Heigh-ho, everybody. J.D. here with another day of Apex Money. I didn’t get yesterday’s edition out — sorry about that — so I’ll have a bonus Saturday installment for you tomorrow. But today? Well, I like the batch of articles I’ve collected for today. They’re all centered around a theme: happiness.
The fallacy of ‘preparing for life’.” [Accidental Fire] — “Every year is still 365 days, but damn if they don’t seem to be getting shorter and shorter. Nobody seems to be able to find the time for anything, their dreams, their passions, or their kids soccer game…Don’t suffer in a job you hate just to financially prepare for a future thing called retirement. Life is now. There is no preparing for life, there’s only life.” Preach!
The eight splendid truths of happiness. [Gretchen Rubin] — “In my study of happiness, I’ve labored to identify its fundamental principles. Because I get a tremendous kick out of the numbered lists that pop up throughout Buddhism (the Triple Refuge, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, the eight auspicious symbols), I decided to dub these fundamental principles as my Eight Splendid Truths.”
Will more money make you happier? Probably not. [Becoming Minimalist] — “Regardless of how much money contributes to happiness (and the jury is apparently still out on that), the one thing we do know is this: Prioritizing the pursuit of money NEVER contributes to overall happiness and life satisfaction. In fact, those who prioritize money over the pursuit of more value-based goals end life with less satisfaction and fulfillment.”
The best idea humans ever had. [Raptitude] — “If you look at what ancient humans say about how to live, it’s always some version of this full-time devotion to good…They don’t say, ‘Have a good time, but do enough difficult stuff to be able to consider yourself a good person,’ as modernity seems to prescribe, but rather, ‘Train yourself in each moment to always do the morally best thing, with love and without hesitation. Make this your purpose in life and sacrifice everything else for it.'”
What does success look like? (And how does it feel?) [One Frugal Girl] — “What if success focused on our emotional well-being, social connections, and job-related enjoyment? What if we weighed time, money, relationships, and health? Do you have time freedom? Do you have the flexibility to focus on your passions or share your time with people you love? Do you have time for the people and things that matter most to you?”
Good stuff, right? Well, I’ll be back tomorrow with more good stuff. See you then.