Harvard Business Review states that an average adult makes 33,000 to 35,000 total decisions each day, including what we will eat, what we will wear, what we will say, and how we’ll say it.
Apps for keeping organized and keeping a second brain
Apps for finances and taxes
EMPOWER Personal Dashboard – I use Empower to get a complete financial view in the Empower Personal Dashboard. Basically this shows and tracks what my complete net worth is, something that motivates me and keeps me aware of my holistic financial hygiene. This also keeps me aware of my quarterly goals that I like to track when it come to my net worth. One of the things I want to do is achieve earlier retirement, so this is something I keep in mind.
Physical Organization and Setup
When you’re a creative, you most likely have 1000 project ideas or deliverables flying around.
Having a second brain as a database or knowledge base center has been integral to the success of community building and organization. For our community, we use Notion as our central hub for knowledge sharing and content consolidation. Everyone has access to the hub and contribute weekly for updates. The game changer is having different links and being able to set up pages.
I do think Notion is a great platform to use, especially since their free version has a lot of great functionalities. You can build out so many things, and that’s without coding too.
Health is Wealth
One of the things I’ve been more aware about is my personal health. Now that I’m in my 30s, a lot of things are preventative action
- Nomad insurance – I personally use SafetyWing (Insurance for Nomads). As I write this article at SFO awaiting my filght to Taipei, I sit here feeling at peace knowing that I’m covered both in Taiwan and Vietnam for the next two weeks. It is available for purchase in 180 countries and can be purchased when already traveling; I personally like that it’s flexible and similar to subscription based so I can book whenever I want. There is no cap on the duration of travel and they cover two important components:
Travel medical — Access a qualified global network of hospitals and doctors for unexpected medical problems and accidents. Includes coverage for: Doctors, Hospitals, Emergency medical evacuation.
Travel — Includes coverage for: Travel delay, Lost checked luggage, Emergency response & natural disasters, Personal liability.
- Body bands – These bands are light and easy to bring around when traveling. I use them for strength training as well as stretching out my shoulders since I’m always hunched over a laptop or sitting. It’s impossible for me to carry weighted bands, so these stretchy contraptions are great for my back, shoulder, and arm muscle training. You can see the ones I use when I’m at home or traveling.
- Physical medicine on hand – I often tell my friends to bring medicine when they’re traveling, especially if they’re headed to places where they can’t speak the language well or if they are going to try street food. It’s always a mixed bag, but I would also prefer having my own medicine on hand in case anything gets dicey.
For my phone
When I travel to different cities, I also enjoy using an eSIM. It makes things a lot faster when I arrive at a new city and need to head out.
I have the iPhone 15, so I have no choice to get eSIMs due to their build. If you’d like, you can get US$3 off your first eSIM data pack from Airalo. Use code EMILY5926 when you sign up or apply it at checkout.
For long flight hauls
I compiled a list below of my favorite items to have while on a long flight haul. Since I’ve traveled a lot back and forth from Asia to the US, I know how painful it can be to be uncomfortable for 14 hours or more. I’ve added the list below to keep your traveling down to a T and for you to keep your sanity too. Feel free to check it out if you’d like to become a more efficient traveler.
