Today is Tuesday, money nerds, and there’s so much to do! After a 24-day trip to Europe, I’ve been home for ten days. In ten days more, I leave for another 21 days in Europe and the American southwest. (This time, though, I’m traveling for work.) I don’t have enough time to get everything done!
But I do have time to share some top money stories from elsewhere on the interwebs. To wit:
What consumes your mind consumes your life (and your finances). [Cait Flanders] — “The phrase ‘what consumes your mind controls your life’ was meant to prove that our thoughts can become our reality — especially if we have a positive or negative mindset. But considering the fact that we now spend more than 50% of our waking hours consuming media — and that number is expected to increase — we should be a bit more literal about this subject, and take steps to make sure that what we consume doesn’t negatively impact our lives or finances.”
How to get hired for the job you really want. [Inc. magazine] — “If you’re struggling to land the job you want, don’t complain. Don’t blame other people. Sure, the system often sucks — so accept it sucks, and then figure out how to beat it. Commit to doing more. Commit to doing what other candidates aren’t willing to do. That’s how you stand out. That’s how you get the job you really want.”
How to complain and get results. [Kiplinger’s] — “Taking a complaint to customer service can be maddening. No one wants to deal with endless phone trees, outsourced representatives working from inflexible scripts, automated responses or chatbots…To breach the walls and successfully resolve your complaint…you must use the three p’s: patience, persistence and politeness. Don’t expect an instant fix, and give the company’s complaint process time to work.”
Hyper-capitalism and the cult of Ayn Rand. [The New Republic] — “Objectivists insist that their predilections are derived from a highly logical, uncompromising framework. But there were moments when it felt like we were engaging in a lot of ex post facto justification of Rand’s personal tastes. Jazz, we were later told, sucked. Rock and roll sucked. Gilbert and Sullivan sucked. Bach sucked. Modern art sucked.”
I used to be (and in some ways still am) an Ayn Rand acolyte. I thought it made me smart. Diving deeper into history and philosophy made me realize there’s nothing especially insightful or “objective” about Rand’s thinking. Really, she was just another demagogue. Nowadays, I enjoy reading Rand for fun but there’s no way I take her word as gospel. Because it’s not.
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