Weekly Recap
Miss Blinkin and I returned to an empty house after a very relaxing vacation. It was the second of the month but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable. It was a lot of fun.
On a financial note – we began the merging of our accounts. As a newly-engaged couple, some may say this is premature. But with the joint home expenses and the way we currently eat & spend, it makes a lot of sense. I’m extremely excited about this move. Here’s why:
My habits will be tested. My poorest habit is eating “fast food.” Now that every purchase will be monitored, I expect this to stop. With every dollar that is spent, I will wonder if this is my dollar or her dollar. If there’s a chance that it’s her dollar, there’s no way I would ever use “her dollar” on fast food. I just can’t allow myself to do this.
It’s almost as though I’m setting up a barrier to improve my decision-making. Set up barriers to prohibit yourself from doing bad things and remove barriers to make healthy habits easier. Example: put your gym clothes in your car and go to the gym directly after work. This way you won’t go home and talk yourself out of going. Sorry for the lesson – I’ll expand on this later.
The 4 Hour Work Week
I started reading a book called “The 4 Hour Work Week.” It’s an awesome book that somehow becomes more awesome when you read it at the beach. It promotes “challenging what’s normal.” I’ll write a formal review in a few weeks (when I finish) but I want to share a story from the book right now.
The author, Tim, became the National Kickboxing Champion after just 4 weeks of training. He did this by exploiting the rules and finding opportunities. Since the kickboxers would weigh in the day before competition, he would dehydrate himself in order to lose 20+ lbs before the weigh-in and then overhydrate himself to gain an additional 30+ lbs. Using this technique, he would ensure himself that he would be bigger than all his opponents. He would then use a lesser-known rule to his advantage. If a fighter were pushed off the ring 3 times, it was automatic disqualification. Therefore, he used his size advantage to push all of his opponents out of the ring, and became National Kickboxing Champion in 4 weeks. Amazing.
The Olympics
This got me thinking, if I could make it to The Olympics in any sport, what would it likely be?
I think I would have the best chance in Handball, Table Tennis or Archery. What about you?
The Blogosphere
Thanks to the following sites for highlighting Funancials last week.
Y & T’s Weekend Ramblings at Young and Thrifty
Carnival of Fin. Camaraderie at Modest Money
Wealth Artisan’s FinCarn at Wealth Artison
Yakezie Carnival at Passive Income to Retire
Festival of Frugality at One Smart Dollar
Best of Money Carnival at Wealth Pilgrim
Readers: What Olympic event could you compete in?
