#30 March 9th, 2022

Thought of the newsletter: It is okay for you to reduce the amount of time you spend around certain people if they are always a drain on your energy and your mood. There will be some people that you simply do not get along with, and that is completely okay. Many of us may be carrying the unrealistic expectation that we can be friends with and enjoy everyone we come across, but that's just not the case. You should not sacrifice your experience and your happiness to try to please others. Life is too short for that. Of course there are times where unfortunately do not have the choice or the ability to separate from certain people. I totally acknowledge that. But in the times where we DO have agency, your life will get so much better if you are around people that bring you up by providing joy and energy rather than sucking the life out of you.

Quote of the newsletter: Keep faith. The most amazing things in life tend to happen right at the moment you're about to give up hope.

What If My Small Dreams Are My Greatness? -

In the modern world we see all of these stories and social media posts of people changing the world, and that can create a lot of pressure to also do something on a huge society changing scale. So many people want to be a star or create the next billion dollar unicorn startup.?But we do not all have to build schools or orphanages overseas in order to make a difference. You don’t have to change the world, it’s OK if you’re just changing your world and your inner circle with the people that are in it. Because think about it, if every single person in the world was totally focused on providing as much value to those immediately around them, we wouldn’t need all of these grand solutions because everyone would be taken care of. There’s something beautiful in a simple life that is focused on pouring into your every day connections. Don’t belittle or beat yourself up because there are others doing things on a grand scale. Their journey is not your journey. If you know you’re doing your best and showing up every day that is enough.

The Random Walk Guide to Investing: Ten rules for financial success

It can really easy to unnecessarily complicate personal finances, especially if we get too caught up in getting financial freedom ASAP. This article takes 10 basic personal finance principles from The Random Walk Guide to investing and summarizes them. It’s not revolutionary, but then again nothing really in personal finance is if it is effective. The ideas that work may be boring but they are tried and true. The principle of time in the market versus timing the market is a cliché for a reason. You just have to trust consistent investing over time, low cost mutual index funds, and then let compound interest do it’s magic.?

Hofstadter's Law: Why It's A Pain In My Butt (And 5 Ways To Hack It...)

Have you ever estimated how long a paper or project will take to complete only to realize you DRASTICALLY underestimated? That’s Hofstadter’s law. Things take a lot longer than we think they will. This can be really frustrating since it means we have less time for other things we wanted to do, and it also could mean we miss a deadline. So what can we do to try to do more “under promise and over deliver” rather than the opposite? A good place to start is double your estimate how long that thing will take. Then add 15 minutes just to be safe. As you work and complete tasks actually track how long things take compared to how long you thought it would take. This data can be used to create more realistic predictions in the future. You also can focus more on setting the level of input you will put into something, such as your time, rather than just focusing on the outcome. You have much more control over the inputs than the outputs.?

This is Why I Own a Home

The age old question: should you buy or rent? Here’s one perspective on why buying is better. There is no right answer, for sure. So it’s good to read lots of different opinions, see what applies to you and what doesn’t, and logically come to your best course of action. Of course since today’s real estate markets are very extreme and even topsy-turvy that’s another tough thing to have to factor into the decision.?