Think About It Archives - Page 49 of 64

The Easy Solution

Posted on April 8, 2021

There is always an easy solution to everything. Just the implementation and effectiveness are issues. The easy solution needs to be considered but should be reviewed for more complex items.

For example, the easy way to lose weight is to eat less and move more. This would bring in fewer calories and burn off more. And although solutions don’t come a lot easier than this, the individual implementation is much more difficult and therefore the effectiveness is often less than ideal.

Similar thoughts could be had for smoking or drinking. Easily, the best way to stop both of those is to stop buying the products. If you don’t have cigarettes at home or any alcohol, you are very unlikely to consume them.

Tidy your house, desk, papers or car. Seems so easy. And then when you are in the location again, do not leave anything there to mess it up. This good habit will leave your car, house, office or bedroom, very tidy indeed. If only people could perform like this daily, their spaces would be amazing.

Of course, many people do live like this. You may not be one of them, but they are out there.

The easy solution exists for many things. Though some people are unwilling to properly implement for effective results. Are you one of them?

Action Financial Gratitude Health & Fitness Think About It Time

Those Defining Moments

Posted on April 2, 2021

That early win or terrible slip-up can have a long lasting effect on our self-perception and confidence. Those defining moments can haunt us or provide much needed energy for our sails. Which defining moments can you recall?

It’s great to look back on these and unpick them a little. Was it a sporting achievement or scholastic? Were you 8, 13, 18, 27, 33, 48, 57 years old or a different age?

I was fortunate to have great friends, be athletic and be very good with academics. So I can recall mostly good memories at an early age and also as I went through secondary school.

Can you recall the first time you went on a big road trip? Do you remember being on a boat, train or airplane? Who inspired you the most when you were under 10 and who was it when you were a teen?

Most importantly now, is not what has happened, but what will happen. What defining moments would you absolutely love to have in your life? Will it involve an athletic achievement? Perhaps you have an academic goal in your sights? Relationship and financial success are both wonderful things to work towards. Don’t think any of these things just happen. You have to get yourself in the right place both physically and mentally.

Then those defining moments can happen!

Action Financial Progress Think About It

Producing And Consuming

Posted on April 1, 2021

Do you consume more than you produce? It is an interesting question. Producing and consuming are both required in life. However, imbalances in your life will occur if you do one more than the other.

Producing here means providing something of value. The more you offer in value, the more productive you are being. The more the market perceives value in what you are offering the more you can charge for it.

If more people like what you offer, the larger your business will grow. This is how the world has companies valued at billions of dollars. Because of this, we also see billionaire founders and investors. This is what happens when you provide something that others find valuable, not just what you think is valuable.

What you think is valuable is what you will consume. The more value you place on a product or a service, the more you will be willing to pay for it. This payment you make will come from your own resources such as income or savings.

If the value of your consumption is more than the value of your production, you will have less money or wealth. If your production value is greater than your consumption value, you will attract and keep more money.

Producing and consuming are part of life. Which one you focus on helps determine how you spend it.

Financial Observe Think About It Time

Feeling like Spring 2000

Posted on March 31, 2021

Anyone else got that deja-vu thing going on? Stock markets near all time highs and some stretched valuations. It’s feeling like spring 2000.

The Deliveroo IPO was not in line with City expectations. This immediately made me think of a similarly hyped IPO from March 2000. It was the IPO of Lastminute.com, the dot.com seller of discounted travel. Although it’s initial day was much better, it turned south very soon after. Things continued to unwind through April and into May. Actually it continued for a full year. From the 14th March 2000 IPO through to 14 March 2001.

The NASDAQ peaked in March 2000, coincidentally. It then went on to fall 78% over the ensuing 31 months. The descent ended in October 2002.

This all came on the back of a very unique year, which was the last year of the Millennium/Century/Decade. We’ve also had a very unique year in 2020. That seems more circumstantial, or not relevant at all. But I thought I would throw it in there.

Anyway, after the bull market in the 90’s, there was a shake out. Maybe we are seeing the start of a shake out now again. We have had about a decade of bull market activity, so theoretically markets are due a correction.

It may be just me, but it’s feeling like spring 2000.

Financial Gratitude Think About It Time

If I Had His Money

Posted on March 30, 2021

I would do things differently. Have you ever heard someone say this? Maybe you’ve even said it. If I had his money I would do x,y,z.

Now it could be his or hers, but the idea behind the phrase strikes me as the speaker thinks they would do better with it. In my experience, hearing people say this, it tends to involve the speaker spending more cash on luxury items. Holidays, clothes, better meals out and cars seem to high on the list of improvements.

The irony seems to be, once again, that those who develop good cash management habits have more cash to manage. And those that don’t put effort into good cash management habits, don’t tend to have much money to manage. Though they are not short of observational skills and have a fine knowledge of how to improve the millionaire’s suboptimal lifestyle.

With just a few flourishes of a debit or credit card, the speaker can resolve your unfortunate circumstances.

This may be one of the reasons why the speaker might not have enough money of their own to mess about with. With their unique money mindset and a propensity to spend rather than save, we can better understand why the speaker is in this predicament.

The good news is that great money management habits can be learned. Then you can turn, if I had his money, on its head.

Think About It

Curious, Confident, Resilient Kids

Posted on March 28, 2021

What three things do you wish for your kids to be? After all the education, training and experience, I’d like them to be curious, confident, resilient kids.

The way I see it, you need to be curious about life. The more curious you are, the more you will find out about things. You will learn, engage, meet people, have fun and develop more quickly as a person.

As all these new people, situations and aspects of life are being discovered by their curiosity, they should, and will need to, grow in their confidence. The greater the experiences the more likely they will gain confidence. Additionally, helping them gain confidence from a young age is an important element of raising children. Letting them try and fail. Allowing them to make mistakes and supporting them throughout with strong messages of support.

Finally, there will be moments that knock them back. Physical situations, nasty people, relationships ending and goals missed. All of these are possibilities. And, although as a parent, I don’t want them to encounter any hardships, I know that is unlikely to be the case. So I want them to develop resilience so they can be knocked down and get back up. Whether it is once or 53 times, I want them to be ready and develop an ability to stay cheery and bounce back.

Curious, confident, resilient kids – that’s the goal.

Action Gratitude Think About It

Books You Should Read

Posted on March 23, 2021

With almost 150 million books ever published, it is hard to know which ones are worth your time to explore. Books you should read are probably numerous. However, I am going to help you narrow down the selection so you can get on with reading rather than browsing.

In addition to my book, Achieve Anything, which is coming out soon, I have added a list of 62 books to consider. This selection of books has been drawn from a wide range of books which I have read over the years. I believe that each book on this list will contribute to your overall wealth of knowledge.

Soon I will be organising them into categories. In addition, I will add a phrase or two about each book to help you understand what you will gain from reading it. But don’t let that slow you down. Follow the link HERE to find the list of books I suggest you start reading.

Books are a wonderful resource that can greatly enhance your knowledge in a specific area. Incredibly, you can benefit from the wisdom of the person who has gone before you. You only need about £7 and a desire to improve your life. You will also need to commit to five or six hours to read it.

So go have a look at the books I have curated for you. They will help you understand the world on a different level. Please also add in the comments below, some of your favourite books, whether they are on my list or not.

Go see the books you should read.

Action Progress Think About It

You Do What You Want

Posted on March 21, 2021

I notice that people will listen and then do it their way anyway. There is little interest in doing it another way. You do what you want because that is how you are programmed.

Sure we can listen. And sometimes what is said matches what we want to do. In those instances it looks like we are following the advice given. However, that is not always the case. Often enough, it just happens to be the next thing we were going to do.

What is more easily spotted is when you offer the advice and it is not taken or followed. This usually means that there is no interest in that direction or there is a speed bump.

Often enough this speed bump is some type of fear or shame. It can be overcome. And it will be overcome by those that are unstoppable. Those that are simply uncomfortable may not find the strength to get past the speed bump.

It is an ‘I think I do’ want it gap. I just don’t want it so bad that I am willing to get quite uncomfortable over it.

I like to travel in comfort but not if it is going to the wrong destination. Get clear on your vision, put the extra daily effort in and do what is best to get you there.

But you do what you want.

Action Observe Think About It Time Video

Recorded History Obsession

Posted on March 18, 2021

There is something wonderful about keepsakes from our past. Equally it is nice to keep tapes and videos. Although a recorded history obsession seems to be getting a foothold in modern culture.

I suppose it started with chiselling into some clay tablets. Then things moved to the printing press and recorded music. That was a nice time. Not too many newspapers, books, or musicians traipsed about. So not much was recorded.

Then we moved to making films. And then tv shows. Some started live. Then some shows did pre-recordings.

After that came VHS, Mixed tapes, CD’s, DVD’s, digital photography, books, ebooks, audio books, box sets, etc. Things were further complicated by CCTV, social media and email. Everything we did was being recorded. Even our ring doorbell footage needed to be stored in the cloud.

I have so many photo and video clips, that I am not sure I would ever look at them all again. It would take days if not weeks. We are so awfully busy capturing moments of our life, that we lose our life reliving those moments.

Memories are wonderful. But do we need to remember everything via recordings? Will we ever have enough time to watch it all? Or only when we are very old and the information no longer useful.

This recorded history obsession may need to slow down to preserve mental health.

Action Gratitude Think About It

The After Party

Posted on March 16, 2021

It’s a lot of fun being around people you like. And it can be even more enjoyable when you can kick back with them at the after party.

This shindig can take place after putting on a big event or after a day at work. It’s usually highly enjoyable as people have completed their work and are now able to relax.

We had one of those moments this evening after a Clubhouse room. We had just spoken about how we had done this with another room a couple of weeks ago. The same pattern emerged.

Alex hosted a room for several hours. In this case that room lasted 7 hours. But as people were filing out, we began chatting a little. Then the chat broadened and continued. As another hour passed, we thought seriously about closing the room. Finally, a brave moderator tore the bandage off and closed the room. Phew.

The after party is quite a chill place to relax and shoot the breeze with mates/friends. The pressure is off so perhaps someone on stage will let something fascinating slip.

But then someone has to be brave enough to close it down. They need to shut the room. Thankfully someone did it.

So that was fun!

The after party usually is.