Month: May 2015

Categories
Fitness Goals

5 Mobility Biohacks to Improve Your Morning Routine (+ a 4 step plan)

It is not new news that exercise is an important factor of a healthy lifestyle. If you’re in some sort of physical practice, be it CrossFit, yoga, or endurance training, and   are looking to upgrade your performance, enhance your longevity, and get in touch with the physical, it could be helpful to ask what type of movement are you doing (or not doing) during the rest of your day. – After all, there are only so many HIIT trainings and Vinyasa classes you can attend. The rest of your day is dedicated to work, family, and all the other things life throws at you.

We are wired for movement, and as humans, we have evolved to move all day long. It is just as much a part of our personal biology as eating well and having healthy relationships.

via 5 Mobility Biohacks to Improve Your Morning Routine (+ a 4 step plan).

Categories
Motivation Time

Be Proud of Your Side Hustle to Be More Productive

By being open about your side gig, you make scheduling a social life or family events a lot easier. When everyone knows you have another job or jobs you’re committed to, they’re often more understanding of your schedule.

Keep in mind that your employer may not allow or be pleased to find out that you have a second job, so there are still times when it’s best to keep it quiet. But as long as you’re legally allowed to do side work and are able to deliver results at your main job, owning your side gig will help you be more focused on all your work.

via Be Proud of Your Side Hustle to Be More Productive.

Categories
Finances

Money is a Means, not an End – Life In Charge

But because we spend our time thinking about it so often, we forget that money is just the tool to help us reach our vision.  Money is a means that allows us to reach our end goals.  The reason you hear people say that money can’t buy happiness is because those people whose ideal was to have more and more money were disappointed.  Money in and of itself doesn’t bring you fulfillment.
However, if you recognize that money is there to help you meet your needs and reach your visions, then it has been seen that money actually can contribute to happiness.  But that’s because money is not the end goal.  Money is simply a tool that helps us achieve our vision of a better future.  Money is a means, not an end.

via Money is a Means, not an End – Life In Charge.

Categories
Time

How Every Small Change You Make Pays Compound Interest | Blonde on a Budget

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Compound interest happens when you earn interest off of the interest you’ve already earned. So in financial terms, if you invest $100 and make 10% on it each year, you’d have $110.

The compounding part comes in when the interest is calculated based on that new total. Instead of making 10% on $100 the next year, you’d make 10% on $110. So instead of earning $10, you’d earn $11. This continues – so next year, you’d make 10% on $121.

In my example, waking up earlier paid me interest in the amount of time it earned me to meditate and journal. Those activities compounded the interest because they also improved my life by giving me more focus and willpower to do better work and to be healthy.

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via How Every Small Change You Make Pays Compound Interest | Blonde on a Budget.

Categories
Finances Goals

Finance Goals For Your 20s | The Art of Manliness

You’ll sometimes hear these days that 30 is the new 20, and the importance of moving towards career, relationship, and finance goals in your twenties gets overlooked.

When it comes to the latter category, it may seem like getting your financial house in order is something you can work on once you settle down and start your “real life.” After all, it may not seem like you have many assets to manage; you may be just out of college, still in debt, and not making much money at your first job. But even so, there are steps you can start taking now that will lay a good foundation for building wealth and security as you get older.

Every man is different, so naturally everyone is going to have different financial goals. But if you’re feeling confused and overwhelmed about money, it’s sometimes helpful to see suggestions for milestones to hit at certain points in your life. You can then take those broad suggestions and refine them so they fit your personal circumstances.

via Finance Goals For Your 20s | The Art of Manliness.

Categories
Motivation Time

A Life Worth Waking Up For

You see, and I stand as proof of this, the more we experience joy in life, the more we can’t wait to get up and start living it. On a very small scale, compare the worker who hates his job and the one who loves it.

The man or woman who hates his work scowls at the alarm clock, rolls out of bed with frustration, takes his time getting ready, mopes around the office, counts the minutes to 5pm, turns on the television when he gets home to distract himself, and then goes to bed late only to repeat the cycle tomorrow.

On the other hand, picture the man or woman who enjoys their work. She can’t wait to get started in the morning, she prepares her body with healthy food and exercise to accomplish her best, she invests proudly into her work, and returns home with energy. And then, she can’t wait to get started again in the morning.

via A Life Worth Waking Up For.

Categories
Finances

How to Build an Emergency Budget (and Why You Need One)

Basically, you’ll have to decide whether to:

Stay on track with your goals and replenish your emergency fund later, or ;
Reduce your savings/debt goals or put them on hold until your income picks back up.
If you choose Option 1, you’ll simply stick to your goals and add them to your emergency budget. If you choose Option 2, simply adjust your emergency budget accordingly.

When it comes to savings goals, it probably makes sense to put them on hold while you’re in emergency mode. But debt goals are a little trickier, since you’re accumulating interest. To help you decide what to do about your debt goals in an emergency, consider some expert advice on emergency funds vs. debt payoff.

via How to Build an Emergency Budget (and Why You Need One).

Categories
Finances Motivation

How A Year Of Extreme Frugality Changed Us – Frugalwoods

Our dominant culture is geared almost entirely towards creating a life centered on spending money. Advertisers have engineered their reach such that we’re endlessly inundated with ads prompting us to buy. And many of those ads are intended to play upon our most base human emotions: fear, survival, and pleasure. We’re told we must have a new car every few years in order to be safe, new clothes every season in order to be accepted, and fine dinners out on the town every week because we deserve it. Clearly it would be counter-productive for anyone to run an ad that touts the merits of, well, not buying anything. And so, we’re left with a society that outwardly only values spending. Carving out a life that’s removed from this compulsion isn’t terribly common and doing so requires some grit and a good deal of creativity.

via How A Year Of Extreme Frugality Changed Us – Frugalwoods.

Categories
Finances Goals Time

The Early Retiree’s Weekly Schedule | Root of Good

I thought it would be fun to look at a typical week for me because it might help others figure out how they can fill their free time.  The schedule also shows the diversity of daily and weekly activities for me.  No two days are alike, and each day typically has a mix of a lot of fun, a moderate dose of physical activity and a small dose of work.

I don’t adhere to a strict schedule since my only recurring time constraints are the morning and afternoon kid drop off/pick up times.  In other words, I know where I’ll be around 8 am and 3 pm each day, but otherwise my schedule varies a lot day to day and week to week.  This past week was pretty fun, partly because Mrs. Root of Good is on her sabbatical right now so it’s like a test run of early retirement for her too.  I loosely modeled this schedule on what we did in the past week.

via The Early Retiree’s Weekly Schedule | Root of Good.

Categories
Motivation Time

The Secret to Having a Simplified Schedule

No matter how many commitments we take on, no matter how long the to-do list, we never get more than twenty-four hours in a day. The way we spend those hours should reflect our values and priorities.

To use our time well, we need to get rid of all those tasks that creep into our to-do lists. We can’t be always going, always on, always busy.

What keeps us from simplifying our schedules and focusing our time?

via The Secret to Having a Simplified Schedule.