Money Diary #37

Morning: Up around 7:15, brush my teeth, and drink two cups of tea. Then go shower. Use bar soap to shampoo & rinse my hair since it's kinda disgusting at the moment. Cut my toenails since I haven't cut them in a couple of months. Read for a while, and here is what I learn:

• Amen: "I like making a living just being myself."

• On playing the career long game: "The mental, physical, and emotional stamina necessary to ensure this career for any significant amount of time requires a goal that you are passionate about. The best goals are the ones that excite you. And the most exciting goals are the ones that, through their pursuit, enable you to live a fuller and truer version of yourself because they align with deeply held personal values. Seek career longevity in service of a different goal (i.e., living your best life)."

• On finding your niche: "Find a career niche where you can pair professional fulfillment with near total control of your schedule for the long haul. Cultivate skills that require less in-person commitments and can be performed remotely."

• On the secret to career longevity: "Do good work for good people for a long time."

• On career truths:

• "Making it to the top levels involves cashing in all, or nearly all, of the leverage you've built up over the years for the most prestigious title available to you and the highest possible compensation."

• "When you cash in all your leverage to make partner, you have no leverage left to insist on your terms."

• "The twin pillars of our contrarian career philosophy are designed specifically to strip employers of their leverage: (i) get your finances to where you don't particularly need the money; and (ii) get your mind to where you don't particularly need the promotion. When the usual incentives no longer motivate you, that's when you get to dictate the terms of your own employment."

• "You can't do good business with bad people."

• "Sometimes when someone like a boss says you will exit once you get your bonus, it gives insight to themselves, not you."

Afternoon: Lunch is the remaining fried rice from yesterday, along with cauliflower fried rice & goat stew, yum. I am not kidding myself today and know that I need a nap. With NBA in the background on TV, fall asleep for an hour. Walk around the house a bit, drink an afternoon cup of tea, and watch some golf.

Evening: Do the "harder" part of the work project and finish up the entire thing. Dinner is rice & goat stew, brush my teeth, and bed around 10.