The Money Principle Brain Teaser: what are you reading at the moment?
We just arrived back from Sofia and we are at home safe and sound. Our time away was a great success: we worked a bit (meaning that I didn’t do 10-12 hour days but worked only 6 hours per day and took five days completely off); we played with our soon to be eleven years old son who seems to be becoming a teenager early; we did ski and snowboard (guess who did what) and we managed to get back in one piece. I call this a very successful time away. Apart from that, we made sure that our apartment in Sofia is ok, that my sister, who lives there, is fine (and of course it was lovely to see her) and that there is some movement on the apartment for sale. Continue reading
The Money Principle Brain Teaser: what is the New Year’s resolution you kept to?
Have I mentioned that I still get much more excited about the New Year than about Christmas? Well, I do! Some may try to explain this with my background, with growing up in communist Bulgaria. I believe this would be a mistake.
Bulgaria was Christian Orthodox before it was communist; and in the Christian Orthodox tradition Easter is much more important as a holiday than Christmas. Logical, when you think about it: it is more important to celebrate achievement than a birthday. As to the New Year, for me it is always full of promise and hope. This is why we make resolutions; whether we stick with our resolutions is another matter.
So my question for today is:
What is the New Year’s resolution you kept to? Continue reading
Dream your goals and plan your dreams: the Walt Disney groove
You already know that I don’t set my goals by tinkering with the present but trace back my dreams; this way my goals are a compass helping me to follow the direction of my life . There are two main difficulties with this: one is that we have generally forgotten how to dream and the second one is that even when we start dreaming we have got into the habit of killing our dreams.
Several years back, I was talking to a friend who works for a very large international organisation. International organisations usually pay very well – so people can buy their ‘dreams’. I still remember what my friend said when I asked how is his new job after academe. He said: ‘It is hard. People here are so boring that they can’t even dream. It is like you can have any car you want and you end up with a Ford Focus!’ Continue reading
Tell me your dreams and I’ll tell you your goals
Anywhere I turn there seem to be goals. It doesn’t matter whether people are busily setting goals or arguing their limitations: it is still goals that excite our discussions. My first reaction was only human – I started looking for the goals I set myself last year and panicking about the goals I may set this year. Then I remembered two things: first that, strictly speaking, I didn’t set goals last year and second that what my readers may wish to read about is not my life and my goals but the ways to think about theirs. Continue reading
