What’s your best decision ever? Some things we don’t really decide for ourselves- reading extensively as a child was great for me, but I didn’t really feel like I consciously decided to do it- I just played along.

I got into a romantic relationship mostly out of childish impulse and desire when I was like 13 years old, but it’s developed into something wonderful. Along the way though, I made a conscious decision to stay and fight when things were getting tough- and that was one of my best decisions ever. It gave me, above all else, a deep sense of purpose and focus.

I always wanted to be part of an awesome community of people- an awesome community that, to me, did not yet exist- that had to be created from scratch. One day  I took the leap and initiated it, not knowing what to expect- just improvising with it, playing by ear and having faith in others. The group has grown to over a hundred members, and has become a significant part of life, giving me faith in humanity and the future. (I will talk about the group at length in a later post!)

Apart from these two- personal relationships and community-building- what is the next best decision I’ve made? I’d say that starting and maintaining this blog is one of them! It isn’t anything incredibly spectacular yet, but it’s a step in the right direction for me.

But the ultimate best decision of them all? There is one decision that in a sense precipitated the others- something that runs through everything else.

Let’s provisionally, tentatively describe it as the decision to track my life.  When did I decide to do that? I’m not sure. I started a blog in secondary school, but that wasn’t particularly purposeful. I tried keeping a bit of a diary/log before I enlisted, but that was a very hit-and-miss thing. Still, I think it’s important to include both of that in this narrative I’m weaving, because it’s important to realize how many times you often have to try (and fail) at something before it works.

At some point I read Tim Ferriss’s Four Hour Body- and while I’m not nearly as fit as I’d like to be, the fundamental idea of the book really hit me- what gets measured, gets managed. You don’t even really have to be conscious of it- if the statistics are constantly in your face, then you’re going to subconsciously start working towards improving them. The trick is to not allow them to fade out of mind.

So then I enlisted into the military to do my mandatory National Service, and decided that I wanted to make the most of it- so I started the 90 Week Project. It hasn’t been completely smooth-sailing- there are periods of lulls and blanks where I sort of lose touch, but I’ve been persistent enough to always try and get back on track sooner or later. It was during this project that I decided to start (n_n)/, and visakanv.com. I feel strongly that I wouldn’t have been as likely to do those things if I didn’t have a framework to put it into- otherwise they would just have been nice ideas to fantasize about, and nothing more.

Recently, I brought my guitar to camp- I’ve been a plateauing music enthusiast who can barely sing and play a little bit of guitar. I decided to try applying the principles of purposeful tracking to my music- I’ve started a progress log, printed out a bunch of songs that I’d like to learn, developed a bit of a practice routine, set measurable targets. And in two weeks I’ve made more progress as a musician than I previously did in months of idling. I find that to be incredibly empowering, enlightening.

Since then, I’ve developed several other ideas about what I want to do- I want to write a novel, start a t-shirt business, connect people, empower the Singaporean music scene, build frameworks and blueprints for other people to emulate, mutate and improve upon. All of this things fulfill my greater plan, my deeper purpose-

Which is to live purposefully, to live. To create, to transcend, to be compassionate. To Live. There is no better decision.