Operator Notes on Trade-offs

Nothing breaks you more than realising that progress itself is a negotiation. Between what you want to do and what you can actually pull off.

Hi, I’m Shan. I run Xandro Lab - a science-first longevity brand in Singapore focused on performance and recovery. Every Sunday, I sit down here on Out of Singapore to write what’s really going on - not the headlines, but the in-between parts.

I started this in 2023 as a personal journal. A place to think aloud, record the process, and look back one day to see how my thinking evolved. Some weeks are exciting, some confusing, some just plain slow. This one is about the last part — the slow.

Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit off. Not in a dramatic way. Just uneasy, like something’s out of rhythm. The business is fine. We’re growing, maybe even better than I thought last year. But somehow, it doesn’t feel enough.

I am in that strange middle space where everything’s working, but not in the way you imagined. The numbers look okay. The brand is moving. The community is alive. But I still end most nights feeling like I could’ve done more — that we should’ve been further by now.