Few things truly matter in life. To design a full life, three things that really matter in our lives are 3Fs: Family, Finance and Fitness. Whatever we do, my wife and I will never do so at the expense of these 3Fs.
Family
Daily, we invest quality time to each other and 3 boys (Eleazar, Othniel, Nehemiah). We stress home as the most important training ground for success in life. We make time to eat together, play together, pray together, learn together and work on common projects together. When our boys were young, we would end each night with a story from the Bible – recognize the principles of successful living and relate to our respective life’s circumstances. In our boys’ growing years, we would regularly make time 1:1 with each of them as well as learning together as a team. We also make great effort to get to know our boys’ respective friends and love them as part of our household of faith. During our family meals, no one is to use smartphones but focus on having a meaningful conversation with each other. When dealing with conflicting priorities, we always remind each other that family comes first!
Finance
We believe that the schools or universities do not adequately teach us on finance and especially financial success. We take education on finance into our own hands. We have more than 300 carefully chosen books on finance in our home library. Our boys are taught to develop the spirit of entrepreneurship since young. During our boys’ schooling years, my wife and I only gave them minimum allowance each month. If they wanted i-phone, Mac Computer or any other items beyond their allowance, they would need to work or make money through legitimate means on their own. Early in life, our boys learn that money doesn’t grow on trees and that their parents are not ATM machines. We focus on teaching them how to fish for themselves and remind them to never spend on “future” incomes and always spend below their means. Together, we learn how to make all the money we can by doing what we love, giving all we can to meaningful projects and saving to multiply our money and ultimately invest to grow our own businesses.
Fitness
Although early in life, we have invested in medical insurance for each one of our family members, we believe the best “insurance” is HEALTH MAINTENANCE. My wife and I further equip ourselves by doing our respective PhDs on Holistic Nutrition and Holistic Health Science. We believe that preventive health care is better than sick cure. Our work is a carefully chosen vehicle to live our dreams,not just to make money. We stress work-life balance and we believe that only with a healthy body can we offer PEAK PERFORMANCE each day in our God-given purpose. Fitness to us includes wholesome mindset and doing things of lasting legacy that will greatly benefit those in our circle of influence.
Let’s carefully design a life that we can live to the full, as we apply the synergistic power of the 3Fs, i.e. Family, Finance and Fitness. And our FAITH in God is integrated into all the 3Fs, to give each aspect of life a greater meaning and significance.
Reposted from old website 15 Sept 2016
About the Author:
Dr Peter Ting