Time Archives - Page 73 of 86

Helping Others

Posted on April 4, 2021

Do they really need your help? Or do you really need them to need you? Are they capable of doing it themselves? Helping others can be a wonderful thing. It can also be done for a variety of reasons.

Altruism is rarely altruistic. Often the person performing the act of kindness or assistance will get a jolt of feel good for helping out. Some enjoy that feeling that comes from helping so much that they continue to help people even if they no longer need it.

One might even make up some symptoms or stories of helplessness to prove their assistance is required. This is where things need a reassessment. We should be aiming to help people to become self sufficient. Teach them to fish, not give them a fish.

No one should be trying to create a situation of learned helplessness. Nor should people be allowing or encouraging this to happen. People like to feel a sense of independence. I believe this is for both the young, the old and everyone in between.

When helping someone or a group of people, have an exit strategy. Know what the end of your useful time looks like and stick to it. Help the other person but ween them off of you.

That is one of the keys to helping others.

Action Gratitude Time

Let Things Slide

Posted on April 3, 2021

Sometimes there is just too much on. Though there are also times when life has a dramatic twist. In such instances, it may be best to let things slide.

I wouldn’t encourage you to do it too often. Certainly do not make a habit out of it. However, there are times in your life when almost anyone would agree that taking your foot off of the gas a wee bit is a good idea.

When life throws you a curveball in the form of an illness, accident or challenge, you may have to put some things on hold. Similarly, if you should be celebrating a unique milestone, then don’t hold back. This is especially true if it comes as a bit of a surprise, like being on the Queen’s Birthday Honours or something goes into remission.

If this happens, it is a good idea to let the people know who may be the most impacted. Nothing fancy, just a quick, I won’t be in, meeting the deadline, or able to catch up. This should be fine for just about anyone. And as soon as the slide is over, you can get back in touch with those people and others. Let them know you are back on the case and looking forward to the next step.

Very occasionally, you can let things slide.

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!

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.

Action Observe Progress Time

Getting Distracted

Posted on March 29, 2021

What do you do when you can’t seem to focus? What is your remedy from wandering, scrolling, staring or getting distracted in some way?

This evening has seemed to be one of those times. Despite getting some things done, I did not get as many done as I could have. There were a few things on my mind, for starters. Then I got caught in an interesting scroll on Instagram for 10 minutes.

Writing out my to do list for tomorrow kept taking longer as I remembered many things that have slipped by me over the last week. While it is productive to do the list, sometimes the time taken to do it feels like wasted effort. It feels like I could have done one of the things rather than write a bunch down.

Then there was the wandering around the house to find the children and remind them it is bedtime. The third time round the house was starting to seem more like an exercise session with a stair-master. And since each round involved passing through the kitchen, there was the compulsory look in the fridge and cupboard for more food I wasn’t even hungry for.

Don’t get me started on replying to international and local text messages. I know better. Though I am also trying to reply more quickly rather than forget and take 2-3 days. Oh, the precarious balance.

Uh-oh, I’m getting distracted.

Financial Gratitude Observe Reframe your thoughts Time Video

Life Is Like A Movie

Posted on March 19, 2021

Have you noticed how things in certain movies become things in life? Remember the swish swish of doors in Star Trek? Life is like a movie, though only certain ones at certain times.

So when I was growing up, the swish swish of the doors on the Starship Enterprise seemed so futuristic. However, now most metro centres have thousands of these doors.

Then things started to unfold like the Schwarzenegger film Total Recall. The whole idea of virtual reality. We are getting there with Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence. We certainly have driverless cars on the near term radar. And trips to Mars being scheduled.

Then we have seen some elements of Tom Cruise’s Minority Report. People are being condemned for even thinking of an activity with a criminal element. It doesn’t matter if a crime has happened. The fact that it could have happened is enough for you to be removed from society.

Now things are moving on with skins in Fortnite and a virtual world in Clubhouse. This and the VR makes me think that the Ready Player One reality is not that far off from our current life.

Finally, we have Terminator. Well, that melting man business and pulling yourself back together is quite impressive. But happy for it to be a few more years before that.

Life is like a movie. Go get the popcorn ?.

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 Health & Fitness Observe Think About It Time

I Can See The Future

Posted on March 12, 2021

Predicting the future is a funny game. We do think we are pretty good at guessing what will happen next. I can see the future and it looks exciting!

The key to understanding predications is the following. The more control you have over the process, the more likely the outcome. So, for example, the lady running the roulette wheel in a casino has more control over the outcome than you. It depends on how she spins the wheel and throws the ball. You have no control.

You have more control with blackjack, though the deck is stacked against you. However, a diet and exercise regime is heavily in your control or sphere of influence. So you can see the pounds melt away through reduced calories, body toning and strengthening. All in your control.

So now do that with your life. Look deep into the future. Imagine the infinite possibilities. Where would you like to end up? If you could choose anywhere, and you can, where would it be?

So decide what you are looking for and then go after it. Be sensible, make a plan, take provisions and be hopeful. Then start. The road may be a little rocky at first. But stick with it. Slowly but surely you will get there.

I can see the future. And now I am going to make it happen.

Gratitude Observe Reframe your thoughts Time

Keeping Life Simple

Posted on March 11, 2021

Do you have the secret? Is there any way to do it? Everyday there is a new deluge of information and items to address. Keeping life simple is no easy feat.

Each day you will have to deal with more things. Today I received some Council Tax bills for some of our properties, a home insurance renewal notice and some yummy looking food pamphlets. (I imagined the food to be tasty, not the actual pamphlets themselves.)

So recycle one pamphlet but keep another. Where to put it though? We put it on the fridge as we intend to use it this week. The other envelopes I opened and made some notes on them. They then found themselves in our Tickler file. This is a filing system we learned from David Allen, who wrote the book Getting Things Done.

When used correctly, it is an awesome and powerful filing and tidying system. When it isn’t, it is the equivalent of the stationary bike as clothes horse.

We also received a delivery of a shower system. Life is a continual in-tray of things to sort, sift and solve. The quicker you can systematise or delegate, the happier you will be.

Look, those items come in the same time every year. Like Christmas, Easter and July 1st, they come around every year. Plan for them,

Keeping life simple will make you smile.