Staying Fit at Work

In an office, restaurant, warehouse or your home.

The Pyramid of Luxuries

The Bespoke - $4,000 Vacation + $1,000 VISA eGift Card

The Ultra High End - Knife Set

The Superpremium - Hoi An Osaka Riverside Villa & Spa

The Premium Core - Knife Sharpener

The Accessible Core - Staying Fit at Work

The Affordable Luxury - How’s the Newsletter Length?

The Everyday Luxury - Past Winners

The Bespoke

Click on the banner to enter The Bespoke Photo Contest. Click here for the Official Contest Rules.

• Prize: $4,000 Vacation Voucher + $1,000 in VISA eGift Cards [ARV $5,012]

• Odds: For every 660 Ducky Tran premium member by the time of judging, I will give out one (1) vacation bundle Prize

• Contest Period: April 3, 2024 at 10 AM CST to April 30, 2024 at 10 PM CST

See Issue 1 for more content about The Bespoke Prize.

The Ultra High End

Previous Contest Winner

The winner for Issue 22 is JENNIFER from Garland, Texas! This is her submission for “a photo of something you need to go on sale”:

Congratulations to JENNIFER! You won $100 Walmart eGift Card! Now you’re $100 closer to your sale item. Now you just need to wait for Black Friday deals to come out in July.

This Week’s Contest

Click on the banner to enter The Ultra High End Photo Contest. Click here for the Official Contest Rules.

• Prize: Knife Set [ARV $100]

• Odds: For every 70 Ducky Tran premium members by the time of judging, I will give out one (1) Knife Set

• Contest Period: April 17, 2024 at 10 AM CST to April 23, 2024 at 10 PM CST

This week’s focus is physical wealth. Many times, in our efforts to either eat healthy, save money, cook something unique, or all three, we are hindered by the tools we may have. It could be not having the right ingredients, a big enough pot, or sharp cutlery. I’m sure everyone that cooks at home also has that one knife that might as well be a butter knife.

That knife isn’t a butter knife but it’s so dull that it can’t even cut through a tomato without juicing it. Most people don’t know that before every use of any cutting knife, it’s good practice to sharpen your knife. You don’t need to go through a 3-step whetstone process, but just something basic.

This week I’m giving out a $100 Knife Set that has a sharpener built into the block so you don’t forget to pass it through a few times before every use. By doing this every time, you can keep yourself from creating butter knives for your random knife drawer. Plus, it’s always nice to have a set that looks nice and can actually cut through tomatoes.

The Superpremium

This week’s Superpremium topic is a beautiful hotel I got to stay at during my travels to Vietnam, the Hoi An Osaka Riverside Villa & Spa. Here are some pictures so you can visualize it when I talk more about it below:

When I travel, I like to plan everything out and that means reading up on every rest stop, restaurant, excursion and hotels. The problem is generally a good review rarely states the downsides, and a bad review is normally too personal to give good insight. Here’s my good and bad on this hotel:

1. Good: Traveling Vietnam can be cheap if you know where to stay, eat and visit. This Villa & Spa is going for $18/night as of April 2024 and is showing an average price of $32/night the entire year. You can’t really complain about that.

   Bad: Its location is a bit further from the center of this town, so you have to travel 3-times as far to get to restaurants and the crowds. There are hotels that are exceptional that is located in the center of the town for just $30-40/night, if you want to splurge.

2. Good: Being further away from the town center, and among the rice patties and crop fields make it feel quiet and intimate. It almost felt like our family had the entire hotel to ourselves when we stayed there because how small and isolated it was, but that made it feel like a getaway vacation.

   Bad: If you need action and adventure, you will have to travel away from the hotel to the center or beach side to see more people. With the limited number of guests, the hotel isn’t heavy on staff and it’s just a family-ran business.

3. Good: With a small staff and being in a rural location, it felt like we owned the place. I know my mom felt that way, she had them fetching mangos from their mango tree (I’m sure she’s the first). We rarely ran into the staff unless we went to the front desk. You could get meals made to order, had laundry service and was a nice family-ran business.

   Bad: As an American, we are used to instant gratification and the slower pace lifestyles in this region is prevalent. The staff is helpful but being a family-ran business, when you want anything, they have to stop what they’re doing to do the new task. This may take some time.

Overall, this hotel and area was an amazing experience for my family and I would love to see this part of Vietnam again. And for $18/night, it just can’t be beat.

The Premium Core

This week’s Premium Core topic is a 3-stage knife sharpener. Since not everyone can win the knife set with a sharpener and a multi-stage sharpener is much more effective for retaining a sharp edge, I decided to make a deal out of one of my favorite tools, the 3-stage knife sharpener.

I think by now, everyone knows I like to cook. And I’m a fan of fancy knives and having a sharp knife when preparing meals for my family. I actually have 3-4 different types of knife sharpeners at home for different levels of sharpening.

But I always return to using something like the sharpener in the deal today. It is a good tool to use on your daily knives. Because it’s a manual tool, it is small, quick to use, and doesn’t destroy your knives (yes, the automatic ones can make them into metal toothpicks).

Deal #1: I’m offering a $13 knife sharpener for just $6 at shop.duckytran.com. The sharpener comes with a pair of cut-resistant glove for sharpening other kitchen-related tasks. There will only be 10 available.

The Accessible Core

Staying Fit at Work

Today, we have many unique work environments that pose varying challenges to our work-life balance. One of the biggest challenges is the increasing number of at-home workers working steps away from their stocked pantry or fridge without anyone staring them down as they snack between calls.

Being an at-home employee can be challenging, but all work environments have its challenges so today I’m going to mention a few challenges for different work environments, and provide a solution that can be used to combat them.

1. At-Home: When we are at home, we tend to be more relaxed and comfortable. This can lead to over-snacking, relaxed hygiene, and a more sedentary workspace.

   Snacking tends to be a habit of convenience. We do it because it’s easy, tasty and gives us a burst of energy. That means we need to make healthy foods more convenient than unhealthy foods. You know if you’re snacking, so do some or all of these things to help you stay fit:

   • Don’t buy unhealthy snacks (easier said than done, but it’s a win if you can do it).

   • Put unhealthy snacks higher up, further away and hidden so that you have it for guests but not readily available for you every day.

   • Prepare and put healthy snacks, such as hummus, celery sticks, carrots, small plate of cut fruits, or almonds, where it’s easy to access and pick up when you attack the fridge or pantry.

   • Put a reminder in places you open too often for no reason, like “Do 10 push-ups” on a sticky note on the inside of your fridge or “25 jumping jacks” on a sticky note right inside your pantry. Conscientiously thinking why you’re opening up the pantry will make you conscientiously think about the snack you’re about to eat.

2. Office: When we are at the office, we do tend to dress up a bit more and maintain our hygiene better due to social norms; however, the social part can get you out to eat and the tendency is to eat what everyone agrees on, which is not always healthy. Also, in an office setting a lot of times we are sitting in our computer chairs for long periods of time.

   • Pack your own lunch. It saves money and will be as healthy as you pack it.

   • Be the one to suggest a healthy restaurant or restaurant with a menu that can maintain your diet.

   • If possible, have a desk setup that allows you to stand or sit so you can alternate.

   • Leave a small dumbbell in your office so when you’re taking a call, you can use it to do a few lifts with your arms.

3. Warehouse: This is one of those work settings that can really take a toll on you physically. Not all, but many warehouse jobs are physically demanding and so fitness is paramount. However, even though you may be strong there are things you can do that can improve your physical wealth and protect yourself from injuries.

   • Many warehouses are known to have poor air quality and so when given the opportunity, don’t forget to go outside and take a breath of the open air. Not only will this help you physically, but fresh air can really lift up your mood.

   • It may be an investment, but consider joint protection like knee and elbow braces, back support belts and similar protection early on. Don’t wait until you injure yourself to get these things, just like body builders, proactivity instead reactivity will keep you from getting seriously injured.

   • Bring an extra pair of socks. You may be on your feet for a long time lifting heavy packages daily, so during your lunch break, take off your shoes and socks and left your feet relax. Put on a new pair of socks and it can feel like putting a warm towel on after a nice shower. Physically and mentally, this can uplift the remainder of your shift.

   • If your job is physically demanding, treat it like a long workout session and it can be more fruitful. Stretch before and after so your body is prepared for physical strain. Think about recovery supplements you may take during a weight lifting session, it may be helpful to your daily recovery. Don’t try to max out often, keep pace so you can finish your reps, and focus on your goals so you can see lifting the weight as a stepping stone rather than a hassle.

4. Restaurant: This work setting is familiar to many and has a combination of challenges. Generally, you’re not lifting heavy packages, but you are on your feet for a long time. Also, restaurant workers tend to go out to eat or drink together often.

   • The extra pair of socks and even shoes is helpful for restaurant workers. Not just for fatigue like the warehouse work, but spills can happen and you don’t want to walk around in wet socks/shoes.

   • Stay calm and don’t rush, even during busy times, you’ll make less mistakes and it will reduce your anxiety, and lessen fatigue on your feet.

   • If the restaurant offers a free meal, pick a healthy option; however, if you are unable, then pack your own lunch.

   • Your co-workers may want to go out to eat or drink after your shift, like in the office setting, you can suggest where to go. If you know it happens a lot, suggest to bring meals to eat and instead spend the money and time to go to rock-climbing gym, mini-golf, or an escape room, after work rather than the bar.

Obviously, all these scenarios do not fit every member. Some may not even be mentioned, and moreover, some advice may not even be feasible in your work environment. The key is you must be conscience about your fitness if you want to change or maintain it. I think as a society we have placed too little emphasis in physical wealth and health but instead focused on physical appearance, which we know doesn’t not always translate one to one.

Like all the other pillars of wealth, physical wealth is highly influenced by the people around us. So be around people with healthy lifestyles and habits you want to have. Likewise, be a person that helps your friends achieve a healthy lifestyle and you both can be positive feedback for each other. Don’t let your work environment be your excuse for staying healthy!

The Affordable Luxury

Issue 21 Community Poll Results

I was surprised with the results; I had expected a completely different spread:

1. 90% of you do not track your daily water intake. I thought this would be closer to 50/50 because previous polls indicate that our current community is fitness conscience.

2. Everyone voted yes to using some skincare products to maintain healthy skin. I’m actually really surprised because not until recently have I even considered it. And everyone has some fancy sounding skincare, or skincare is normally that fancy sounding?

3. Everyone is voted for guests on the podcast or have both types of podcasts available. I will try to work it in so that we have someone from the community in each podcast.

This Week’s Community Poll

Here are this week’s poll questions:

The Everyday Luxury

(The referral program is only viewable on the email version of the newsletter.)

Check out some of the past winners with their prizes! Thank you for submitting your wonderful photos and giving me great feedback each week in the polls. Let your friends know about the winners and how they’ve won prizes each week. In about 2 weeks, I’m doing a deal for “Gift of Ducky Tran Membership” so we can get more friends in the winner’s line-up, look forward to that!

Say Cheese!

Visit shop.duckytran.com with the weekly password: knife