Simplifying Life

I’ve found myself to be on a bit of a simplification kick lately. I find that with all the information on the internet, and everything we as a society can get our hands on we’ve sort of fallen into a trap of too much information. Now I’m the last person that would say that the internet is bad, and that Twitter and Facebook are bad. I love both websites and I use them often. They’re great for practicing foreign languages, getting quick headlines, and staying in touch with friends.

I find that taking in all of that information has its negative effects too. Take for instance language learning, there are so many options on the internet and if you use peer to peer programs, there is so much software and material to download and take in. Also there are many polyglots and people who have mastered certain foreign languages that all have their own methods. I found myself reading and studying more about ‘how to learn a language’ than actually learning the languages, which was miles away from my actual goals. I can study linguistics in school if I want to learn about languages, but I want to learn them and know them. So it seems to me the best and simplest way is just to input as much as I can into my brain and the internet can help me immensely. I of course use Lingqs tools and though I’m mostly studying Polish and I don’t have a lot of reading/listening tandems, I use lingq to read and studying as much vocabulary as I can, and I read everything. My biggest problem in life is that I’m too interested in everything. You name it: sports, history, politics, culture. It’s just all too much to keep up with. So I read and I listen and I do it a lot and it’s simple and it works.

What else in my life have I simplified? Well how about working out? Keeping myself fit and strong, has always been one of my biggest goals. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on gym memberships books and supplements and hundreds of hours on the internet, and in books and magazines reading and reading. I’ve decided to simplify it all. I’m going to eat lots of protein and vegetables and fruits, and do push ups, sit ups, jog, and play basketball whenever I can. I just simplified it instead of wasting time and worrying about all this crap about what I should eat and tracking protein. I found a simple push up plan on hundredpushups.com and I’ll follow it.

Another one of my goals is to build a family and great strong relationship with my wife. Now I could bury my nose in all kinds of self help books and try all these tests and whatnot… But why not just spend time together doing things we both like to do? It seems simpler and better to me.

Other goals? Opening a wealth management-financial planning practice? Finish school, that simple. Anyway you get the picture. I’ve needlessly cluttered my life and my thoughts with things that are complicated and things that make reaching my goals difficult. Maybe you don’t have this problem. I did, but I don’t anymore.

Goal Number 1

It's becoming clearer and clearer that fun is the most important thing you can do to lead a joyful life. Now of course, a lot of hard work comes along with that. You can't have fun until you've covered the basics of life: home,food ect.

A relationship is just a microcosm of life in this case. You have to have a continuous source of fun, throughout the living and learning about each other, through out the hardships and victories, you always have to find fun. That's what me and wife are learning now. We've been together only two years and now some of those normal things that were 'just apart of our personalities' need to be re-evaluated.

Here's an example. My wife is a driven woman. When she has a task, she wants it done and she focuses on getting it done. I'm a bit more relaxed. When I'm packing I can play, I don't worry about forgetting something because to me, whatever it is I might be forgetting isn't worth the extreme amount of worrying. Now me and my wife are finding middle ground. I'm trying to get more focused on certain things and she's trying to lighten up. We're working towards a goal, that is to have fun with each other throughout it all.

The Family Goal

Family Goal- motivation rough planning

In the reading I've done concerning economic happiness it seems that being financially rich is less important to happiness than having good relationships and meaningful work. Now I could think of a hundred problems in marriages that stem from financial problems but still the goal as far as the family side goes or more specifically the marriage side is finding meaningful work and constantly working to make our relationship stronger. Now the first word that's constantly beat down by family therapist types is 'communication'. At this point that isn't a problem.

Really there aren't any problems. None that aren't typical or small, ones that concern the woman's natural inclination to change her husband. But that's normal and dealing with that isn't so bad, it's a process of giving a little but standing your ground too. If there is a problem right now it's the issue of nothing being settled. We not sure where we're going to be and because of problems that involve politics, law, and time stability isn't in the near future unfortunately. I have school to finish and we have annoying USA immigration laws to deal with.

What we can do though is prepare for stability. This is something I need to bring into the discussion picture with Gosia. How do we 'prepare' for stability? Well I think she's more on track than I have been and it bleeds over into other goals of mine too. You prepare by creating good habits in saving and spending. You keep the lines open between each other and talk about big purchases. While I believe being financially rich isn't the path to happiness I also believe that financial instability is the path trouble. I'm going to have learn a lesson from the financial situations of the world's governments. You should learn from other people's mistakes since you don't have enough time to make them all yourself.