Things I did today

Another look at financial books sent me to purchase and review few. This batch of books focused more on psychology and personal stories rather than the accumulation stage or asset allocation.   The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel Review 3.5/5 I learned such things as 'private pensions weren't actually common', and that while our recessions have lasted longer than in the 1800s and early part of the 1900s, we don't have them as often. Housel does a good job keeping things light - he talks about different ways a person could invest, but the best would be "a book called Shut Up and Wait". He also mentions the difference between getting wealthy versus staying  wealthy, which requires a very different skillset. It's a good book if you're not convinced of buy and hold, stay the course, or that saving for retirement is possible or effective at all. He also debunks the notion that active managers consistently beat the market for the amount of time required...

I'm happy with the first day.  I walked a mile and a half Played piano for a half hour until my right hand got tired. I'm not as bad as I feared. Did my Physical Therapy exercises Read a chapter of The Quartet, a book about US history between 1783-1789 Made a review of the best photos I took during the year January 2nd will be the more difficult day with the start of no added sugar and making sure piano is the priority after work. At least I made the overnight oats, so that's ready to go after my coffee!

 Oh January 1, you terrible day. First of the year. Resolutions start. Parties are done. Time to crack the whip! But I'm still on holiday. I have a mimosa to drink. I'll be doing a 30 day no (or very low) added sugar diet starting tomorrow, and ending February 1st.  I say "very low" because there are foods that would be good for me, but happen to have less than 5 grams of added sugar in the serving. For example, I found some overnight oats in a packaged dry shake that happens to have 3 grams of added sugar. It also has 20 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber which is why it piqued my interest. Not too bad overall, especially if it is tasty and easy for me to take to work. I've been making overnight oats for a while, but found it difficult to clean at work since there aren't any garbage disposals. Cleaning mason jars of dried oatmeal gets to be a pain after a while.  Several years ago, I was successful doing the no added sugar plan for the month and lost 8 pou...

There are a lot of things I want to do. Often, I get into analysis paralysis and don't know which to focus on, which leads me to do nothing. For this year, I am listing multiple surges, and will pick one at the end of the month to start on the next month. That way I won't feel like I've failed in April if I'm not as interested in the activity that I picked in January for April. Every month, I get to pick a new thing, and if I pick something that I thought I would like but end up not enjoying as much, it's only 30 days. At least I'll get better at something. The only rule would be if I've selected something in one particular area, I cannot select from the same area the subsequent month. If I pick piano for January, I need to pick something that is not in the piano category in February.  Possible surges: Piano :      Alfred's Adult Learner     Fake books     One new score/week from Noviscore.com or IMSLP Flute :       Beginner Fl...

I'm attempting to have a better rhythm than previous years with my "30 day challenges" and my "yearly/quarterly/weekly goals", I'm trying something that combines the two without burning out or forgetting. Each month will be a surge of a different activity/skill/hobby. During the month, I can only do the activity 3-5 times a week. (The lower bound is 3 in case an activity is physically demanding.) After that month has passed, I'm only allowed to practice that activity once a week. That way, I don't build up this schedule of "Must do activity 1 while I learn more about activity 2 and prepare for activity 3." Mondays, I won't do any activity/hobby. I often visit with friends that day, so it's always been difficult to schedule anything in the evenings when time with friends runs longer than usual. Tuesdays and Thursdays I'll be in the office, so I know my energy will not be as high during the evenings there, and I'll have less t...

 Ah, it's nearing the end of the year. Time for reflection and resetting of goals and habits and whatnot. How did I do in 2024? Overall, pretty much about as good as I've done with every other year. Strong start for about 3 months, then I break habits/schedules/etc and end up reading too much Reddit and watching too much YouTube. I try to get back to the habits but find them surprisingly difficult, and abandon them for some other choice. Specifically, how did I do with the 2024 quarterly goals? Become a certified Power BI Data Analyst Quarter 1: Finish Power BI Skill Track and do exercises in Microsoft Learn (Done) Quarter 2: Purchase and do practice tests for PL-300  (Done) Quarter 3: Sit for PL-300 (Didn't do) Quarter 4: Publish monthly dashboards on my webpage  (Didn't do) Have a similar level of fitness as my exercise partner Quarter 1: Create daily PT exercises habit  (Done) Quarter 2: Go through Couch to 5K program and practice bike drills  (Didn't do) Qua...