I spent some time thinking about what to write for today. I considered ranting about the holiday season, mimicking the style of a book I enjoyed earlier in the month (Revulsion: Thomas Bernhard in San Salvador by Horacio Castellanos Moya). I suppose I could have blogged about my favorite gifts from past Christmases (Bed, Bath and Beyond gift cards) or handed out tips to
But in the end, writing about Christmas on Christmas only made sense on a superficial level. If a topic is interesting enough to write about, it should be interesting enough on any day of the year, right? (Translation: I came up with nothing.) (2)
I recall a similar thought process from a number of years ago regarding New Year's resolutions. The concept of a New Year's resolution is excellent. The spirit of reflection driving self-improvement gets my full approval. But must we wait a whole year to make them? A good idea on January 1 is a good idea on any other day, no? (3)
So, one year, I stopped making New Year's resolutions. I suppose this could be considered my final 'resolution', though I'm not entirely sure if this took place on a January 1 or not.
But the end of New Year's resolutions did not signal the end of the concept. Far from it. These days, I tend to keep something closer to a running list. The running list makes tracking the self-improvement concepts a little more manageable and forces me to get to self-reflection a little faster than in the traditional 'wait until next year' model.
So, today is part one of a two part post. Part one is a list of my resolutions which I feel I successfully completed. Next week, I'll cover my active list. Feel free to borrow (or re-gift) any that look good to you!
A few of the concepts on these lists I've detailed in past posts. That makes sense since this blog overlaps at times with the self-reflective purpose of these lists. In the case I repeat past thinking or writing, please accept my apologies.
*Pay back loans ASAP (Winter 2010)
One of the few books I've only partially completed over the past six years is Gang Leader For A Day by Sudhir Venkatesh. I do not recall the exact reason why I stopped reading. My best guess is that I was reading quite a few similar books during that time and perhaps I found the content of Gang Leader For A Day a bit repetitive.
Still, I managed to retain one anecdote from this half-read work. A gang leader asked Venkatesh to make a hypothetical decision. Though I forget the exact details, the basic premise was to choose a payment method for a drug deal. The options were one lump sum payment or a series of payments spread out into multiple installments.
After summing the payments and concluding that the latter was more profitable, Venkatesh recommends the payment series as his choice.
'Wrong.'
'Why?'
The explanation was simple. In an uncertain environment, a drug dealer could get arrested, be killed, or simply refuse to pay at some point before the payments were completed. Always take the sure thing, Venkatesh was told, if the environment contains too much uncertainty.
I think this logic illustrates my underlying approach to this resolution. I could crunch all the numbers to determine if investing while simultaneously meeting the minimum loan payment each month would add up in the long term. Instead, I simplify the math by taking the sure thing of reducing future interest payments via paying off the loan principle ahead of schedule. Of late, I've chosen to purchase index funds with the lowest expense ratio, a similar 'sure thing' based outcome resulting from the same thought process.
Taking the sure thing in the present over a better total payoff in the future is NOT a strategy I automatically recommend. Do the math, please. But rare is the case that such a thing can be explicitly calculated. Thus far in my adventures with personal finance, its proven an effective rule of thumb to reduces future expenses instead of chasing hypothetical future income. The instinct to control expenses rather than hustle to increase income is proving very valuable in laying the foundation for eventual financial independence. (4)
*Running technique (September 2011)
Long-time readers of the blog will suspect they know where this one is going. I will try to generalize my lessons here to minimize repetition.
The initial idea here is that running was something I always did without consideration of form, technique, or posture. As I exposed myself to more thinking and writing on the matter, I realized the possible gains of altering my running technique. I incorporated those as quickly as possible and found great improvement in speed, distance, and recovery.
The generalized lesson from this process was how I incorporated the improvement-focused thinking into everything else. I tried to identify the things I do where I never fully thought through the process in the past. If applicable, I evaluated my technique and sought ways to improve my performance by either tweaking or overhauling my methods.
To look at the process, examine the thinking behind it, and identify the untapped potential is the ethos of continuous improvement.
*Stop saying 'Redskins' (whoops!) (~2012)
In recent years, schools and professional sports teams with nicknames, logos, or affiliated artwork using derogatory or offensive references to Native American groups have come under fire. Many of these organizations have responded by making immediate changes. I'm aware of at least one local high school changing a nickname and another that repainted the interior of its gymnasium, both in response to criticism that the status quo was offensive.
The most high-profile example was the Washington
I did really well with this one through 2014 or so. Since then, I have slipped every once in a while.
*No more New Year's resolutions (January 1, 2013)
I explained this one above. The date is merely guesswork.
Pretending I reached this conclusion on January 1 does set things up nicely for a movie, perhaps titled The Last Resolution, so let's go with that date for now. (5)
*Write down notes for reading (Late 2013)
This one grew out of the 'running technique' idea from above. (In fact, a lot of these 'resolutions' grew out of that thinking behind my running technique.)
Reading, like running, was something I just did in the way I was first told. Like playing football. Clear eyes, full heart, can't lose. Wait, that's not it. It doesn't matter.
At some point, it occurred to me that although I read a lot of good books, the methods for recalling crucial information from these were pretty limited. I could try to remember everything, which was a nice thought but unrealistic. My memory is already filled with important things (like where to board a Red Line train to minimize the amount of time it takes to leave the subway once I reach my destination).
Another option was to reread books as I needed to. This was an approach with no obvious problems- except the commitment of massive amounts of time.
Starting with Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In, I started a system of note taking that I've described in a past post. The main idea was to extract the applicable ideas from my reading into an easily retrievable form for later.
Eventually, I took it a step further and decided to write a little bit about books I've read. Welcome to True On Average! For these posts, I lean heavily on these book notes as the main source for my commentary.
*Inbox zero and the next day rule (Spring 2015)
The date for this one is a total guess. The timing of early 2015 feels about right so I'll go with that for now.
I, like everyone in world history, used to let my email inbox run out of control. It was easy to accept this problem because it seemed so universal.
But, like a lot of things, I also recognized my own lack of effort in addressing the problem. And the upside of being in charge of my inbox seemed worth the effort.
(Why not, right? Like many, my job often involved answering email. Not doing this well equated to not doing a good job at work. At the very least, I would no longer feel rude for ignoring someone who took the time to say hello.)
So, before I threw my hands up in the air with everyone else and SHOUTED that email was an unstoppable tidal wave of newsletters, sale offers, meeting minutes, and pointless discussion threads, I researched a few methods to take better control of my inbox.
I ended up combining portions of two approaches to form my own email philosophy. The first is called 'inbox zero'. This means working through your inbox until it is empty, either once per day or each time you log in.
I found these options unrealistic so I settled for just finding a place for incoming email that was not my main inbox. To do this, I started running through the following checklist each time I opened a new email. If the answer to the question was yes, I followed along and moved on to the next email. If the answer was no, I moved on to the next item on the checklist.
START : Open the new email...
*Can I delete this?
*Can I delegate this?
*Can I defer this?
*Can I do this in under one minute?
*OK- hold it for a little later, go to the next email.
Those four questions started to filter out a lot of the junk that congested my inbox. It also focused my efforts whenever I logged into email. I just read only the new ones and sorted it like above. Pretty soon, the only items leftover were those from step #5- the email I was 'holding for a little later'.
But what does that mean? With anything leftover, I applied the next day rule- I just simply tried to deal with it the next day. Waiting one day created enough time to prevent a 'chat room' mentality from developing in the exchange. However, it was not quite long enough to offend the sender waiting for my reply. In the case of more complex email, the waiting period gave me time to formulate a coherent response or set aside time on my calendar to handle the task or project specified in the email.
It really gets at the most important time management advice I've heard- use a schedule in place of a to-do list. Scheduling time to answer yesterday's email proved an extremely productive application of this concept for me. (6)
*Remember birthdays (Fall 2015)
In the event that I've already talked about this here, my apologies once more. I think this one is worth repeating, anyway, so here is the full detail.
Remembering birthdays, like learning the names of new people or clearing out the email inbox, is a skill that falls into a category of those which people seem to happily accept their mediocrity without ever actually trying to improve. How could anyone be good at anything without working on it, right? Even I had to practice being a blowhard.
I actually think my solution for birthdays is unusually clever, even by my own lofty standards. I simply started adding birth dates into each person's contact name on my phone. Each time I received a call or text from them, I would see the birthday. Over time, I started to absorb the information.
Perhaps the beauty of this method is the way it reinforces itself. The birthdays I end up remembering are those of the people I talk to the most often. That's a fairly accurate natural sorting method for prioritizing birthdays to learn because the people I talk to most often usually are the same people whose birthdays I most want to remember.
*Shotgun one Molson every morning (the day after I got laid off)
Just kidding.
*The start-up document (June 2016)
This one is a spin-off of the email idea from above. Back when I started using that technique for answering email, I wrote down the steps on an index card and taped it to the side of my monitor. With the reminder in sight at all times, I found it very easy to stick to the process and wasted little mental energy memorizing the steps.
A few months ago, I implemented a similar approach to my morning routine. In a blank google doc, I wrote out anything I would do on a 'routine' basis. Each morning, the first time I logged into a computer, I would open the document and run through the list to make sure I stayed on schedule with my tasks, appointments, and commitments.
This drastically cut down on the time I wasted at the computer. The value does not come so much from the document itself being efficient or helpful (by now, I've memorized a lot of it). Rather, I find it very useful later in the day when I sit down a second or third time. By that point, I already know that I've taken care off all the 'important' things I do each day (checking CNN, organizing my schedule with new appointments, paying rent, etc) and I know to skip those. All I need to do is run through the 'inbox zero' routine for new email before I move on to whatever mission compelled me to boot up the computer in the first place.
Here is the current outline of the always-changing document:
-> Page one: daily reminders
This is a list of things to keep in mind as I approach a new day. They include my approach to cultivating my inner life, reminders of universal truths, any new passwords I'm using on the internet, and a list of websites I log into once per day.
My favorite line is pulled from a book about legendary football coach Bill Parcells. This piece of advice is from Raiders owner Al Davis. It comes at the end of a conversation in which the young coach complained to the owner about all injuries, missed calls, and bad bounces that were hurting his team:
'No one cares, coach your team'.
-> Page two: trigger/weekly/monthly tasks
This is a schedule of my routines.
'Trigger' tasks refer to my follow up given a change in conditions (for example, filling out a volunteer log after a hospice visit or completing my monthly budget the day after I pay my last month's credit card bill).
Weekly or monthly tasks include things like checking for upcoming author readings (weekly- Fridays), updating my SIM card with new phone contacts (monthy- the 20th), logging into Facebook (weekly- Thursdays), or replacing my contact lenses (monthly- the 28th).
-> Page three: personal calendar
This is just what it sounds like. Since I use a word document, it is written out rather than in a grid. I include things that I do away from the computer as well as one-off tasks that do not fit into page two's format. I always have the week ahead written out plus any appointments or events confirmed for a week or more in advance.
I also have my recurring activities here (again those not on the computer) such as standing plans with friends or weekly volunteer shifts.
-> Page four: on hold
This is for things I'll need to do eventually. These tasks are on this page because they either have no urgency at the moment or lack a 'trigger' to indicate my follow-up.
Currently, I list trips such as 'Go to the Isabella Gardener Museum' or admin tasks such as 'transfer my 401k into my IRA'. I usually just skim this page unless I have very little to do.
-> Page five: keeping track
This is a list of things I need to just keep track of (like who owes me money for my men's league basketball team dues). It is very similar to page four. Again, another page I usually just skim.
*Toss the headphones (July 2016)
This is one of those 'about time' changes. I first gave this a try in college during my senior year. I lasted about three weeks, then returned to walking around campus with my headphones in, ignoring all outside noise.
I tried again later on whenever I went running in the rain. This was practical as much as anything- wet headphones break. It went really well but I still continued to use my headphones outdoors in all other situations. Eventually, I even resumed doing so while jogging through thunderstorms.
It finally stuck in July. As I described here, I got nudged into it when my iPod broke. This was the fifth broken iPod of the last three years, my third in 2016.
Technically speaking, the problem was old equipment. But this problem was not going away. As long as I kept my computer (a 2006 model Macbook) I would not be able to sync up the newest model of iPod to my music library.
Plus, I think the ongoing babysitting of my 'stuff' was wearing me out. Keeping my iPod charged and updated was like making sure a pet was fed and watered. I decided to take a short break from the iPod and, as a consequence, my headphones, fully expecting all kinds of things to suddenly start going wrong.
Well, here we are, six months later, with no new electronics in sight. All this awareness of the outside world is still new to me and I hesitated to put this into the 'completed' resolutions as a result. I might go back to my old 'plugged in' ways as soon as I get a functional iPod.
But who knows? Perhaps this is the new me. I've enjoyed hearing the sounds of the city again. And I'm thinking more often and with more clarity than I did in the past.
So though I miss the opportunity to laugh along with The Football Ramble's 'insights' into Alan Pardew or listen to Courtney Barnett sing about house hunting, I think the benefits of going headphones-free in public outweigh the negatives.
Unless I get a new iPod from Santa.
Let me go check that...
Thanks as usual for reading. See you again in a week.
Tim
Footnotes / imagined complaints
1. Spoiler alert!
As Professor Dumbledore says to the title character in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, 'One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.'
Blankets and ornaments make pretty good gifts, as well, for just about anyone.
Ranting about Christmas would have been fun, though. 'A tree, Moya, a tree, for sixty dollars, I tell you Moya, these people scurry away with their trees, their sixty dollars trees, not looking left, right, or sideways, knocking mothers, knocking grandmothers aside as they rush home to make their floors sticky with sap, to tell their wives about the great deal they got, for sixty dollars, Moya, enough to pay for our whiskeys...'
2. For the great taste that won't fill you up...
Advertisers would not agree with that, of course. A Bud Light with a team's logo on the can is different than a Bud Light with no logo. But the way I see it, the key question is whether you want to drink a Bud Light or not (you probably don't). After you decide you do, it might be important what the can looks like. But it doesn't really serve as the decision maker. Since I saw no real benefit to writing about anything Christmas related (or drink a Bud Light, for that matter, not that such a thing influences my blog topics) I decided to go in a different direction.
On the other hand...
'Another Bud Light, Moya! As sure as the cuckoo chimes at 6 a bunch of kids stumble in to waste another night partying, to start another wasted night, partying with that beer called Bud Light, cuckoo they all are, partying with Bud Light, the same noise over and over, the shame to sit in a bar where that beer is served, Moya, as if the youth needs any help wasting their money, Moya, we still offer up Bud Light, what a beer indeed, what a party indeed, I would rather sit in total silence than party if it requires a beer such as Bud Light, a fine way to treat your stomach, as if it had any lack of acid...'
3. Everything that follows is true, really.
My guess is that this thinking took place to start 2013. Prior to that date, I used to write down New Year's resolutions. And get this- I used to come up with one for each year of my life. Each year! This means I would have needed to come up with twenty-nine resolutions by next week. What a waste of time. I would rather do another word bracket.
Again, I'm guessing this took place in 2013. It is entirely possible I did make resolutions in the same way for 2014. However, I found no records of such an event. I did find resolutions for the years covering 2010-2013 so I assume I stopped for January 1, 2014. But who knows (or cares, really)?
4. Everything I know about investing I learned in a high school contest
Investing is one of those 'adult' things- like sending Christmas cards or doing your own laundry- that the schools I went to spent no effort trying to explain (they did a fine job with flag football, sex ed, and the periodic table, however).
The most memorable thing we did with investing involved a 'contest' where people would pick stocks and compete against each other to see who made the biggest gains. The best tactic in this game involved leveraging yourself as much as possible, preferably allocating all of
This is the single worst way to teach personal finance that I can come up with. In hindsight, all this does is encourage making wild picks, discourage diversifying your portfolio, and reward those who trade and borrow frequently. Good thing we were not less loose into the financial system- with this solid background in finance, surely the graduating class of 2006 would have sent the financial system crashing to the ground within a couple of years.
5. Maybe Tom Cruise can star in it...
'Captain Algren, I have always enjoyed our...resolutions.'
'A lifetime spent searching for the perfect...resolution...would not be a wasted life.'
6. This is starting to sound a little 'BB' for my liking...
I wrote a more detailed explanation of this setup in the first draft for this post. It was work-focused and thus I realized it made more sense as a future 'business' bro' post. So, keep an eye out for it when I resume posting there, whenever that is.
