Money sets you free from doing things you don't want to do

Step 1. Use your 9-5 job to pay the bills. Keep your expenses relatively low.

Strategy

Step 2. Start a side hustle.do it for free.

Step 3. Get good enough with your side hustle that it can help you make money online..

Step 4. Take the money from your side hustle and channel every dollar into financial assets. Let your job keep paying your bills in the meantime.

Step 5. Repeat the process for long enough that your investments and side hustle cam replace the salary from your job.

That’s what we’re talking about in this article. Not getting F.U. money to buy Lambos and sip mojitos in Las Vegas. That’s what it feels like when you try to get your head around financial freedom…

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

habits

Habits

The Lazy Way to Reach Financial Freedom: 9 Things You Probably Haven’t Thought Of

If you want to explore what can psychological sciences teach us about how to be happier, feel less stressed out, and build productive habits.In order to know what makes you happy, you must identify things or thoughts don't do it and why.Then, you should try to implement the following research-based methods to improve your own life.

The Science of Well-Being

Things we THINK make us being happy Lots of Money:  A little bit   :)Awesome "costly" stuff:  NO   True love:  For a little bit   :)Perfect body:  NOGood grades:  A little bit    :)

Misconceptions about Happiness according to Science

We think in relatives not absolutes, which means we take a point of reference.That's why we compare ourselves with others.The results of Social Comparison:<ul><li>Feel better when we are surrounded by people we think is inferior to us or worse when they seem to have a better salary, job, grades or body.</li><li>And this phenomenon has increased with social media since everybody is trying to achieve the standard or the trend.</li></ul>

What our expectations are so bad

<ul><li>Our minds' strongest intuitions are often totally wrong. The things we think are gonna make us happy don't really make us happy.</li><li>Our minds don't think in terms of absolutes. Causes social comparison, which is described by the image above, the orange circles are the same size but seem different due to the others surrounding them.</li><li>Our mind is built to get used to stuff. When we experience things for the first time they are amazing, but this fades away with repetition.</li><li>We don't realize our minds are built to get used to stuff. We can adapt to negative effects, we are more resilient than we think.</li></ul>

Annoying features of our mind

Savoring is the act of stepping outside of an experience to review and appreciate it.<ul><li>Lengthens the positive emotions that come with doing something you love.</li><li>It can be a nice shower, a delicious meal, a great walk outside, or any experience that you really enjoy.</li><li>Includes sharing the experience with another person, thinking about how lucky you are to enjoy the moment, keeping a photo of that activity,</li></ul>Gratitude is a positive emotional state in which one recognizes and appreciates what one has received in life.<ul><li>You can just write and take a moment to be mindful of the things you’re writing about.</li></ul>

Savoring & Gratitude

Research shows that happy people are motivated to do kind things for others.<ul><li>You can do one extra act of kindness per day, or you can do a few acts of kindness in a single day.</li><li>It should be something that really helps or impacts another person.</li></ul>Research shows that happy people spend more time with others and have a richer set of social connections than unhappy people.<ul><li>The simple act of talking to a stranger on the street can boost our mood more than we expect.</li></ul>

Kindness & Social Connection

Let’s Get Physical<ul><li>30 minutes a day of exercise can boost your mood in addition to making your body healthier.</li><li>Get your body moving a bit more than usual. It is not supposed to be a high-level activity, you can throw on some headphones and dance around your room. </li></ul>Sleep!One of the reasons we’re so unhappy in our modern lives is that we’re consistently sleep-deprived. <ul><li>You must get at least seven hours of sleep for at least four nights of the next week.</li><li>Be sure to practice good sleep hygiene too— no devices before bed and try to avoid caffeine and alcohol on the days you’re getting your sleep on.</li></ul>

Exercise & Sleep

Meditate!<ul><li>Practice intentionally turning your attention away from distracting thoughts toward a single point of reference.</li><li>It can have a number of positive benefits, including more positive moods, increased concentration, and more feelings of social connection.</li></ul>Gratitude Letter/Visit<ul><li>Write a letter of gratitude to someone you care about. Think of one person who has made a big difference in your life.</li><li>A gratitude letter is one of the most powerful tool for increasing happiness because it can forge social bonds and really change someone’s life.</li></ul>

Meditation & Gratitude Visit

These ideas are important to me because they guide me to have a strong sense of well-being, which helped me to overcome difficult situations and achieve my goals.

Learn online and earn valuable credentials from top universities like Yale, Michigan, Stanford, and leading companies like Google and IBM. Join Coursera for free and transform your career with degrees, certificates, Specializations, & MOOCs in data science, computer science, business, and dozens of other topics.

mindfulness

Mindfulness

health

Health

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

A 1989 study revealed that the sleeping brain likes to replay its recent experiences and that doing so supports learning and memory. Recently, they found that replay also happens while we're awake. When you hear something useful, your mind will automatically replay it at 20 x speed to better grasp the information. But, a constant influx of information prevents replay and can negatively affect learning, memory and decision-making.

How to support learning and memory

<ul><li>Replay reactivates related experiences. Replaying information causes the brain to look for relevant memories to contextualise and understand new information.</li><li>Replay supports your brain's grasp of motor and spatial information.</li></ul> But, replay occurs during those idle moments when your brain is not receiving novel information. If your brain doesn't get those breaks, its replay functions suffer.

Other effects of replay

The general media landscape does its best to capture all your attention with a steady stream of stimulating content. There is the infinite scroll design of most social media sites. Netflix and YouTube jump to the next show or clip the moment you've finished watching something. These design features are good for the platforms but don't give your brain time to sort and make sense of the information you just received, which at the very least, can lead to memory failures.

Memory failures

Social media information overload can lead to depressive symptoms and reduced well-being. More significantly, an overloaded brain is a confused brain that lapse in memory, judgement, and emotion regulation. Your brain needs time to wander from time to time, especially if you've engaged with useful information.

Your brain needs regular breathers

People in the radio business call them “buttons.” They’re those short music clips you hear in between news segments on NPR and other stations. Bob Boilen, former director of NPR’s All Things…

education

Learning & Education

problemsolving

Problem Solving

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

How Short Information Breaks Help Your Brain

Professional young athletes expect their talents to taper off in their early adulthood, and many prepare for a second career in advance. Musicians are similar and often find that their abilities decline over time. Studies found that knowledge-based professions, such as lawyers, financial professionals, doctors, also decline between their late thirties and early 50s. Startups favour the young, between 21 and 34. This is called the fluid intelligence curve. However, the better people perform, the steeper the decline. The more attached they are to their success, the harder its loss hits them.

The striver's curse

The decline is not all past 40. Certain abilities grow during middle age that favour wisdom, teaching, and sharing ideas. Language skills tend to increase. Moving on to a second intelligence curve means people should take on a teaching or mentoring mindset in the field they're in. For those willing to make the jump, the reward is huge.

Finding a new calling

You know it's time to look for the second curve when you don't enjoy your work as much as before: <ul><li>You feel your competence declining.</li><li>Others close to you notice you're not as sharp as you used to be.</li><li>Other people receive the social and professional attention you are used to.</li><li>You have to decrease your workload.</li><li>People you meet don't recognise you or your previous work</li><li>You feel like no one.</li></ul> Moving toward the second curve:<ul><li>Evaluate and improve relationships. You'll be good at that.</li><li>Don't wish for something better, work for what you want.</li><li>Value and hire for wisdom in the C-suite and on boards.</li></ul>

A roadmap to the second curve

Ageing isn't all bad news. In some specific ways, you'll get smarter and more skilful. The trick to improve is understanding, developing, and practising your new strength. <ul><li>As people age, their vocabulary and grammar increase. They are better Scrabble players and can do well in foreign languages.</li><li>With age, people become better at combining and using complex ideas. They may not be that good at coming up with new inventions, but they get much better at expressing and interpreting existing ideas to others.</li></ul>

Understanding the second curve

People possess two types of intelligence. <ul><li>Fluid intelligence is the ability to reason, think flexibly, and solve problems. You learn quickly, focus on what matters and create solutions but can't maintain this as you age.</li><li>Crystallised intelligence relies on a stock of knowledge. It increases through middle adulthood and does not diminish until very late in life.</li></ul> If your career relies only on fluid intelligence, it will peak and decline early. But a career that requires crystallised intelligence will find that decline happens much later. If you can go from one to the other, you will thrive.

Defeating the striver's curse with two intelligences

Letting go of past glory can pave the way for life's "second curve."

The second half of your life could be better than the first. Really. In the book From Strength to Strength, Arthur Brooks shows how letting go of past glory can open the possibilities of life's "second curve."

career

Career

When Working Harder Doesn’t Work, Time to Reinvent Your Career

Sociologist Emile Durkheim coined the phrase anomie to describe a destabilized and destabilizing state when rules and rule givers lose legitimacy. It’s what we feel when we face a virus that plays by one set of rules, politicians who play by another, and a professional life that proceeds independent of each — and when we face all of this in social isolation. Empathy can help us navigate this period of anomie. Here are four Empathy Rules that can help us cut across the divisions in our lives and build a sense of community.

Empathy Rules: The Takeaway

Empathy is the act of putting yourself in someone else’s problem in the hopes of understanding, of bridging a gap. It helps us feel in community, not abandoned to anomic isolation. It helps us feel seen and known for who we are.

Defining Empathy

Empathy at the workplace is both rewarding and time-consuming to listen to other people without preconception. Business consultants sometimes suggest something that seems close enough: radical candor.A continual round-robin of criticism and praise promises to dissolve the boundaries between colleagues. But this truth-telling practice proceeds from the feeling: “I know you.” Real empathy starts from a different premise, radical humility: “I don’t know how you feel, but I’m here to listen.”

Empathy At The workplace

Those who think that work is not the “place” for empathy miss the point. The empathy you receive at work makes you a better friend, partner, or parent. The empathy you receive at home makes you better able to listen at work. And there, empathic leadership makes room for intimacy and honesty, driving innovation and engagement. If you open yourself to empathy, you’re allowing yourself to listen across differences. Empathy keeps us from discounting, dismissing, or even cancelling others.

Importance Of Empathy At The Workplace

You can’t put yourself into someone else’s situation if you have preconceptions about its contours. We’re trained to relate to others by expressing what we think we share with them: “Oh, you lost your job. I know how tough that is; I lost mine as well!”It’s the opposite — the strategy of not knowing — that leaves you open to the truth of things.Step back and recognize that you don’t necessarily know what someone else is thinking or feeling. Stop, look, listen, and stay open. It’s not what you know, it’s what you’re willing to learn that provides space for empathy.

Radical Humility: Embracing The Not Knowing

Empathy doesn’t start with a reassuring “I’m like you.” On the contrary, empathy accepts friction. Colleagues may have profound disagreements, just like family members, neighbours, and friends. Empathy is not about being conflict-averse — it’s noisy because people are. To be empathetic, we must be willing to get in there, own the conflict, and learn how to fight fair. It’s about full engagement, even when it is uncomfortable.

Embrace Radical Difference

Empathy implies that you will do the work necessary to comprehend not just the place the person is coming from but their problem. It’s a discipline of basic respect, both personal and civic. You have a stake in helping your neighbour make things better. You can’t get bored or turn away.

Embrace Commitment

Empathy isn’t altruistic. It enlarges those who offer it and binds them to others. It fights anomie. If you’ve been heard, and the rules you’ve been asked to follow take your situation into account, you feel part of something larger than yourself.

Embrace Community

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

corporateculture

Corporate Culture

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

Empathy Rules

Don’t be a greedy reader.Try focusing on one syory at a time. Avoid switching to another book if you had a rough patch on your current read.If you’re no longer enjoying reading it, don’t feel guilty of abandoning it. There is no book police roaming around anyways 😉Find another book you’re interested in.

One Book At A Time

Internet is the single biggest procastinating tool nowadays. You might want to have a quick browse in Facebook and suddenly, five hours have passed.Set an internet-free time and use that time to reconnect with reading. You’ll find pleasure in the page when you step away from the screen.

Go Offline And Schedule Reading Time

Maybe you liked a particular author that made you started reading in the first place? Or a certain story may have been stuck with you even you already finished the book.Revisit an old favorite book to rediscover the magic. Even it has to be a book from your childhood.

Try The “Classics”

You can set an hour or two and go head to your nearest bookstore and don’t forget to grab your favorite cup of coffee.Wander around, look for their best read for the month and chat to the bookstore employees on what they’re reading.Being surrounded by books can be a shortcut from escaping your reading slump.

Hang Out In A Bookstore

Sometimes, a little company in reading can be a cure on your slump.Go join some book clubs or team up with a friend and talk about a book together.

Have A “Reading Buddy

Watching a movie then reading the book where the story was based from and then comparing the storyline and details is a good cure on reading slump.If you are extra committed, you can read the boon BEFORE seeing the movie.

See A ‘Book-To-Movie’ Adaptations

Audio readers can be a great alternative if you are struggling to enjoy reading but you miss to be around books or if you are having a lot of things to do on your plate.Trying audiobooks is perfect while doing mundane tasks. 👍

Try Audiobooks

If it is getting stale and the feeling of little too familiar, why not try a new genre?Variety is the spice of life. So don’t be afraid to put it also in reading!Experiment on recommendations from friends and family.

Genre Hopping

I can attest to these tips on surviving a reading slump!

Can't remember the last time you picked up a book? Here are 8 quick and easy ways to reignite your love for reading.

writing

Reading & Writing

8 Ways To Get Out Of A Reading Slump - Lifehack

According to the American Psychiatric Association, major depressive disorder (MDD) is a serious illness that is common and treatable. Major <a href="https://thehumancondition.com/mental-health/depression/">depression</a> negatively impacts how someone thinks, <a href="https://thehumancondition.com/category/emotions/">feels</a>, and acts and is characterized by feelings of <a href="https://thehumancondition.com/humanness-and-emotions/emotions/sadness/">sadness</a> or loss of interest in activities that they once enjoyed.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

When someone experiences chronic, severe symptoms that require professional treatment, their disorder will typically be referred to as major depressive disorder or clinical depression.

mentalhealth

Mental Health

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) - The Human Condition

Authentic Polynesian traditions pair with a bold approach to sustainability on this proudly independent South Pacific nation. A diverse landscape full of adventure, interaction, and culinary delights awaits all who visit Cook Islands.

Cook Islands

Inspiring landscapes, wilderness, and jaw-dropping fjords are just a small portion of Norway’s natural beauty. This sustainability leader is also busy introducing the world to new cultural icons with its brand new museum dedicated to Edvard Munch, and its the beautifully refurbished National Museum, the largest art museum in the Nordic countries.

Norway

Looking for lots of outdoor adventure? Head to the beautiful island of Mauritius. Mark Twain compared the island’s coral reefs and transparent waters set against a rugged interior backdrop to paradise. This island’s fascinating cultural mix and intriguing natural setting make it the perfect remote escape.

Mauritius

Belize is where chilled out vibes and adventure combine. It has the world’s second largest barrier reef, relics from its Maya past and wildlife experiences ranging from birdwatching to jaguar-spotting. This nation may be small but it’s the place to go for relaxation and adventure in equal measure.

Belize

If one word could describe Slovenia it would be green – literally and figuratively. Some two-thirds of the nation is forested, and the ‘Slovenia Green’ eco certification is among Europe’s most rigorous. This is the place to come for unheralded wine and culinary prowess plus hiking and cycling trails wedged between the Alps and the Adriatic.

Slovenia

Discover the eco-friendly island named after an eel, Anguilla. Explore by bike or scooter, snorkel its psychedelic-hued reefs, laze on pink-tinged beaches, delve into its historic ruins and join locals for evening barbecues.

Anguilla

Experience all that is alluring about the Arabian peninsula in the progressive Gulf destination of Oman. Wild, open deserts, vast mountain ranges, a shimmering coastline, and vibrant cities make it a prime destination for those looking to experience a country with strong cultural heritage.

Oman

Get away from it all at the high passes of Himalayas in Nepal. Experience the front door to the world’s tallest peaks, a spectacular playground for trekkers, climbers and adventurers. Social distance the natural way in a Himalayan wonderland of mountains and monasteries.

Nepal

Add conservation work and wildlife-watching to the list of things that add to the appeal of Malawi. Its eponymous lake, reggae-loving beach towns, mountaintop mission stations, hiking trails, and three major wildlife reserves make this small African country wildly popular.

Malawi

Egypt is breaking away from its long tourism history of temples and tombs and moving toward grassroots tourism start-ups, reflecting a country full of broad cultural riches. Leave room for some history, though: In 2022, the country will commemorate the centennial of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Egypt

Enough of work from home. Let us work from ANYWHERE this year!

This year we are a little more excited to share Lonely Planet's annual list of best countries to visit. See what countries made the cut alongside Norway, Belize and Malawi.

travel

Travel

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

Best Countries to Visit in 2022 | Best in Travel - Lonely Planet

Have you ever wondered or thought, after an year or a month or a week, where the hell did that go?Our memory remember things in a chronological order. For eg: Event X happened just before the big Paris vacation. Event Y happened in the first summer after I learned to drive.As each year passes, some of our experiences are converted to automatic routines and since there are no particular new experiences to anchor our memories, our brain blends these years into one countless unit and stores it.

How can you live your life to the fullest? 

To tell you an example, imagine your routine of going to your work over a period of one month. You go at 9 in the morning, do your work, come back at 5 in the evening, watch some TV and this cycle continues and it becomes an automatic routine. You experience no new memory here.So, here since there are no new experiences to anchor our memories, our brain blends this one month period into one countless unit and stores it. That's why you wonder at the end of the month "Where the hell did the last month go".

" Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it". You can exercise daily and eat healthy and live a long life, while experiencing a short one. That's why it's important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales, and have as many new experiences as possible that can serve to anchor our memories. Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of life.

This taught me how to live my life to the fullest

“Highly entertaining.” —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker “Funny, curious, erudite, and full of useful details about ancient techniques of training memory.” —The Boston Globe The blockbuster phenomenon that charts an amazing journey of the mind while revolutionizing our concept of memory An instant bestseller that is poised to become a classic, Moonwalking with Einstein recounts Joshua Foer's yearlong quest to improve his memory under the tutelage of top "mental athletes." He draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of remembering, and venerable tricks of the mentalist's trade to transform our understanding of human memory. From the United States Memory Championship to deep within the author's own mind, this is an electrifying work of journalism that reminds us that, in every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.

books

Books

Foer's unlikely journey from chronically forgetful science journalist to U.S. Memory Champion frames a revelatory exploration of the vast, hidden impact of memory on every aspect of our lives. On average, people squander forty days annually compensating for things they've forgotten. Joshua Foer used to be one of those people. But after a year of memory training, he found himself in the finals of the U.S. Memory Championship. Even more important, Foer found a vital truth we too often forget: In every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories. Moonwalking with Einstein draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of memory, and venerable tricks of the mentalist's trade to transform our understanding of human remembering. Under the tutelage of top "mental athletes," he learns ancient techniques once employed by Cicero to memorize his speeches and by Medieval scholars to memorize entire books. Using methods that have been largely forgotten, Foer discovers that we can all dramatically improve our memories. Immersing himself obsessively in a quirky subculture of competitive memorizers, Foer learns to apply techniques that call on imagination as much as determination-showing that memorization can be anything but rote. From the PAO system, which converts numbers into lurid images, to the memory palace, in which memories are stored in the rooms of imaginary structures, Foer's experience shows that the World Memory Championships are less a test of memory than of perseverance and creativity. Foer takes his inquiry well beyond the arena of mental athletes-across the country and deep into his own mind. In San Diego, he meets an affable old man with one of the most severe case of amnesia on record, where he learns that memory is at once more elusive and more reliable than we might think. In Salt Lake City, he swaps secrets with a savant who claims to have memorized more than nine thousand books. At a high school in the South Bronx, he finds a history teacher using twenty- five-hundred-year-old memory techniques to give his students an edge in the state Regents exam. At a time when electronic devices have all but rendered our individual memories obsolete, Foer's bid to resurrect the forgotten art of remembering becomes an urgent quest. Moonwalking with Einstein brings Joshua Foer to the apex of the U.S. Memory Championship and readers to a profound appreciation of a gift we all possess but that too often slips our minds.

Foer is the younger brother of New Republic editor Franklin Foer and novelist Jonathan Safran Foer. He is the son of Esther Foer, president of a public relations firm, and Albert Foer, a think-tank president. He was born in Washington, D.C. and attended Georgetown Day School. He then went on to graduate from Yale University, where he lived in Silliman College, in 2004.Foer is married to Dinah Herlands, a medical student at Yale, whom he met while an undergraduate at Yale. Foer sold his first book, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, to Penguin for publication in March 2011. He received a $1.2 million advance for the concept when he was just 22 plus a movie option.

Joshua Foer

Moonwalking with Einstein

Before you're able to do anything about repetitive thoughts, you have to notice when they're happening. "Awareness is key," Dr. Aragam says. Examine whether the thought is moving you forward to leaving you stuck. Dr. Aragam suggests a few questions: "Is this serving me? Am I going to have an answer to this right now? What else can I do?" If you can't solve whatever you're thinking about right now, it's time to try a different tactic.

1. Notice the thoughts—and ask whether they're helping

Taking your mind off of the thought your brain is chewing on can bring a lot of relief. Dr. Magavi is a fan of puzzles in particular. "Puzzles can improve mindfulness and overall mood states," she says. "They can divert attention from painful rumination. Some studies indicate that puzzles can minimize brain cell damage and facilitate the growth of new neurons."Other activities might be checking in with friends and family, playing a sport, or exercising. Re-engaging in hobbies and interests that bring you joy can be effective, too.

2. Distract yourself

On TikTok, one psychiatrist has been posting "<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@psychiachick/video/6923179480383065349?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1">why you feel like shit in a pandemic </a>" videos and touched on the topic of repetitive thoughts. She suggested that a lack of novel stimuli—aka, seeing the same four walls, the same people, the same news stories again and again—can often be a ripe environment for repetitive thoughts, particularly if you're already prone to them.That's partly because we have so many fewer natural cues to change our patterns of thinking, Dr. Aragam says. Imagine a day pre-pandemic, where you maybe would have run into a neighbor or colleague in the middle of the day.

3. Do something you haven't done before

You've heard them before—and they apply here, too. When in doubt, get your sleep in order, eat well, and stay in touch with friends and family. Sleep is especially important. "When you're more rested, you have more control over your brain, and it's less likely to fall into the traps of overthinking, rumination, and worry.

4. Focus on healthy habits

What helped was trying to put the argument in my brain aside and focusing on something else. Start doing a creativity workbook, taking day trips to nearby towns. Having something fresh to explore.

The pandemic may be worsening rumination (aka repetitive negative thoughts)&mdash;here's what you can do about it.

Repetition is Hell

Find  Self Improvement Tips - Curated from popular Books like Atomic Habits, 48 Rules of Power, Deep Work, Rich Dad Poor Dad and way more!