The world is, well, challenged...but...

The world is going to hell on a handbasket. Or at least that's what we're told on a daily basis by the media.

I have no doubt that things will be challenging. Zero-interest rates for so long finally have a cost, a pandemic that disrupted industries and social structures alike, an uncalled-for war in Ukraine, energy prices hitting crazy levels. I could go on.

The truth is, none of us knows how this is going to play out. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. We live in the world of narratives. The same story gets played out through different lenses. We all live a version of the Rashomon effect - one storyline played out through multiple viewpoints. It really does depend on which ones you expose yourself to and which ones to run with.

But this is not the tine to sit back, eat the popcorn and watch things play out. You really don't want to leave things to chance. You don't want to be ill-prepared for what's playing out in front of you. 2008 proved that. You need to shape the narrative. Your narrative. That means not relying on your job, the government, or whoever. 

This isn't some conspiratorial prepping vibe. It's far more pragmatic than that. The world owes you nothing so you have to control what you can. Stay nimble. Get skilled. Take the initiative. 

If only it was so easy

Part of my problem is that I overcomplicate things. I have so many amazing/excellent/inspirational...(fill in the gaps) ideas that I simply don't know where to start.

Am I alone? No. We all manage to find ways in which to get in our own way. 

And during those times of overwhelm, very often we know what we should be doing. Sometimes our head is telling us. Sometimes it's our heart. Sometimes the gut. Regardless, we know.

But we just to live in our thoughts rather than to do anything about it. That's the "knowing-doing gap". We know exactly what we should be doing (or at least have a fair idea), but we choose to overcomplicate, overthink, procrastinate.

The key (of course) is action. Deep down, we know that. It doesn't have to be massive, life-changing moves. At least, not normally. Just putting one foot in front of the other is what counts. 

And to do that, to eat that elephant one bite at a time, we need to trust. 

Trust that we are on the right path. Trust that our gut feelings are correct. Trust, fundamentally, that if we are not on the right path or are gut feelings are wrong that we will be okay. That's the key reframe.

None of us knows truly what the future will bring. How can we? (Futurists, tarot card readers, stock market strategists take note). All we can do is work on ourselves and our worlds in order to better our environments for what might come tomorrow. To work towards something.

We don't have to beat ourselves up about having too many ideas. We just simply need to experiment. To play. To explore. Keep observing and keep iterating. 

Blurred lines

Ahh, the joy of distractions...

There are so many ideas out there. Some are as old as time (have something physical to sell and find somewhere to sell it), and some are new "shiny object" types (NFTs anyone?).

That's been part of my problem. A lack of focus. Easily distracted. An inability to prioritize. 

It's no wonder I haven't been able to kickstart the road to my millions...

And yet I have been consistent in my thinking in relation to certain aspects of my philosophy. We all have to take ownership of our worlds. We cannot rely on the government, our companies, our jobs. 

You could have the best boss in the world. But what happens if she is ordered to downsize your team? What if she leaves for a better opportunity? What if she's downsized? 

You can work for the best company in the world (at least as far as you're concerned). But what if that company turns out to be a WorldCom, Enron, Wildcard, Lehman Brothers....?

And you can be in what you think is the perfect industry for you. But what if that industry goes the way of the Blackberry manufacturer. Or vinyl record-maker? Or digital camera maker? 

Things change. You simply need to start to control the controllable. To me, that's all about taking control of your finances, career skillset, emotional resilience, health, and relationships. It's about investing across all those areas.

It's about observing how the world is changing around you and adapting. It's about being proactive and not reactive - because being reactive can sometimes be too late.

As investor Warren Buffett once said: "Predicting rain doesn't count. Building arks does."

Time to build arks. How? Well, that's my goal.

You can't always get what you want

I've had two wake-up calls in the last few weeks. Firstly, someone I know passed away. He was a friend of a few friends of mine. He was a larger-than-life character, could always carry a conversation, great at quizzes and liked a drink. I don't know the full story yet but it seems like his lifestyle got the better of him. Mid-50s. Very sad.

Then a few days ago an old friend from university posted on her Facebook account a link to her new weekly blog. This was going to be a no-holds-barred expose on her life. Life hadn't turned out as she had hoped. She was divorced, childless (not by choice, as she states), about to housesit to save on rent, in debt, and struggling to make ends meet working for herself. And the wrong side of 45. None of that fitted with the life path she had expected for herself. And, to be honest, it wasn't the path that I thought she was on either.

The trouble is, that's how life can be. We can only control so much. And pandemics and the like will always be out of our control. But it also makes me think about doing our best to try to shape our reality. Or, more realistically, make ourselves as adaptable and resilient we can be to changing circumstances.

You can't always get what you want. But we all have to at least work towards trying to get what we need.

That's kind of what I want for myself and want to do in the future to help others. These musings do have some rhyme and reason. I just need to flesh them out... 

We're all making this up

I'm a massive fan of personal development. I've read a ton of books, been on seminars, drunk the Kool-Aid. I've often found it to be uplifting stuff. Admittedly, that can be in the form of a short, cheap dopamine hit. But enjoyable nonetheless.

But there's one thing I've come to realize.  It's all nonsense. Not in the sense of it having no value. No, I think there's plenty of value. It can help guide, it can bring you peace, it can help make your dreams come true. The thing is, personal development and its ilk is full of subjective truths, as opposed to objective truths. One guru will tell you that X is the answer, contradicting the other guru saying that Y is, only to be challenged by the scientist that says it's Z. Meanwhile, the mystic tells you it's A all along...

Something that has increasingly seeped into my thinking is that we're all making everything up. Or are, at least, blinded by our little slither of knowledge into thinking we know more. We all think we have a better understanding of the world than we do have, have more control over the world than we actually have, and can navigate the complexities of life better than we actually can.

Sure, you can say the advice is backed by peer-reviewed science. But it's amazing how well scientific input gets cherry-picked to suit a narrative. And it's all narrative. It's not the "truth" because we don't have the capacity to know the full picture. We know so little in the bigger scheme of things. 

Where am I going with this? There's plenty of advice packaged as true. But what works for Peter may not work for Paul. We've all got to get to know what works best for ourselves. Experiment. Take notes. Don't take everything at face value. Iterate. Learn. And start again.

It's about learning to trust yourself a bit more. Ask questions. Question answers. Don't take advice at face value. Adapt accordingly. (That's my view - don't take it as gospel). 

And....I'm back....

Well, that was a strange two or so years, wasn't it?

The last post I made on this site was August 2020. My journey to building income streams for "financial freedom" was taking a slow, meandering path. Too slow. So I stop chronicling it. I'd had enough of spinning the wheels.

Anyway, a lot has happened in the world since then. The pandemic properly kicked in globally and we were still waiting for a vaccine to be approved, the US found itself an even more elderly leader (not before a skirmish on Capitol Hill), Russia decided it was a great time for an invasion, and inflation has gone insane. It's been quite a period.

One thing that hasn't changed is my lack of additional income streams. That's not entirely true. My dividend strategy remains in place. I'm still selling a few ebooks. And I do the occasional paid writing gig. But there's no consistency. No structure. No uniforming narrative to drive me to the next level. 

So what I've decided to do is to use this blog to help me get clarity on my philosophy. Yes, it'll be a bit of self-indulgent noise. No, I'm not likely to monetize much here.

I just want to get in writing some of my thoughts. To shape a worldview that I can build upon. I don't exactly know how this will play out. I'm not even sure of the regularity. I just have this urge right now to try to define my "mission". 

I want to have some body of work that will provide the foundations for consulting / coaching / digital products (all of which I want to have as part of my future - at least, I think so...). At the very least, I'll get to practice thinking outside the box. 

So, here I am - starting here once again. It's been too long!

Income Report: August - and a Time to Pause

As mentioned over the last few months, I've had a bit of an existential crisis with my side hustles. No focus, no motivation and...ultimately no progress.

And when I look back to my entries over the last several months (and we're talking way back into 2019), there really wasn't much of shift in the needle. 

Sure, I've taken on a bit more writing. And, yes, my stock dividend approach has been supportive. But I'm really spinning wheels and not really on any path right now.

So I've decided to pause these entries. I don't know for how long. It could be a month. It could be a year. It could be longer. Maybe I'll come back with quarterly updates.

I can't kid myself any longer that my side ventures and passive income will get me anywhere close to achieving financial freedom. It's not happening. I just need to take a step away and quietly work on myself and the income streams before coming back. 

It's time to declutter things I do for the sake of doing (e.g. these posts) and put my energy into areas that add value. At the moment, this blog isn't adding much value for me - it's simply a reminder of how slow my progress is. I also need to focus on my Financial Jobs Hunt site.

So, for now, it's one last round-up of how things went:

Resume Writing: $0. If I can make the time, this one has legs going into a major global recession. I just haven't made the time.

Additional Writing: $230.  My regular writing gig is ticking over. That's the one constant.

Stock Dividends: $205. This is the other pillar in my numbers. Consistent enough.

Interest: $15. I'm guessing it's something like that but I need to work smarter here as well.

Ebooks: $0. Nope. There's a load of value in these books. 100%. They are based on work I've actually done as a practitioner. But marketing isn't my strong point. And I need to do more. (Beginner's Guide to Online Side Hustles, Cryptocurrency Job Hunting for Non-Techies, The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile, and Craft a Winning Resume).

Coaching: $0. No sessions.

Other: $0. Nothing to add.

Total: $450. It's nice to have this. But if I'm being honest I haven't pushed on. So this is a time for reflection and re-evaluation. Hopefully, I'll be able to come back firing on all cylinders. Hopefully. I have to act intentionally. Building income online is the way forward.

Income report: July

Well, my existential crisis continues with my side hustles.

I'm still struggling to motivate myself. But to be fair I did take a step back this month to try to understand what I'm looking to achieve. I did a Coursera course called 'Mindshift'. Essentially, it was about shifting your perspective on learning in relation to your career and life. In other words, it's time to really get on top of upskilling and refocusing.

So it's still a state of pause. That's life. Hopefully, I'll have more to add next month.

Anyway, time for the roundup:

Resume Writing: $0. So not on my radar right now....

Additional Writing: $230.  My regular writing gig is ticking over.

Stock Dividends: $83. Quite quiet.

Interest: $15. This is piddling away in the background.

Ebooks: $2. Still quiet. Still undermarketed. Still an asset that's paying (Beginner's Guide to Online Side Hustles, Cryptocurrency Job Hunting for Non-Techies, The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile, and Craft a Winning Resume).

Coaching: $0. No sessions.

Other: $0. Nothing to add.

Total: $330. That's life. Onwards and upwards.