can find me on LinkedIn at https://linkedin.com/in/adventgineering

Why use Ghost for blogging?

I used to be on Wordpress for the longest time, but I decided to move to Ghost. Here's why. Open source. I like that it's all open source and still profitable; I think the team is doing great work and I'd like to see more of this work in the

Escapism

This is all there is.

What is life? Take stock of it - it is your friends, family, people you care about. What you do for work, what you do for your hobbies. Your routine. Things you spend your time on. Take a good, long look. Sure, there may be an afterlife, or other things

Members only

Travel

Companion post: Travel checklist

Checklist for your use.

How do I prepare for overseas university as a Singaporean?

A reader asks: I'm interested in studying at top schools for Economics in the US and in the UK, as I've read that there are definitely fewer opportunities in Singapore as compared to overseas with regards to the kind of exposure one gets. I'm planning on applying to a few

Money

How I earned S$1,375 in cash and cashback by signing up for credit cards

Over the last few months, I've been opening and getting the welcome reward for quite a few different credit cards. Here's why and how I did it, if you want to do the same. I'm now just waiting for the money to be credited to my respective accounts. Why churn?

Paid-members only

Money

Companion post: exact cards I signed up for + $35 FairPrice vouchers

Apart from the ones listed in the other post, here are a few more cards and a brief review of each one.

Travel

How to plan for overseas travel (comprehensive guide)

Travel can be fun but also exhausting. When you travel, you basically have to think again about all of the aspects that make up life - everything you do will be different in a different country. I've listed down some considerations you should think about so that you can focus

Travel

Philippines El Nido, Palawan and Manila Itinerary

I recently spent some time in the Philippines. It was great! Below is my rough itinerary for anyone who wants to do something similar. I didn't see this combination around so I thought to post it. One thing to take note is that at this point, cash is king -

Career

Generalise or Specialise?

I think it is worth it to try to figure out if you're happier being a generalist or happier specialising in something. Some initial thoughts here. It's been on my mind for quite a few years now. Some of the main arguments: "Generalists are flexible!" * You can switch quickly and

HowTo

Resourceful Renovation

I recently completed a renovation and my total spend was kept very low. Renovation costs can range from $10,000 to $120,000, and I'm happy to say that I've kept mine at about $13,000. We also completed the major works within about 2 months. Don't hire an interior

Research

DonateGoWhere: Singapore IPC Evaluation

Sometime last year - between graduation and my first full-time job - I thought it'd be fun to evaluate charities in Singapore based on a few different metrics, inspired by GiveWell. With the help of some friends, we managed to evaluate all the IPCs in Singapore, at least on the

Climate change

Why I give 10% of my income to charity

So the new year is just around the corner, and I just completed my first full year of donating my income to charity. So far it's been great, and right now I want to continue to do so possibly for the rest of my career (and possibly my life). It's

Career

Levels of Development: Skills

If life is a game, then how do we level up? I seek to answer this question and propose different levels available to us in all aspects of life. I'm going to call this Levels of Development. Just some guidelines and goals to work towards, and thinking about what's possible.

Levels of Development

Levels of Development: Life Purpose

If life is a game, then how do we level up? I seek to answer this question and propose different levels available to us in all aspects of life. I'm going to call this Levels of Development. Just some guidelines and goals to work towards, and thinking about what's possible.

Levels of Development

Levels of Development: Values and Morality

If life is a game, then how do we level up? I seek to answer this question and propose different levels available to us in all aspects of life. I'm going to call this Levels of Development. Just some guidelines and goals to work towards, and thinking about what's possible.

Levels of Development

Levels of Development: Relationships

If life is a game, then how do we level up? I seek to answer this question and propose different levels available to us in all aspects of life. I'm going to call this Levels of Development. Just some guidelines and goals to work towards, and thinking about what's possible.

Levels of Development

Levels of Development: Physical Health

If life is a game, then how do we level up? I seek to answer this question and propose different levels available to us in all aspects of life. I'm going to call this Levels of Development. Just some guidelines and goals to work towards, and thinking about what's possible.

Levels of Development

Levels of Development: Mental Health

If life is a game, then how do we level up? I seek to answer this question and propose different levels available to us in all aspects of life. I'm going to call this Levels of Development. Just some guidelines and goals to work towards, and thinking about what's possible.

Levels of Development

Levels of Development: Finance

If life is a game, then how do we level up? I seek to answer this question and propose different levels available to us in all aspects of life. I'm going to call this Levels of Development. Just some guidelines and goals to work towards, and thinking about what's possible.

HowTo

Assemble your own computer science degree

Seriously, there are so many good resources out there these days that it seems we don't really need the formal path anymore. Best of all, they're all low-cost or free. The main challenge with doing something like this instead of the normal university route would be a lack of discipline

Career

3 great career planning tools you should use

Instead of just thinking about your career randomly and forgetting what you decided on before, I recommend doing it more systematically. There are three main tools that I use for this. Journalling For me, writing is a good way to get my thoughts out of my head and into a

HowTo

How to sell more on Carousell

Carousell is a great platform, and I'm really happy it exists. I've sold a couple of big ticket items there amounting to about $500, and I wanted to share some tips on selling on the platform. Install Carousell on your phone This makes it easier for you to respond to

HowTo

How to buy better on Carousell

Carousell is a great marketplace for everything - from secondhand (or even brand new!) goods to cars and apartments. I've bought about 25 items from Carousell, found my current apartment through Carousell and most recently started selling on Carousell too. I like that I can take pretty good items off

Career

Why being realistic is unrealistic

A lot of the time, when people say "let's be realistic", it tends to sound as if the only things that exist are the things that are possible right now, and we shouldn't entertain ourselves with big goals that are unlikely to happen. It can be short-sighted, cowardly and not

Gaming

How I permanently psyched myself out of video games

Have you ever played this game called MapleStory? I used to love the quests, and played for the story; I couldn't understand the people who grinded levels without playing the different stories. Some of the music still sticks with me today, and I especially liked the Ellinia home music. I