10 Things I Told Myself Which Turned Out To Be Completely Wrong – Part 3

In my last 2 posts, I told you about 3 things I told myself which turned out to be completely wrong.

One of them, I told myself I would never get married – I was wrong.

Then I told myself I would never learn to drive.

I was wrong about that too.

Then I told myself I was a words person, not a numbers person.

I was wrong about that too.

Hattrick? Ha! I wish. There’s plenty more where that came from.

You are not going to believe this next one, wait for it…

I told myself I could invest like Warren Buffett!

I know what you are thinking, “Minoo, you don’t need to tell us you were completely wrong about that. If you had been right, your name would be on the Forbes billionaires list.”

And you would be right. But I am going to tell you the story anyway.

Here are some reasons why…

Because you invested in penny stocks, and now you have nothing but regret to show for it.

Because you invested in a stock based on a hot tip from a friend or acquaintance, and lost a chunk of money.

Because you tried your hand at day trading, only to have to call it a day, when wins were followed by losses, and wins were followed by losses again, until you decided you had had enough.

Because you invested in a stock, based on one of the talking heads on TV saying it was a good bet (example Jim Cramer), only to discover they were wrong.

Because you couldn’t resist the temptation to time the market, to sell because you thought the market was at a high, or to buy because you thought the market was going higher, but your predictions didn’t pan out.

Because you hit upon some strategy, be it Dogs of the Dow, or something else, and said “aha, this is what I should do”, but found yourself licking your wounds.

Because you became enamored (being further down on the learning curve is sometimes as bad as being at the beginning of the learning curve) with stocks which had the highest yield, i.e. paid the highest dividends, and you bought some high-yielding stocks which turned out to be complete money sucks.

If your track record of investing includes one or more of the above misadventures, you will relate to my story.

It’s pretty typical.

Every novice investor goes through stages.

Stage 1: To you, buying stocks is gambling. It’s like going to Vegas – without the fun. (At least when you go to Vegas, you can sow some wild oats and say, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”. Even if you are not the wild-oats sowing type, you can still say “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” if you so desperately want people to think you are a rake.  To which I say “why?”But let me not be judgmental.

Stage 2: Temptation rears its ugly head. The irresistible power of suggestion is about to make a pawn out of you. Typically, you hear that someone made big bucks ($$$) by investing small bucks ($$$) in some stock. Your heart starts to race. Imagine if you could invest and get lucky too – turn $1000 into $10,000 overnight. I am using big numbers, because Chinese whispers will usually be at play. Woo hoo!

Stage 3: You decide to hold your nose and take the plunge. Depending on the source of temptation, you do penny stock investing, or day trading, or buying a stock based on a hot tip, or buying a stock based on a TV talking head like Jim Cramer, or getting into the market just because everyone and their uncle and aunt are doing so, or market timing, or buying high yield stocks, or buying some stock after reading something in a book by Ken Fisher, or reading something in a book about Warren Buffet, take your pick.

But what you don’t know is that, like the young adult who tries to get too much out of life by living it up, and ends up in a perpetually hung over and exhausted state, you, as a novice investor are trying to get too much out of investing. You don’t realize it is very rare to make money in the stock market in a short period of time, and even if you do, it is very rare to be able to hold on to it. So you are destined for an investment hangover. The size of the hangover depends on the size of your investment partying. And it can’t be cured by Alka Seltzer, or Reset  IVs.

Eventually, like the young adult, who learns to say no to the temptation to continuously party, because at the end of the day, it is not worth it, you become enlightened and eventually learn to say no to all the immature investing temptations described earlier in this post, because at the end of the day, it is not worth it.

Now that you have this background, I can tell you my story of how "I told myself I could invest like Warren Buffett”.

Imagine you have just finished reading the book The Warren Buffett Way.

In it, you come across a strategy called bottom fishing, which the author says is one of Warren Buffett’s strategies. Bottom fishing is buying stocks which are unpopular and have taken a beating.

You can’t wait to put this strategy into practice. The reason why the strategy appeals to you, is because you have only small bucks to invest, not big bucks.

Your small bucks – formerly, a problem to you, now no longer seem to be a problem. You think to yourself, I just have to follow Warren Buffett’s strategy to buy good stocks when they are on sale. That way, I will spend small bucks on them.

You formulate a plan. “I will wait for the stock of a good company to plunge in price and seize the day.”

Your moment soon arrives.

One day, you wake up and you find out on Yahoo Finance, or Bloomberg, or WSJ online (oh my, hoity-toity, aren’t we), Krispy Kreme’s stock has plunged 40%.

Perfect you think.

After all, don’t the long lines outside Krispy Kreme stores attest to the popularity of their donuts?

And haven’t you heard people at work rave about the melt-in-your-mouth taste of Krispy Kreme donuts?

And didn’t that lead you only just the other day to posit in your Mangalorean way that a company like Krispy Kreme had a bright future for international expansion, and would do exceedingly well in a country of "V"listers like India?

So when you wake up that morning and see that Krispy Kreme stock has plunged by almost 40%, there is joy in your heart and dollar signs in your eyes.

If it’s because Krispy Kreme missed their quarter by a huge margin, you don’t care (because what is one quarter – and you are not aware of the importance of that kind of information at the time, anyway.)

All you care is that you think Krispy Kreme is a great company and now their stock has plunged.

You rub your hands with glee.

Here’s an opportunity to buy a stock on sale, just like your idol Warren Buffett says to do.

You log onto your favorite online broker, and boom, with a few clicks, the deed is done.

You are the owner of 100 shares of Krispy Kreme stock, and it is headed, you are sure, to its pre-crash price, and then straight to the moon.

Oh-oh! A sucker is born every second.

Little do you know, you are not a smart investor like Warren Buffett. You only think you are. You are actually nothing but a silly, ignorant, greedy and speculative fool.

You realize this only after your $2,000 becomes $1,000. This happens after Krispy Kreme announces another dismal quarter.

You go, “Whoa, what just happened?”

And slowly, but surely, it dawns on you, you have been an utter idiot and a fool.

It’s time to fess up to that by selling your Krispy Kreme shares and taking a loss.

Friends and readers, this is my story.

I told myself I could invest like Warren Buffett and turned out to be completely wrong.

So the question is, did any good come out of my Krispy Kreme fiasco?

And the answer is yes.

I learned my lesson. Actually, I more than learned my lesson, because $1,000 is not a small sum to lose, especially for a frugal modest-income person like Minoo Jha. Krispy Kreme was a cautionary tale to me.

Now I want you to cast yourself a few years into the future, and imagine yourself a sadder, but wiser investor – for this is the investor I became, and I want you to feel what it was like to be in my new improved investing shoes.

You have put the shame and ignominy of the Krispy Kreme loss (as well as some other embarrassing losses) behind you.

In fact, you even wrote a Toastmaster’s speech and won an award for talking about your Krispy Kreme mess up.

After Krispy Kreme, you had a few more oopsies (par for the course for eager stock beavers). But then you settled on an investing philosophy that bore the test of time.

And you wrote several posts from your altered perspective. You wanted investors to navigate the Wild West of investing with eyes wide open. You warned them that some things they might think were great, were not so great after all, for example, great products do not necessarily make great stocks, and conglomerates do not necessarily make good investments (In your new wisdom, you could appreciate Google’s decision to separate Google from Alphabet, even though Alphabet’s moonshots were so exciting, and oh so promising).

Your intention in writing these articles was to put a spotlight on all the erroneous thinking you had been prey to.

And you wrote a post How To Turn Your Girl Scout or Cub Scout Into A Stock Scout, because you wanted people to fall off the investing bike as early as possible, so as to be able to get back on and recover.

So in the final analysis, it’s all good, dear reader.

Though I had the idea I could invest like Warren Buffett, and it turned out I was completely wrong, this investor has lived to see another day.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go read what Howard Marks has to say, and what Ray Dalio has to say, and what Ken Fisher has to say, so I can buy some stocks – just kidding!

Though I am a compulsive reader of investing information, I have not bought a single individual stock since 2006. I have just been sitting pretty with the stocks and mutual funds I bought prior to that.

“Amen!” as one of my sisters would say.

P.S. Here’s an interesting tit-bit of information. While I was writing this post, I decided to go back and research why Krispy Kreme stock got hammered back in 2004. I almost fell off my chair by what I found out. The CEO blamed the low-carb trend for Krispy Kreme’s woes; he said the low carb trend had impacted Krispy Kreme’s sales negatively, and was “here to stay”. Huh, and I was under the impression the low-carb trend started in 2013, 5 years ago. “Minoo, how clueless you are again.” Sigh! It’s the story of my life.

Do come back next week for the fourth part of this series, 10 Things I Told Myself That Turned Out To Be Completely Wrong.

Acknowledgements

Thanks for the feedback, (comments, likes, shares) on Part 1 and 2 of this series. I appreciate the kudos from old friends, new friends, and relatives who have become friends. You keep me going.

NEXT, Thanks to all readers, current and future, for sharing my journey to wisdom, meaning and a better life.  Like you, I am trying to find my way through this complex maze we call life, and I am honored to have you share my journey, as I continue to seek the wisdom hidden in plain sight.

FINALLY, A Happy Birthday shout-out:  to those with May birthdays. If something you have been telling yourself is completely wrong, hope you use your birthday month to face reality and change course.

Have a blessed week, and hope to see you again next week.

P.S. Not sure if you have time, but if you do, you may enjoy these other posts:

Friendships

The United States of Friendship – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6,Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12

Family

Our Cake Boss Family, Family Songs, The Nightdress Brigade, Family Advice I Am Grateful For, The Porki And Bonkers Tradition, No Need for 23 and Me,Letters to Lucas, Flying Lessons

Pets

A Fresh Perspective on Pets, Secrets of The Super Models In Our Family,BowWow, Meoww, Why You Should Not Abandon Your Pet

Nature

Post on Trees, Reprising Joy Kilmer

Hobbies

Cricket, Glorious Cricket, Splendid Post, What!

Managing Your Money

Yoga for Investors, How to Turn Your Girl Scout or Cub Scout Into a Stock Scout, Financial Piece of Mind, Financial Piece of Mind – Part Deux, A Retirement Planning Formula You Won’t Find on Oprah

Simplifying Your Life

You know what Wesabi is, How About Wabi Sabi?  The Simple Life, The Element of Simplicity and Its Hope for Living a More Satisfying Life

Getting Over Your Self-Consciousness

The Element of Release From Inhibition, The Element of Being Less Self-Centered and Its Hope for Seeing Things in The Correct Light, The Element of Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone and Its Hope For Experiencing More of What Life Has to Offer

Learning to Laugh

How To Deal With The Sheldon Coopers in Your Life – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3,Part 4, The Nightdress Brigade, You Aced the SAT, How About the LAT?, How To Cause Atmost Confuzen at the Scripps Spelling Bee, How To Go From Madonna to Lilly to Myrtle in The Course of A Single Evening - And Even Have a Sex Change, A Facebook Face-Off, A Short Stint in Advertising

Learning to Relax

How To Become a Low Maintenance Person, Connected Minds, How To Become The Kind of Person People Want to Work with, How Many Times a Day Do You Visit Ireland? The Art of Carrying Things Lightly

Health

Raising the Bar, 4 Healthy Eating Ideas I Learned from My Friend Julia, The Element of Becoming More Focused and Precise In Our Goals and Its Hope for Achieving Powerful Results

Pursuing A Dream

What’s Next For You? The Element of The First Step and Its Hope for Getting Big Things Started In Our Lives, She Victories

Changing in Good Ways

Maybe Its Time To Become More Receptive, Maybe It’s Time To Live More Purposefully, Maybe It’s Time To Bust Some Myths, Maybe It’s Time to Walk In The Direction Of Your Fears, Maybe It’s Time To Understand What Freedom Is, Maybe It’s Time To Turn the Page, Maybe It’s Time To Rock The World, Maybe It’s Time For Freshness

10 Things I Told Myself Which Turned Out To Be Completely Wrong - Part 2

In my last post, I told you about 2 things I told myself, which turned out to be completely wrong.

One was, I told myself I would never get married – I was completely wrong on that.

Another was I told myself I would never learn to drive.

And I was wrong about that too.

Here’s one more thing I told myself which turned out to be completely wrong…

I told myself I was a words person, and not a numbers person

I can be forgiven for thinking that way.

From a very young age, I showed an aptitude for writing. In 2^nd grade, I won an award in a national essay writing competition hosted by the S.P.C.A. My entry was titled “My Pet” and I took 2^nd place.  I do not have any copies of this essay, but it was the first sign writing might be “my thing”.

Confirmation came in my freshman and sophomore year of college.  Instead of going to college, I sat in libraries, and at home, writing articles for the local newspaper, and some magazines, I thought might be good homes for my writing. I also taught English to foreign students. Another sudden interest of mine was composing songs. I would start with the melody (a la Al Stewart), using 3 basic chords of the guitar, maybe 5 at the most, then I would write lyrics to the melody. These songs were nothing to write home about, as you learned from my post Why I Can Never Get A Job At Google, but my family loved to parade my skills at parties.

I got some good fun money (and a boyfriend) out of teaching English to foreign students.  I got family admiration for my musical exploits (even though my musical experiments drove my neighbors crazy). But the biggest payoff came from writing those articles, and getting published in the local newspaper.

My sister Christine had a friend Mela, who worked in an ad agency. She called my sister and said, “We have a job at the agency for that sister of yours who writes. Tell her to come see us.” Next thing I knew, I was earning my first real paycheck, gainfully employed as a cub copywriter. I was living every Mangalorean's dream.

This cemented the idea of ‘words’ being my thing.

Until I moved to America. That’s when the music stopped.

I assumed when I moved to America, I would land a copywriting job. It was what I was used to. It was the thing I thought I was cut out for. I had no other concept of myself.

But when job application after job application failed to produce an interview call, I knew I had to shift gears, see what else I might be able to swing with my skills.

Admin Assistant jobs were aplenty, and easy to land, and I soon landed an Admin Assistant job at Palm Inc.

I sucked at that job, but it was while I was on it, my boss suggested I should consider joining the Palm Commissions Accounting team.

Initially, I was incredulous. I was a words person. How could I, a words person, do an ‘all numbers” job like Commissions Accounting? His suggestion appeared kind, but misplaced.

I would crash and burn.

But you know what? Sometimes, we need to go with an idea, even if it sounds crazy.

That’s the only way to find out if we can do the unthinkable.

So with a great deal of trepidation and reluctance, I bit the bullet and went for this totally new and scary "Commissions Accounting" thing.

What did I find out?

Ha! What I found out is, I had been completely wrong in thinking I was a words person.

Yes, I was a words person, but I was also a numbers person.

I was a pretty decent numbers person, as well. So after I took up Commissions Accounting, I stayed with it.

In fact, I am still doing Commissions Accounting today, except now I do it as a Consultant.

Life is unpredictable.  We are unpredictable.

Life changes.  We change.

It is wonderful.

At any point of time, we have more options than we think we have. Yes! Yes! Yes!

Do come back next week for the third part of this series, 10 Things I Told Myself That Turned Out To Be Completely Wrong.

I look forward to sharing some more truths about myself with you. Meanwhile, hope this post encourages you to try something unthinkable. I wouldn't be surprised if you discover what you have been telling yourself is completely wrong. In fact, I am almost willing to bet on it.

10 Things I Told Myself I Would Never Do Which Turned Out To Be Completely Wrong

I told myself I would never get married

My younger self didn’t know my older self. Just when everyone thought I was committed to singlehood, I surprised myself, and everyone else, by deciding to tie the knot.

Here’s a fun fact which came out of that decision: My brother-in-law Mohammad learned to make his famous biryani, as a result of my deciding to get married.

Here’s the story…

I and another gal from work were getting married around the same time.

Since neither of us was planning on inviting anyone from work to our weddings (my reason was I was getting married in another city, hers was she was having a small wedding), we decided to jointly host a biryani lunch for our co-workers at the office.

We would bring biryani to the office, and have a small celebration for our coworkers, before going off for our respective weddings.

I can still remember the invitation card I wrote for this biryani lunch.  I thought it very clever at the time.  It said “Contract Advertising employees with enough on their plate, get ready for some more”. Inside, the words read “Minoo and Anna’s biryani lunch”.

Anna and I rented big cooking pots from Russell Market. Then we hired a cook from Taj Hotel in Shivaji Nagar to moonlight and cook the biryani for us. He gave us a list of supplies to buy, and we went out and bought them.

The biryani was cooked outside my house (on a firewood stove), the cooking beginning at 6:30 a.m. in the morning.

It was all very exciting, and I invited everyone in the family to watch the biryani being cooked, and help themselves to freshly made biryani after.

My brother-in-law Mohammed was an interested observer at this event.

And this is how he became – as highlighted in my post Our Cake Boss Family - the “biryani master” of our family.

He credits his world famous biryani recipe to watching that Taj Hotel cook make biryani for that Contract Advertising office lunch.

I told myself I would never get married, and this was one of the wonderful outcomes of me doing an about face on myself, another being the birth of my wonderful and amazing daughter Tanita.

Curious to know what else I told myself I would never do, but was completely wrong about…

How about driving?

Here’s the story…

Once upon a time there was a girl who lived in India, who did not know how to drive. She tried and tried, okay, she didn’t try and try, but she definitely tried and didn’t succeed. She did not have the spirit of King Bruce and the spider, or the KFC colonel, at the time. The girl settled for going around the city in a pumpkin carriage, called an auto-rickshaw in India. The drivers of the pumpkin carriage frequently found themselves at odds with the girl, because though she looked like she ought to have a decent quantity of Tamil, Kannada, or Hindi words at her disposal, the girl couldn’t so much as manage an “ayo” without getting Sir Robert Clivish on it. The drivers of the pumpkin carriage would throw up their hands every time the girl tried to get into a heated conversation with them in English.  If they had been German, they would have muttered under their breath, “Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof”. You can look that up on LivingLanguage.com, it means, “I don’t understand a thing.”

Anyway, in this state of being pumpkin-carriage dependent, the girl moved to America.  As soon as she surveyed the vast distances of the California Bay Area and the meager public transportation options available to help her criss cross it, the girl clearly heard a voice in her head tell her, “Listen, missy, you need to get behind the wheel of a car, like a baby needs to be potty trained – or your life is going to stink.”

And so began the girl’s quest for a driver’s license.

The wicked stepsisters (her first driver’s ed teacher) told the girl, “You will fail your test, because when I give you instructions, you are not able to follow them. Give me x amount of money, and I will make sure you pass the test and get a driver’s license”. The girl was shocked. She didn’t think this kind of thing prevailed in America. “I will not give you a steekpenning, a dorodokia, a pot-de-vin”, she said to the driver’s ed teacher.

Ok, she didn’t say that, because as you already know, the girl was not good at languages.  Plus she was outstandingly timid in intimidating situations. What she said was, in an apologetic voice, as if she was in the wrong, “I cannot pay you for a license.  If I get a license by false means, I will not have the confidence to drive.”

The teacher didn’t give up. Thinking there was a price at which the girl would succumb, she kept reducing the amount of grease required, to tempt the girl, but the girl was strong; they are not going to put anything on me like they did on Eve in the Garden of Eden, she said. She tied herself to an imaginary rock to avoid the driver's ed teacher's siren call of, "I can get you passed on the test and issued a license."

However, her heart was also sickened, because she knew if the driver’s ed teacher had the power to get her passed on the test, she probably also had the power to get her failed on the test.

And so the girl switched to another driver’s ed teacher.

Unfortunately she fell from the sky only to get stuck in a date palm. ( आसमान से गिरे खजूर में अटके )

The next driver’s ed instructor, was half asleep for the 6 a.m. – 7 a.m. driving lesson, and wanted to remain in that state. So he cleverly made the girl drive on one long road with no traffic and no stops and few lights for most of the lesson, so the girl never learned anything, and of course she failed the test.

At this time, the fairy godmothers (the girl’s family) decided to step in.  They took the girl in hand and became her driver’s ed teachers.  They each took turns to teach her driving.

The girl then took the test and got her driver’s license.

She went on to become a NASCAR driver like Danica Patrick. Nah!  But she did pick up enough confidence to do a trip to L.A. just a few months later.

And she learned all sorts of things connected with cars.

Which is why, she can tell you how to buy a used car with confidence.

She’s done that.

And why she can tell you some of the lessons you can learn from having an accident.

She’s done that too.

Here is the big lesson of these 2 stories – the girl told herself she would never do this and never do that. And it turned out she was completely wrong.

What are you telling yourself that you could be completely wrong about?

It's both an interesting and important question.

Come back next week for more of where this came from –there are lots more things I told myself which turned out to be completely wrong, and I’d like to tell you about them as well.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, matkas, mat's, majis, ammas, madres, mueters, maders, majkas out there and see you next week - Minoo

10 Signs You Really Want Something

Sign 1: You are willing to work for it

You’re ready to give it all you’ve got.  You are willing to put in the time, you are willing to put in the effort, you are willing to commit the resources.  You will not back down at the first sign of pain or discomfort. You will not give up because progress is slow or delayed.

Sign 2: You’re willing to save for it

If you have to live below your means and desired level of convenience, comfort, and security, until you have saved enough money, you are willing to do it.  You are willing to hunker down, live simply, live uncomfortably, and deny yourself, until you reach you reach your financial target – the one necessary to making your dream come true, or your plan a reality.

Sign 3: You are willing to make time for it

You don’t let busyness and excuses get in the way.  You make it a habit to stop everything else and commit your time to it.

Sign 4: You are willing to try and try again

You don’t give up easily.  You don't throw up your hands. You are back to it after the first attempt, the second attempt, the third attempt, even the umpteenth one, Colonel Sanders style. You persist. You go for it again and again, refining your process and methods with every try, learning something from each attempt.

Sign 5: You’re willing to do the extensive spadework for it

You are up for the studying, the researching, the practice, the training, whatever it takes, for however long. You don’t get skittish because of the time and effort, and level of difficulty involved.

Sign 6: You are willing to seek all the advice and help you can get

You are willing to get input from others to bear on your efforts. You are ready to make the effort, to invest the time and resources, and you have the humility.

Sign 7: You are willing to sacrifice for it

You are willing to give up some things, it may be a little, it may be a lot.  Even if it’s a lot, it is worth it to you. Sacrifice isn’t a denial to you. It is a glorious, focused, and meaningful way to achieve your goal.

Sign 8: You are willing to change your ways and habits for it

You are willing to stop doing what's obstructing your progress, give up habits that are getting in your way, or spoiling your chances. You are ready to start doing the right things in place of those habits. You are willing to bring a new you to the table, because you know a new you is what it will take. A new you is the key to success.

Sign 9: You are willing to risk being looked down at, or being laughed and scorned at

This frightening thought keeps many people from doing what they really want to do, but you are willing to ignore it and pursue your dream. You feel strong enough not to get discouraged or depressed by "other people's opinions"  and "other people's criticisms" of you.

Sign 10: You really believe in what you want

This is the ultimate sign.  What you want is a living, breathing vision for you.  It consumes your waking hours, and has become part and parcel of who you are. To turn your back on your dream, is to turn your back on yourself.

There - these are 10 signs you really want something. 

You may say you really want something. You may even be a stuck record on what you say you want. 

But, objectively, if you are not willing to save for it, to sacrifice for it, to change your ways for it, to do the spadework for it, to make it a living, breathing vision, as described in the signs above, you have to question your motivation.

Your motivation is just not that strong, certainly not strong enough.

Want to increase your motivation?

Then get a piece of paper.

Write down something you think you really want.

Then write down what you think you need to do in order to achieve that.

Now, looking at the paper on which you have scribbled your thoughts, what does it tell you?

Let me guess - you've got work to be done? Yes?

Well then, I won’t let this post keep you.

Because if you really, really want something, my sincere wish is you see it happen.

I will be cheering for you.

I will end this post by saying - love your goal, sacrifice for your goal, work for your goal.

Your best days are ahead!

x

Acknowledgements

Thanks for the feedback, (comments, likes, shares) on some of my recent posts Was It Luck, Was It By Design, Seek Inspiration and (Information) and (Consolation) for Where You Are in Life, Lessons From My Life(10 Things You Can Learn From My Experience).  I appreciate the affirmations that I am on the right track from old friends and new friends, and relatives who have become friends. You keep me going.

NEXT, Thanks to all readers, current and future, for sharing my Journey to Wisdom, Meaning and a Better Life.  Like you, I am trying to find my way through this complex maze we call life, and I am honored to have you share my journey, as I continue to seek the wisdom hidden in plain sight.

FINALLY, A Happy Birthday shout-out:  to those with May birthdays.  Hope you use your birthday month - a milestone month - to revisit your dreams, and how strongly you are motivated to achieve them - and to make a commitment to save for them, work hard for them, sacrifice for them, make them a living, breathing vision.

P.S. Not sure if you have time, but if you do, you may enjoy these other posts:

Friendships

The United States of Friendship – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6,Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12

Family

Our Cake Boss Family, Family Songs, The Nightdress Brigade, Family Advice I Am Grateful For, The Porki And Bonkers Tradition, No Need for 23 and Me,Letters to Lucas, Flying Lessons

Pets

A Fresh Perspective on Pets, Secrets of The Super Models In Our Family,BowWow, Meoww, Why You Should Not Abandon Your Pet

Nature

Post on Trees, Reprising Joy Kilmer

Hobbies

Cricket, Glorious Cricket, Splendid Post, What!

Managing Your Money

Yoga for Investors, How to Turn Your Girl Scout or Cub Scout Into a Stock Scout, Financial Piece of Mind, Financial Piece of Mind – Part Deux, A Retirement Planning Formula You Won’t Find on Oprah

Simplifying Your Life

You know what Wesabi is, How About Wabi Sabi?  The Simple Life, The Element of Simplicity and Its Hope for Living a More Satisfying Life

Getting Over Your Self-Consciousness

The Element of Release From Inhibition, The Element of Being Less Self-Centered and Its Hope for Seeing Things in The Correct Light, The Element of Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone and Its Hope For Experiencing More of What Life Has to Offer

Learning to Laugh

How To Deal With The Sheldon Coopers in Your Life – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3,Part 4, The Nightdress Brigade, You Aced the SAT, How About the LAT?, How To Cause Atmost Confuzen at the Scripps Spelling Bee, How To Go From Madonna to Lilly to Myrtle in The Course of A Single Evening - And Even Have a Sex Change, A Facebook Face-Off, A Short Stint in Advertising

Learning to Relax

How To Become a Low Maintenance Person, Connected Minds, How To Become The Kind of Person People Want to Work with, How Many Times a Day Do You Visit Ireland? The Art of Carrying Things Lightly

Health

Raising the Bar, 4 Healthy Eating Ideas I Learned from My Friend Julia, The Element of Becoming More Focused and Precise In Our Goals and Its Hope for Achieving Powerful Results

Pursuing A Dream

What’s Next For You? The Element of The First Step and Its Hope for Getting Big Things Started In Our Lives, She Victories

Changing in Good Ways

Maybe Its Time To Become More Receptive, Maybe It’s Time To Live More Purposefully, Maybe It’s Time To Bust Some Myths, Maybe It’s Time to Walk In The Direction Of Your Fears, Maybe It’s Time To Understand What Freedom Is, Maybe It’s Time To Turn the Page, Maybe It’s Time To Rock The World, Maybe It’s Time For Freshness