Hello there
Been reading here for years and for some time I've thought I would like to participate. I’m not sure to what extent, but I have an idea that writing down my thoughts might help me getting some structure to them.
I’m interested in most things. Sometimes I spend too much time thinking interspersed with short bursts of motivation where things get manifested in the physical world. I seem to be able to accept situations others find themselves dissatisfied with, so the incentive for taking action and improving on things is often small. Also, when I do improve on something, I find that only few improvements result in persistent increased levels of satisfaction, while most often the gains are small and perhaps even fade away quickly. I can be fairly happy by just going for a walk, reading a book, drinking wine, sleeping – not saying this is an optimum, just that it is fairly easy and satisfying activities.
I’m feeling very well.
Thank you.
An unfolding journal
-
prognastat
- Posts: 991
- Joined: Fri May 04, 2018 8:30 pm
- Location: Texas
- Contact:
Re: An unfolding journal
Welcome to the forums.
Writing a journal has definitely helped me organise thoughts and also keep myself more accountable to my goals.
Writing a journal has definitely helped me organise thoughts and also keep myself more accountable to my goals.
Re: An unfolding journal
I was starting to think if I would actually get to write something within this year – or ever. I really want to, but a few things have been holding me back. One being anonymity – I don’t know how this will unfold and who will read it and I guess I’m not feeling good about giving up that "control". Another thing being that it’s much easier to keep thoughts in my own head, where I'm not required to be precise about them while still making perfect sense. Instead I can just comfortably make any leaps in thoughts as I wish. I do however believe that it would be beneficial to me to try to straighten out and structure my thoughts which can sometimes feel like a mess.
I did start writing something up half a year ago, but thought “f***, this must be so boring to read!”. I also think I should just get started, so I will do that right away. Please, feel free not to read it.
I did start writing something up half a year ago, but thought “f***, this must be so boring to read!”. I also think I should just get started, so I will do that right away. Please, feel free not to read it.
Re: An unfolding journal
I’ve been aware of ERE for several years now and while a revelation at the time, I feel like I’m not progressing anymore. When I started, I found it pretty easy to cut expenses significantly. Since then I’ve pretty much stayed at the same level, a level I don’t need to think hard about in order to maintain. It has creeped a little this year, due to a few big expenditures, but otherwise I have been maintaining a good SR for several years.
I still think the journey is going too slow though. If I continue without any changes, we are talking 10-15 years before I would consider having enough. That’s so far into the future that the work of such a decade or more would be for another person than the one I am today. I’m not doubting that I will be satisfied for what I have achieved at that future point in time, but I guess I am suffering from temporal discounting at some level. I’d like to figure out how to get to something like 5 years from now — even if minimal. I’m considering:
I still think the journey is going too slow though. If I continue without any changes, we are talking 10-15 years before I would consider having enough. That’s so far into the future that the work of such a decade or more would be for another person than the one I am today. I’m not doubting that I will be satisfied for what I have achieved at that future point in time, but I guess I am suffering from temporal discounting at some level. I’d like to figure out how to get to something like 5 years from now — even if minimal. I’m considering:
- Sell my car which I don’t really use or need. I bike to work and have cheap options for going further distances, albeit flexibility suffers (especially when I want to carry stuff with me). It won’t free a significant amount of money here and now, since the car has little value and repairs usually only costs parts, because I’ve been mostly doing them myself. It will lessen the cash outflow for insurance, taxes etc. which is a good (bad) chunk of money. This should be a no-brainer…
- Cut spending further — to a lower but still comfortable level. I need to have the skills to do it though, I don’t want to make it a journey of suffering. I just need to dig deeper to figure out what really makes me content. There are technically still a lot of things I could cut away, while still having shelter, food, transportation and a few other essential items covered — resulting in an 80%+ SR which would be absolutely amazing! This would (technically) get me in the range of the 5-year target.
- Leverage investments by margin trading. Not a big fan of this in current times.
- Accept high SWR and expect that I will make more money, thus being able to (kind of prematurely) set a milestone.
- Geoarbitrage. I don’t think I want to do this — not outside the country that is. Also, cost of “the big three” (housing, food, transport) are pretty low already.
- Find a higher paying job. I’m not sure I would get an increase that would be significant though.
- Start side business. Definitely an option. Need to think more about this.
Re: An unfolding journal
I feel you. Same: couldn't imagine 10-15 more years even though that would allow me to retire to my preferred location to live in. I have dealt by accepting that I will live in a somewhat undesirable location but one which is LCOL. What is more important to you, current location or low time to FI?
On the car: The reason to keep it would be making sure you have a fallback position if, say, you get in a biking accident and must get to work differently for some time, or if you do need it for getting things from further away. What would be cheaper: keeping the car or hiring an uber in those circumstances? If we assume you will stay healthy and able to bike, then hiring the occasional uber might be preferable (e.g. bus to store, uber back with haul). If you can come up with a plan B of how you'll get to work if for some reason or another you're prevented from biking for some time, I'd sell the car. (Carpool? Public transportation?)
Cut spending further: this cries for one of those log approaches: keep a spreadsheet with spending, when, what on, how happy it made you, analyze data. If 1 is meh and 10 is ecstatic, it would be easy to see what categories got a 4+ rating. Are you the data/analysis type?
Leverage: I hear you. In this respect, I too am a chicken. They keep talking about "savers pushed out the risk curve" and yup, it me. My personal risk tolerance is definitely lower than what seems to be required for decent return.
Side business: what would you do if you were to start one?
On the car: The reason to keep it would be making sure you have a fallback position if, say, you get in a biking accident and must get to work differently for some time, or if you do need it for getting things from further away. What would be cheaper: keeping the car or hiring an uber in those circumstances? If we assume you will stay healthy and able to bike, then hiring the occasional uber might be preferable (e.g. bus to store, uber back with haul). If you can come up with a plan B of how you'll get to work if for some reason or another you're prevented from biking for some time, I'd sell the car. (Carpool? Public transportation?)
Cut spending further: this cries for one of those log approaches: keep a spreadsheet with spending, when, what on, how happy it made you, analyze data. If 1 is meh and 10 is ecstatic, it would be easy to see what categories got a 4+ rating. Are you the data/analysis type?
Leverage: I hear you. In this respect, I too am a chicken. They keep talking about "savers pushed out the risk curve" and yup, it me. My personal risk tolerance is definitely lower than what seems to be required for decent return.
Side business: what would you do if you were to start one?
Re: An unfolding journal
@ertyu
Perhaps I should say, that I don’t necessarily want to retire completely. I’d most likely still work for money after I achieve whatever-level of FI. It would however most likely be on different terms than today. I think I’m just risk averse and find that the situation of having only a single income stream is fragile (aka normal for the majority of people) and being faced with that feeling, I would of course want to be in that sweet FI position sooner rather than later.
Once I’m FI, I would be okay to relocate to another area (still same country). It would most likely not end up being cheaper than my current living situation, I think however, it might be more desirable to me which is of course a good thing. Only something slightly more radical would make my current living situation cheaper e.g. Jean-style living in the garage – which I by the way applaud and find inspiring. Some form of house hacking is something I’m considering frequently.
On spending (car)
I know I’m paying a premium for the flexibility a car provides, it’s just a question of whether such flexibility is worth the premium. It would (factually) be cheaper to ditch the car and instead rely on uber, renting a car, pay for delivery of goods, use other people’s car etc. I am leaning towards that the flexibility premium is in fact not worth it, so I think I will get rid of it…
On spending (other)
I’m definitely of the mentioned type and I already have detailed tracking of expenditures. One thing is having the data, another thing is actually using it of course. I like the idea of rating each category. I didn’t exactly do that, but I did review the last few years and found that:
While not being exorbitant amounts at all, my spending on tools is not exactly frugal. I guess that I’m partly rationalizing that I will save money by being able to do stuff myself instead of paying others and I believe this is true. I also think it’s an investments in skills. Well, actually that's not what I mean, since tools can offset skills. What I mean is that I probably would not have endeavored at all as I don’t believe I could produce/fix stuff to a satisfactory level without the tools. Therefore I still get some skills, although they rely on tools. Finally I also rationalize that I can save more money in the future when I need the tools again for some other job. All that being said I probably could spend a little less here.
4% of expenses goes to eating out/takeaway. While some of it is for social reasons, part of it is also pure convenience. I actually want to do some more batch cooking, which should make it easier to not chose takeaway on a lazy day.
There also seems to be one big-ish unexpected expenditure every year. Can’t really do much about this. Otherwise it’s mostly individual purchases (as opposed to a category of expenses) that I regret. I think it is impossible for expectations of usefulness to sometimes not meet reality though.
The optimizations is all fine and stuff and I can work on that. It doesn’t radically improve much though. Maybe current spending level is fine and I shouldn’t cut much more. I mean, this is the level I settled at naturally. Or maybe I should do some "edge case testing" of needs/wants e.g. go completely without X, go with a lot of X, go with very cheap X, expensive X. As long as it can be tested without great cost it should be a fun exercise. (Feel free to substitue X with any word of your liking
)
Finance stuff
Yeah, I have about 50% cash at the moment. On one hand, I’m expecting a recession soon. On the other hand, as long as the central banks keeps up their stimulus, which could very well continue for a while, I would loose out on gains (although I would probably loose much of that anyway when the recession finally hits). So, I find it psychologically difficult to put the cash into assets at the moment, instead I do nothing – just letting the cash pile grow. This might be dumb. I want to figure out what to do.
Side business
Probably I would use the skills for which I’m currently employed. I could sell my time (freelance), but I think it would be too much pressure to have two jobs/commitments. Instead I’d probably work on making a product that once developed could be sold to the market. I also like the possibilities of scaling which a product allows. I actually identified a “hole” in the market, where I could offer a product. Just recently however someone made such a product... oh well.
Perhaps I should say, that I don’t necessarily want to retire completely. I’d most likely still work for money after I achieve whatever-level of FI. It would however most likely be on different terms than today. I think I’m just risk averse and find that the situation of having only a single income stream is fragile (aka normal for the majority of people) and being faced with that feeling, I would of course want to be in that sweet FI position sooner rather than later.
Once I’m FI, I would be okay to relocate to another area (still same country). It would most likely not end up being cheaper than my current living situation, I think however, it might be more desirable to me which is of course a good thing. Only something slightly more radical would make my current living situation cheaper e.g. Jean-style living in the garage – which I by the way applaud and find inspiring. Some form of house hacking is something I’m considering frequently.
On spending (car)
I know I’m paying a premium for the flexibility a car provides, it’s just a question of whether such flexibility is worth the premium. It would (factually) be cheaper to ditch the car and instead rely on uber, renting a car, pay for delivery of goods, use other people’s car etc. I am leaning towards that the flexibility premium is in fact not worth it, so I think I will get rid of it…
On spending (other)
I’m definitely of the mentioned type and I already have detailed tracking of expenditures. One thing is having the data, another thing is actually using it of course. I like the idea of rating each category. I didn’t exactly do that, but I did review the last few years and found that:
While not being exorbitant amounts at all, my spending on tools is not exactly frugal. I guess that I’m partly rationalizing that I will save money by being able to do stuff myself instead of paying others and I believe this is true. I also think it’s an investments in skills. Well, actually that's not what I mean, since tools can offset skills. What I mean is that I probably would not have endeavored at all as I don’t believe I could produce/fix stuff to a satisfactory level without the tools. Therefore I still get some skills, although they rely on tools. Finally I also rationalize that I can save more money in the future when I need the tools again for some other job. All that being said I probably could spend a little less here.
4% of expenses goes to eating out/takeaway. While some of it is for social reasons, part of it is also pure convenience. I actually want to do some more batch cooking, which should make it easier to not chose takeaway on a lazy day.
There also seems to be one big-ish unexpected expenditure every year. Can’t really do much about this. Otherwise it’s mostly individual purchases (as opposed to a category of expenses) that I regret. I think it is impossible for expectations of usefulness to sometimes not meet reality though.
The optimizations is all fine and stuff and I can work on that. It doesn’t radically improve much though. Maybe current spending level is fine and I shouldn’t cut much more. I mean, this is the level I settled at naturally. Or maybe I should do some "edge case testing" of needs/wants e.g. go completely without X, go with a lot of X, go with very cheap X, expensive X. As long as it can be tested without great cost it should be a fun exercise. (Feel free to substitue X with any word of your liking
)Finance stuff
Yeah, I have about 50% cash at the moment. On one hand, I’m expecting a recession soon. On the other hand, as long as the central banks keeps up their stimulus, which could very well continue for a while, I would loose out on gains (although I would probably loose much of that anyway when the recession finally hits). So, I find it psychologically difficult to put the cash into assets at the moment, instead I do nothing – just letting the cash pile grow. This might be dumb. I want to figure out what to do.
Side business
Probably I would use the skills for which I’m currently employed. I could sell my time (freelance), but I think it would be too much pressure to have two jobs/commitments. Instead I’d probably work on making a product that once developed could be sold to the market. I also like the possibilities of scaling which a product allows. I actually identified a “hole” in the market, where I could offer a product. Just recently however someone made such a product... oh well.
Re: An unfolding journal
Then beware of hidden correlations. Do your income streams all assume a baseline of spending power from companies/the general population? Don't know what your income streams are, but if you're doing 4 different things and they all depend on consumers shilling out cash, either directly to you or to a company which then hires you, all these income streams might go down together in adverse economic conditions. Many =/= uncorrelated.
Re: An unfolding journal
I had the same "problem" a year ago. And I still have a big cash buffer. But at some point I knew that I had to start investing. I had everything set up, my asset allocation, investment strategy, portfolio positions, etc. So I choose the least overvalued portfolio positions and started investing kinda dollar-cost-averaging into them. Currently I invest about 7k€ monthly. It's just a fraction of my cash buffer, so I got the chance to buy larger piles of stocks when a dip in the stock markets happen.unfold wrote: ↑Sat Jan 04, 2020 8:04 pmFinance stuff
Yeah, I have about 50% cash at the moment. On one hand, I’m expecting a recession soon. On the other hand, as long as the central banks keeps up their stimulus, which could very well continue for a while, I would loose out on gains (although I would probably loose much of that anyway when the recession finally hits). So, I find it psychologically difficult to put the cash into assets at the moment, instead I do nothing – just letting the cash pile grow. This might be dumb. I want to figure out what to do.
Re: An unfolding journal
@ertyu
That's a perfectly reasonable point. However, I think I'm more concerned about my own ability to (actively) make money due to personal factors e.g. accidents, disease or occupational burnout. Burnout is probably most likely, but paradoxically also the one most likely to keep at a healthy distance once FI due to increased FU ability. So, although (many types of) investment income would be highly correlated with job income, it is however, still passive instead of active. I'm sorry, I wasn't very clear.
My response for handling adverse economic conditions is probably to make sure passive income is running a healthy surplus, having flexibility in spending and continual skill acquisition in order to offset spending in the first place, as well as acting as income potential in a SHTF scenario. In the long run I believe the majority of people will keep being consumers and throw money at problems, and that adversity would be temporary.
@wolf
The least I can do is to be as clear on my investment strategy as you were at that point. It would be pretty lame to be waiting for a crash and then when it finally arrives having no clue what to do with the opportunities lining up in front of you! I have been working (thinking?) on it lately, and as soon as I'm semi-settled on something I should probably also just start DCA'ing into it. I'll also admit that I'm completely incompetent in predicting how the markets will do, for example, the 30% surge of S&P last year.
Primarily I've been considering which strategies suits me. There are multiple strategies that I find interesting: index investing, value investing and dividend (growth) investing. I'll probably end up with trying a bit of everything but keep one main strategy.
[removed a bunch of blah blah]
That's a perfectly reasonable point. However, I think I'm more concerned about my own ability to (actively) make money due to personal factors e.g. accidents, disease or occupational burnout. Burnout is probably most likely, but paradoxically also the one most likely to keep at a healthy distance once FI due to increased FU ability. So, although (many types of) investment income would be highly correlated with job income, it is however, still passive instead of active. I'm sorry, I wasn't very clear.
My response for handling adverse economic conditions is probably to make sure passive income is running a healthy surplus, having flexibility in spending and continual skill acquisition in order to offset spending in the first place, as well as acting as income potential in a SHTF scenario. In the long run I believe the majority of people will keep being consumers and throw money at problems, and that adversity would be temporary.
@wolf
The least I can do is to be as clear on my investment strategy as you were at that point. It would be pretty lame to be waiting for a crash and then when it finally arrives having no clue what to do with the opportunities lining up in front of you! I have been working (thinking?) on it lately, and as soon as I'm semi-settled on something I should probably also just start DCA'ing into it. I'll also admit that I'm completely incompetent in predicting how the markets will do, for example, the 30% surge of S&P last year.
Primarily I've been considering which strategies suits me. There are multiple strategies that I find interesting: index investing, value investing and dividend (growth) investing. I'll probably end up with trying a bit of everything but keep one main strategy.
[removed a bunch of blah blah]
Last edited by unfold on Wed Feb 05, 2020 5:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: An unfolding journal
As mentioned earlier, my thoughts can sometimes feel like a mess. I struggle when I need to wring my brain for coherent words in order to verbally explain what it is thinking. Besides “just practice”, what can an INTJ do to improve “thought-to-speech”/"abstract-to-concrete"-synthesis? I’m sure there are many INTJ’s out there that have it figured out or naturally finds the words come more easily to them than I do.
Sometimes it seems to depend a lot on the type of people I’m conversing with, some giving positive stimulus while others giving negative stimulus. I’m thinking a discriminator may be a sensing/intuition difference in many cases. The fact that there is such a big difference between outcomes shows (I think) that I don’t manage to explain myself in terms that are compatible with the majority of people I encounter. But sometimes it also just seems like I have a slow information retrieval (from memory) process. Often, I don't have information ready to serve or base explanation upon, but I can usually (given time) rebuild the graph of knowledge that can be used for deriving information from. This also means context switching is demanding (significant processing must be made for every switch) and because of that I find that group conversations with unknown content or purpose are extremely taxing.
I think that relying so much on Ni, while often ignoring the path to Ni-outputs (because they are usually correct) might be keeping me in this situation. Is it a matter of when I reach a conclusion/idea/opinion/solution, but I’m too lazy to figure out how I got there, I must force myself to do exactly that, such that I can improve my neural pathways to more easily trace the steps in the future?
Maybe there are really two problems at play here
1. Differences in personality types (and me not being good at adapting to conversation partner)
2. Slow information retrieval process (or lack of stored information that does not require prior processing to be useful)
Sometimes it seems to depend a lot on the type of people I’m conversing with, some giving positive stimulus while others giving negative stimulus. I’m thinking a discriminator may be a sensing/intuition difference in many cases. The fact that there is such a big difference between outcomes shows (I think) that I don’t manage to explain myself in terms that are compatible with the majority of people I encounter. But sometimes it also just seems like I have a slow information retrieval (from memory) process. Often, I don't have information ready to serve or base explanation upon, but I can usually (given time) rebuild the graph of knowledge that can be used for deriving information from. This also means context switching is demanding (significant processing must be made for every switch) and because of that I find that group conversations with unknown content or purpose are extremely taxing.
I think that relying so much on Ni, while often ignoring the path to Ni-outputs (because they are usually correct) might be keeping me in this situation. Is it a matter of when I reach a conclusion/idea/opinion/solution, but I’m too lazy to figure out how I got there, I must force myself to do exactly that, such that I can improve my neural pathways to more easily trace the steps in the future?
Maybe there are really two problems at play here
1. Differences in personality types (and me not being good at adapting to conversation partner)
2. Slow information retrieval process (or lack of stored information that does not require prior processing to be useful)
Re: An unfolding journal
The first part concerning 'abstract-to-concrete' synthesis is the lag in switching between Ni and Ti. The more specialized the language being using (less frequently used by you) the more challenging this will be. Also note that Ni has a more metaphorical and cloudy nature, and Ti is more discriminating and tree-like.
Quick or nearly instantaneous retrieval of information across context is Ni. Slower, more contextual information retrieval is Si. Using the 'graph' or topology of knowledge is you using Se<->Ni as a gateway to Si. Whereas for an INTP like me, this is reversed.
The self-awareness here on your part is excellent!
Quick or nearly instantaneous retrieval of information across context is Ni. Slower, more contextual information retrieval is Si. Using the 'graph' or topology of knowledge is you using Se<->Ni as a gateway to Si. Whereas for an INTP like me, this is reversed.
The self-awareness here on your part is excellent!
Re: An unfolding journal
INTJ here, your struggle re: thought-to-speech resonates very strongly with me! Maybe these thoughts will help, which are essentially me answering in the affirmative to your third paragraph's question.
I've often said that I can't "speak" an idea that I haven't "written" yet. Meaning, I feel that I don't know, really, what I think or feel until I've processed it by writing. If a new topic comes up in conversation, and someone asks me what I think, I'll have to evade or defer my answer. If someone asks me a question that I've thought a good deal about, meaning, I've written about it a lot, then I'll likely be able to verbally engage very deeply and broadly. But I must "pre-think" by writing.
This is challenging at work, as much of the leadership is very in-the-moment, instant processing. A novel situation will come up and top leadership will look to me for my insight, and I'll have to basically say "I need to think about it and get back to you". They've started to understand this, and value my contributions only after chewing on them. If I try to express myself in the moment, I'll be far too abstract and no one will have any idea what I'm saying (myself included, sometimes).
To unpack "how" I pre-think, I'm going through a process right now that might illustrate. I've been asked to speak at an industry conference on my area of expertise, which is a niche that I've kind of created by combining at least two other fields of expertise. The "why" of this is very abstract -- I have very fuzzy, hand-wavy ideas of why doing this is important, both in the present and the implications for the future, going from scales of individual businesses all the way to societal. I'm trying to figure out how to communicate the "why" and the "what" of what I'm doing, as well as drill down and give practical examples of what the day-to-day execution of these ideas looks like.
First I journaled about it in my notebook. I've journaled since I was 12. It's how I think about everything, first pass.
Then I sketched a mind map in my large (20"x30") sketchpad.
Then I wrote an outline of the concepts on the computer.
Then I stream-of-consciousness drafted a script - literally what I thought I might say during my presentation.
Then I recorded a video of me actually speaking that script out loud.
Then I reviewed my script, and made several edits to it. The act of speaking it out loud, and being able to review it, revealed several very large "holes" and conceptual leaps that I hadn't guided the audience through, and several tangents that weren't that important and would probably only confuse listeners.
I'm going to deliver practice runs to my DW, my poor new hire, and anyone else who will sit down for fifteen minutes, and get their feedback.
The rest of the process is essentially to iterate the above steps (and include pushing it all into a powerpoint at some point) until I'm satisfied that what I've got clearly communicates the message.
Obviously this is for a presentation that I don't want to fk up and look like an idiot in front of many people, but my process for 'being able to talk about something' is essentially the same, just less intense and no awful powerpoints. The journaling, stream of consciousness writing, and mind maps are a constant thing I do to be able to convince *myself* I understand something, and then be able to regurgitate it with other humans. It seems to me that it's all an exercise to solidify those neural pathways so that information retrieval becomes fast enough for the speed of conversation.
I've often said that I can't "speak" an idea that I haven't "written" yet. Meaning, I feel that I don't know, really, what I think or feel until I've processed it by writing. If a new topic comes up in conversation, and someone asks me what I think, I'll have to evade or defer my answer. If someone asks me a question that I've thought a good deal about, meaning, I've written about it a lot, then I'll likely be able to verbally engage very deeply and broadly. But I must "pre-think" by writing.
This is challenging at work, as much of the leadership is very in-the-moment, instant processing. A novel situation will come up and top leadership will look to me for my insight, and I'll have to basically say "I need to think about it and get back to you". They've started to understand this, and value my contributions only after chewing on them. If I try to express myself in the moment, I'll be far too abstract and no one will have any idea what I'm saying (myself included, sometimes).
To unpack "how" I pre-think, I'm going through a process right now that might illustrate. I've been asked to speak at an industry conference on my area of expertise, which is a niche that I've kind of created by combining at least two other fields of expertise. The "why" of this is very abstract -- I have very fuzzy, hand-wavy ideas of why doing this is important, both in the present and the implications for the future, going from scales of individual businesses all the way to societal. I'm trying to figure out how to communicate the "why" and the "what" of what I'm doing, as well as drill down and give practical examples of what the day-to-day execution of these ideas looks like.
First I journaled about it in my notebook. I've journaled since I was 12. It's how I think about everything, first pass.
Then I sketched a mind map in my large (20"x30") sketchpad.
Then I wrote an outline of the concepts on the computer.
Then I stream-of-consciousness drafted a script - literally what I thought I might say during my presentation.
Then I recorded a video of me actually speaking that script out loud.
Then I reviewed my script, and made several edits to it. The act of speaking it out loud, and being able to review it, revealed several very large "holes" and conceptual leaps that I hadn't guided the audience through, and several tangents that weren't that important and would probably only confuse listeners.
I'm going to deliver practice runs to my DW, my poor new hire, and anyone else who will sit down for fifteen minutes, and get their feedback.
The rest of the process is essentially to iterate the above steps (and include pushing it all into a powerpoint at some point) until I'm satisfied that what I've got clearly communicates the message.
Obviously this is for a presentation that I don't want to fk up and look like an idiot in front of many people, but my process for 'being able to talk about something' is essentially the same, just less intense and no awful powerpoints. The journaling, stream of consciousness writing, and mind maps are a constant thing I do to be able to convince *myself* I understand something, and then be able to regurgitate it with other humans. It seems to me that it's all an exercise to solidify those neural pathways so that information retrieval becomes fast enough for the speed of conversation.
Re: An unfolding journal
Thanks guys. I appreciate your feedback.
As you say, AxelHeyst, you basically confirm the need for reiterating thoughts e.g. by writing in more or less structured forms. That this is a “solution” to get to conversing speed about specific subjects is a good thing to be conscious about. Still, I’m thinking how it can be achieved on-the-fly/real-time. My default mode can’t possibly keep up and is unsuitable for e.g. small-talk. Not that small-talk is something I care much for in it self, but I acknowledge it has a purpose.
I wrote up a bunch of stuff about more differences I see, but I found that it was no good in trying to find a solution. Anyways, it could be summed up to something like this:
As you say, AxelHeyst, you basically confirm the need for reiterating thoughts e.g. by writing in more or less structured forms. That this is a “solution” to get to conversing speed about specific subjects is a good thing to be conscious about. Still, I’m thinking how it can be achieved on-the-fly/real-time. My default mode can’t possibly keep up and is unsuitable for e.g. small-talk. Not that small-talk is something I care much for in it self, but I acknowledge it has a purpose.
I wrote up a bunch of stuff about more differences I see, but I found that it was no good in trying to find a solution. Anyways, it could be summed up to something like this:
- common sense vs. first principles
- linear vs. system
- narrative vs. state
- fun vs. interesting
Re: An unfolding journal
After having been reluctant to invest much for several years, I finally started again in January, which in retrospect was pretty bad timing!
I don't feel bad about it (it wasn't an all-in move), but I did learn that I must stay focused on solid businesses or collections thereof i.e. ETF's. I learned a lot and still is. At least I got the opportunity to lower my cost basis significantly this month. I hope and think (after a few days rally) the markets will dip further, in which case I'll be buying more.
I'm a bit concerned about how all the current massive stimulus around the world is really just more fuel on the fire and that we will only see the bubble really pop after the corona situation is over. It seems like there is no strategy in place anywhere to pay back any debt...
I don't feel bad about it (it wasn't an all-in move), but I did learn that I must stay focused on solid businesses or collections thereof i.e. ETF's. I learned a lot and still is. At least I got the opportunity to lower my cost basis significantly this month. I hope and think (after a few days rally) the markets will dip further, in which case I'll be buying more.
I'm a bit concerned about how all the current massive stimulus around the world is really just more fuel on the fire and that we will only see the bubble really pop after the corona situation is over. It seems like there is no strategy in place anywhere to pay back any debt...
Last edited by unfold on Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: An unfolding journal
Would a higher-level approach be something like immersion? Intentionally putting yourself in more situations that require realtime talk-thinking? e.g. either increase social encounters (bad timing though) or join and consistently participate in Toastmasters (I'm guessing they've gone online)? This falls dangerously close to "just practice" advice which I know you already know. Well, I think whatever your solution is, if it doesn't at least involve more intentional practice, it won't work.
Sort of like, once upon a time I realized I overthought things and was socially deficient. In an effort to stop that, I started thinking really hard about why I thought too much about things. Didn't really work. The solution, for me, was to simply start saying "yes" to that one friend who always invited me to hang out with all her social friends, and muddle my way through the shenanigans that brought me. The rest of the process took care of itself.
Sort of like, once upon a time I realized I overthought things and was socially deficient. In an effort to stop that, I started thinking really hard about why I thought too much about things. Didn't really work. The solution, for me, was to simply start saying "yes" to that one friend who always invited me to hang out with all her social friends, and muddle my way through the shenanigans that brought me. The rest of the process took care of itself.
Re: An unfolding journal
There is probably no other way and really, it’s also an NT-ish pipe dream to completely analyze one’s way out of everything. I know I keep trying to solve all kinds of problems in my head, even if I fairly quickly hit diminishing returns to the extent that it’s pointless. That is something I need to be aware of.
On a positive note, most often when I have mentally processed something significantly, I usually see slow changes in my behavior. I think the process basically synchronizes goals with opportunities.
On a positive note, most often when I have mentally processed something significantly, I usually see slow changes in my behavior. I think the process basically synchronizes goals with opportunities.
Re: An unfolding journal
It's been more than a year since I journaled here...
Mental clarity
My mind has been more clear lately, which can probably be ascribed to having found SO, with whom I now live together with. With SO's presence I'm kept sufficiently distracted from not ruminating too much, but also decide and take some action (actually getting some use out of those brain cycles). Too much long term thinking (aka not living in the present) can kill motivation. I'm also convinced about the benefits of journaling and have been jotting down a bit offline. Also, going for a walk is great!
Finances
This:
Spending
Covid made it too easy a decision to keep the car a little longer, as I was slightly discouraged from public transport. This year I however sold it for a nice profit and bought a (quite significantly) less expensive car (in recurring costs that is) with SO.
SO is great. SO doesn't have detailed spending data as I do (hardly surprising) but I guesstimate that SO is more frugal than me in most aspects. A notable exception is the food category (both at home and eating out), where spending has at least doubled when considering only my contribution. It's okay - it didn't come from a very high level anyway. We have some ideas for how to lower it. In regards to every other category of spending - it's all on auto pilot.
Side project (aka side business)
My perspective has changed towards this. I have for example realised that not only do I not have to invent the next great thing, but I can actually do something super niche. We are so well connected today that the whole world can be my market. I just need a tiny fraction of it as customers to support my lifestyle. That means I can make something that (almost) exclusively solves my own needs - something that I'm not currently getting solved by what's already out there. I also think I'm quite certain that I want to do it solo as that means fewer people to support financially. It would also mean that I'm sure I would be working on solving my own needs.
In my current job I have observed a clear correlation between feeling motivated and being the one in charge of a project. I should take advantage of that and it should carry over to my own project except maybe if I won't feel the same kind of progress due to less time being put in to it.
Which brings me to; when should I work on it?
I think that I need to reserve time for it. First, only working on it seldomly is demotivating and that is probably due to the second thing, that progress is otherwise to slow. I'm thinking that I should try to hear if my employer would accept that I work one day less per week (either contractually or unpaid vacation). I think I need to reserve this kind of time, especially if it is not to take a toll on the relationship with SO. I would still achieve a savings rate of approximately 55% (assuming linearly scaled pay). The downside to trying out this setup would be limited and very well known while the upside is potentially unlimited relative to my needs. The thing would have to prove itself before I would like to take any further steps (like going full time into it). Also I'm not exactly sure what I would like to do although I have a fairly narrow area in mind, but a precise scope is still to be defined.
Mental clarity
My mind has been more clear lately, which can probably be ascribed to having found SO, with whom I now live together with. With SO's presence I'm kept sufficiently distracted from not ruminating too much, but also decide and take some action (actually getting some use out of those brain cycles). Too much long term thinking (aka not living in the present) can kill motivation. I'm also convinced about the benefits of journaling and have been jotting down a bit offline. Also, going for a walk is great!
Finances
This:
I feel lucky that I started seriously investing back in January at market highs. That of course sounds stupid from an isolated point of view, as I quickly lost a lot of (paper) money in the first few months. However, it set me up for having the guts to go in heavily when the discounts were at their highest in March 2020. I put in most cash and even used leverage - not margin, but low-interest debt that I could not be called on.
Spending
Covid made it too easy a decision to keep the car a little longer, as I was slightly discouraged from public transport. This year I however sold it for a nice profit and bought a (quite significantly) less expensive car (in recurring costs that is) with SO.
SO is great. SO doesn't have detailed spending data as I do (hardly surprising) but I guesstimate that SO is more frugal than me in most aspects. A notable exception is the food category (both at home and eating out), where spending has at least doubled when considering only my contribution. It's okay - it didn't come from a very high level anyway. We have some ideas for how to lower it. In regards to every other category of spending - it's all on auto pilot.
Side project (aka side business)
My perspective has changed towards this. I have for example realised that not only do I not have to invent the next great thing, but I can actually do something super niche. We are so well connected today that the whole world can be my market. I just need a tiny fraction of it as customers to support my lifestyle. That means I can make something that (almost) exclusively solves my own needs - something that I'm not currently getting solved by what's already out there. I also think I'm quite certain that I want to do it solo as that means fewer people to support financially. It would also mean that I'm sure I would be working on solving my own needs.
In my current job I have observed a clear correlation between feeling motivated and being the one in charge of a project. I should take advantage of that and it should carry over to my own project except maybe if I won't feel the same kind of progress due to less time being put in to it.
Which brings me to; when should I work on it?
I think that I need to reserve time for it. First, only working on it seldomly is demotivating and that is probably due to the second thing, that progress is otherwise to slow. I'm thinking that I should try to hear if my employer would accept that I work one day less per week (either contractually or unpaid vacation). I think I need to reserve this kind of time, especially if it is not to take a toll on the relationship with SO. I would still achieve a savings rate of approximately 55% (assuming linearly scaled pay). The downside to trying out this setup would be limited and very well known while the upside is potentially unlimited relative to my needs. The thing would have to prove itself before I would like to take any further steps (like going full time into it). Also I'm not exactly sure what I would like to do although I have a fairly narrow area in mind, but a precise scope is still to be defined.
Re: An unfolding journal
Spending
The plans that SO and I had to save on food expenses are working. Essentially we just cook (dinner) for the whole week on Saturday or Sunday. None of us really had the surplus energy to do it throughout the weekdays which meant we would often order food. Now we cook a few different dishes - three or so - and then have each dish twice in a week. In the weekdays we just re-heat, eat and we are done. Easier and cheaper!
Job
Stuff is upside down compared to my last post. I was asked if I wanted to take on an additional role (considered a promotion). After thinking about it for a few days I accepted it thinking that the additional responsibilities shouldn't translate into additional working hours but different priorities. There were two reasons why I found it sufficiently attractive. One, for some time I had wanted to approach my work more holistically, something that was difficult to achieve without taking on the additional role given the corporate structure. Two, the salary increase. I actually accepted the role before we had discussed salary. That was probably stupid but luckily we found a number we could both agree to.
There's some mental cost to taking on a new role, meaning that I have been quite bit more drained than usual the last few months. I'm trying to put my self in a position where I can do as little of the stuff I don't want and most of what I do. It will probably still take some months before I'll be happy with the ratio. Hopefully I will find a good ratio and the salary increase would have been worth it.
Finances
Yawn. Slow and steady.
The plans that SO and I had to save on food expenses are working. Essentially we just cook (dinner) for the whole week on Saturday or Sunday. None of us really had the surplus energy to do it throughout the weekdays which meant we would often order food. Now we cook a few different dishes - three or so - and then have each dish twice in a week. In the weekdays we just re-heat, eat and we are done. Easier and cheaper!
Job
Stuff is upside down compared to my last post. I was asked if I wanted to take on an additional role (considered a promotion). After thinking about it for a few days I accepted it thinking that the additional responsibilities shouldn't translate into additional working hours but different priorities. There were two reasons why I found it sufficiently attractive. One, for some time I had wanted to approach my work more holistically, something that was difficult to achieve without taking on the additional role given the corporate structure. Two, the salary increase. I actually accepted the role before we had discussed salary. That was probably stupid but luckily we found a number we could both agree to.
There's some mental cost to taking on a new role, meaning that I have been quite bit more drained than usual the last few months. I'm trying to put my self in a position where I can do as little of the stuff I don't want and most of what I do. It will probably still take some months before I'll be happy with the ratio. Hopefully I will find a good ratio and the salary increase would have been worth it.
Finances
Yawn. Slow and steady.
Re: An unfolding journal
Well, maybe the finances are not that yawn inducing. If I take into account the new salary and our food optimizations a 75% SR no longer looks impossible. I can't buy any big objects, but it still includes car ownership, non-extravagant vacations and staying socially accepted (i.e. gifts, decent clothes).
Re: An unfolding journal
It has been a long time since last update.
Job and side project
I feel settled in my new position and it's no longer draining extra energy. Maybe I'm even a bit bored or maybe the job just feels more like a chore because all I really want to do is to spend time on my side project.
Children
SO would like to have children. I almost wish that I wanted them but I'm not convinced yet. I don't want to "rob" SO of something SO really wants, but of course SO also wouldn't like to force me to something I really don't want although SO's urge is pretty strong. I'm not sure how to resolve this one...
I feel like my energy would end up being too scattered assuming I still want to be doing all the other things I do today (which is already limited by my FT job!). I don't see a good balance between a FT job, child, chores, social life, intellectual life, health and various projects (electronic, mechanical, construction, ...) etc. From an isolated perspective I also just don't feel attracted to the thought of children.
What would it take for me to possibly want it? I would want plenty of time to devote to it, so that all the stuff I have to do in a day, would not need to be forced tightly into it. I feel like there can be only one: a FT job or children. I cannot be without a FT job just yet though. Maybe I could live with a fixed and limited period of suffering (children + FT job) until I could give up my FT job.
Finances
[Assuming no children] things look pretty good.
I have struggled between prioritizing investing for highest possible returns versus making investments that can change my life sooner (paying good dividends now) rather than later (whenever an investment is fully valued and need to be sold). It is reflected in my schizophrenic portfolio where I'm split between stocks bought because of these two reasons.
I'm becoming more attracted to building up the dividend income stream. I'm also thinking it's OK if it doesn't cover my full spending initially. I could work a bit extra to build up a stash of cash I could then draw down for a period. For example working just one more year (famous last words) with a 75% SR would (obviously) allow existing investments to compound for another 4 years without touching them while I could do something else than working my current job.
So I think my approach going forward will be to focus primarily (80+% or so?) on dividend paying stocks. The remaining 20% or so I would [try to] invest with the objective of highest possible absolute return. If I focus on this in the next few years I believe I could reach a high enough dividend income stream that could cover my barebone expenses within 2-3 years. Maybe add a year for the cash buffer and in the not too distant future I could try out a mini retirement
Unless my side project achieves financial lift off I strongly believe that I would return to a salaried job some time in the future, but having barebone expenses covered and a multi-year cash buffer, would certainly allow me to try out spending significant time on my side project.
Job and side project
I feel settled in my new position and it's no longer draining extra energy. Maybe I'm even a bit bored or maybe the job just feels more like a chore because all I really want to do is to spend time on my side project.
Children
SO would like to have children. I almost wish that I wanted them but I'm not convinced yet. I don't want to "rob" SO of something SO really wants, but of course SO also wouldn't like to force me to something I really don't want although SO's urge is pretty strong. I'm not sure how to resolve this one...
I feel like my energy would end up being too scattered assuming I still want to be doing all the other things I do today (which is already limited by my FT job!). I don't see a good balance between a FT job, child, chores, social life, intellectual life, health and various projects (electronic, mechanical, construction, ...) etc. From an isolated perspective I also just don't feel attracted to the thought of children.
What would it take for me to possibly want it? I would want plenty of time to devote to it, so that all the stuff I have to do in a day, would not need to be forced tightly into it. I feel like there can be only one: a FT job or children. I cannot be without a FT job just yet though. Maybe I could live with a fixed and limited period of suffering (children + FT job) until I could give up my FT job.
Finances
[Assuming no children] things look pretty good.
I have struggled between prioritizing investing for highest possible returns versus making investments that can change my life sooner (paying good dividends now) rather than later (whenever an investment is fully valued and need to be sold). It is reflected in my schizophrenic portfolio where I'm split between stocks bought because of these two reasons.
I'm becoming more attracted to building up the dividend income stream. I'm also thinking it's OK if it doesn't cover my full spending initially. I could work a bit extra to build up a stash of cash I could then draw down for a period. For example working just one more year (famous last words) with a 75% SR would (obviously) allow existing investments to compound for another 4 years without touching them while I could do something else than working my current job.
So I think my approach going forward will be to focus primarily (80+% or so?) on dividend paying stocks. The remaining 20% or so I would [try to] invest with the objective of highest possible absolute return. If I focus on this in the next few years I believe I could reach a high enough dividend income stream that could cover my barebone expenses within 2-3 years. Maybe add a year for the cash buffer and in the not too distant future I could try out a mini retirement
Unless my side project achieves financial lift off I strongly believe that I would return to a salaried job some time in the future, but having barebone expenses covered and a multi-year cash buffer, would certainly allow me to try out spending significant time on my side project.