A simple question that could fundamentally change your thinking. “What are the second and third order consequences?” Ray Dalio I was chatting with my cousin and his wife. They are both involved in the military. She mentioned that they were…
Category: Success
Your Deceptive Values, Your Reflective Habits
It was windy and raining, a cold front was passing over. The weather was not appealing, but it would have been more uncomfortable not to go. I put on my running shoes. If I hadn’t, it would have itched at…
Spending tomorrow’s happiness
I stopped drinking 439 days ago. I have an app that tracks it. It was useful to remember “my why” in the early days of breaking that happiness debt cycle. – “Too many wasted days to hangovers. Feeling down, losers.…
Doing my bit to avoid load shedding in South Africa – The #3Switch Electricity Saving Challenge
Imagine you are driving down the road. Some idiot overtakes you in the next lane, you can see that maintenance has not been done on his 1980s sports car, and unbeknown to you, the mechanic who was meant to repair…
Five glorious mindsets to adopt in 2020
As we embrace the new year, it is an opportunity to re-frame our thinking and to challenge the hidden scripts we live by. Become “overly optimistic” – Mr Money Mustache is a pragmatist, I think I default to the same…
The Paradox of Freedom – We need Rules and Structure
We want freedom to do what we like. We rebel against rules and structure, herein lies the paradox. I see it regularly with one person businesses (such as dentists and electricians), freelancers and entrepreneurs, they chose this way of earning…
A simple three part Financial Plan Checklist for South Africans starting their road to Financial Independence
This plan for someone starting out there journey towards financial well-being. It is for someone with at least a decade to go until their planned retirement, preferably more. If done well, 10-15 years is enough for many to become financially…
The Alcohol Fallacy – The Time Debt that Charges Interest, Lots of Interest
Last Sunday was a write-off. I had a headache after a night of disrupted sleep. I was grumpy. To think, this was so so so many Saturdays or Sundays (and honestly more week-days than I’d like to admit) feeling like…
How I talked myself out of spending R150k (£17k) – Pay per use, annualise the cost and other spending mental models
I regularly catch myself rationalising spending on things I don’t get value out of. With value being highly subjective to the individual and the circumstances, it can be difficult to compare spending on apples with spending on insurance, which is…
A new type of rich – Q&A with Matt Esof – Stuntman, Martial Arts Instructor and Tech Entrepreneur
“The New Rich (NR) are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility.” – Tim Ferriss I am fascinated by people who take the Third Door option…