Can you believe it, money nerds? We’ve already completed one month of 2024. We’re on to month two! That’s right: Another month of money stories here at Apex Money. Take a look at day one…
The two ways of doing. [Raptitude] — “I don’t think anyone sustains a gym regimen, or anything similar, if they’re motivated only by the future rewards. Everybody who keeps at it past January resolution season finds something about the toil itself to embrace…It might be the reassuring sense of self-discipline. It might be that they like who they are when they’re doing it. But it’s got to be something, because embracing the reward while resenting the price just isn’t a viable way to go about something for long. You’re always in inner conflict.”
How to declutter items you thought you couldn’t. [Becoming Minimalist] — “There are some people who can get rid of everything in one weekend, but that personality-type tends to be pretty rare. For most of us, the journey takes a bit longer. There are some things that are easy to remove, others tend to be difficult — for any number of reasons…Just because something is hard to part with, doesn’t mean we should keep it.” [I don’t share a lot of minimalism pieces here because they’re too “same-y”. I like this one, though, because it touches on some things I’ve been thinking about lately myself: curation, keeping the best, etc.]
The joys of getting organized. [Zen Habits] — “This isn’t about keeping things empty, or having things organized all the time. The nature of things is entropy — every day, you’ll get new emails, tasks, messages, etc. Things will pile up. Don’t create an ideal where you have everything sorted and you have to keep it that way. It’ll just create more stress. This is about the joy of getting organized, not being organized all the time.”
To wrap things up today, here’s another great video. Like I’ve been saying, I’ve watched a bunch of great stuff lately, but I think this is the video that’s personally been most useful. It’s a nine-minute look at how to turn your smartphone into a dumbphone.
For those unfamiliar with the concept, a dumbphone (such as the Light Phone) is deliberately designed to not do fancy internet tricks. No social media, no web browsing, etc. Nothing but phoning and texting and mapping — and perhaps a few other utilities.
I’ve actually taken the leap and modded my phone so it’s very much like the one in the video. I love it. Maybe some of you will too.