I remember being told off for my negative approach to discussion. If something wasn’t quite ‘right’ I would start out with a “No, that’s different”, in fact I still do it, but eradicating this is habit is on my self improvement list. The lesson I received was to look to Comedy Improv training. In that, when the audience is interacting with the comedian they are encouraged to use a ‘Yes, and….’ reply to anything that isn’t on point. If they instead try to engage with a ‘No, that’s not what I meant’ people become reluctant to speak up, and the show dies. I correlate it with the Gracie ‘Perfect’ teaching method, where you never say a bad thing when correcting movement, everything is ‘Perfect’; meanwhile you are constantly adjusting and creating the desired result.
Recently, I was having a bit of an Identity crisis about the Travel side of the blog, I wasn’t always talking about travel, and often times I couldn’t care less about things that are supposed to be ‘Big News’ in Travel.
So what’s it all about then? This site, this network, the Forum, and more? It’s about lifestyle. Travel is just a tiny part of the puzzle. It is about human connection, navigating a life that has a lot of trials and tribulations. I think learning from mistakes is a great way to improve, but better still is sharing our mistakes, and our learning experiences from them. That is the reason behind The Forum. To grow as a community, and lean on one another to improve. I’d argue that it may not be possible to really internalize learning for most without messing up themselves, but even for those I want a place where we can help each other out of the problem.
I’m a fan of FIRE – Financial Independence, Retire Early. I first came across a community of people like this over at Mr Money Mustache these guys take a different approach to life. They seek to save a ton of money as fast as possible by stripping out wasteful spending, create a lifestyle that the ‘nut’ can support, and exit the rat race.
When I think of my own goals, I see many similarities. However, some of their differences are on the spend side – keeping living costs super low (perhaps under $30K per year, including housing) is a badge of honor for a Mustachian. I’d rather spend a bit more and enjoy a bit of wasteful spending, bumping up the earn side to cover that. This isn’t a No But though, this is a Yes And moment… these Moustachian’s save really well, invest really well, and have a great view on life. I think that is something I can aspire to, AND then optimize other areas, such as using travel hacking to eliminate travel expenses, or manufactured spending to create income flows (points or cash) that open up new ideas. I think that many of the Saverocity readers can take from the Moustachian’s, take the good, and add on more of the good and end up further empowered.
Similarly this is why I like so called competition for aspects of what I find interesting, I like a forum such as Travel Codex, that is focused more narrowly, and therefore more richly, in the travel and manufactured spending aspects. We share a lot of readership, and the combined experience is great for us all.
I’m really excited for the future of Saverocity, and encourage you to get involved in the forum, let’s talk, let’s argue (in a nice way…) and let’s all improve ourselves. By far, the Manufactured Spending area is the most popular, with a slew of excellent posts and advice from folk in the field, (yes and) I am working to add more and more content to the areas in Personal Finance, and general lifestyle. I am sure that you have something to offer that is interesting and relevant, and we have a lot of experience already in areas that you might need some input on.
My goal is to beat the system. Everywhere. I hope you’ll join me.
Totally agree. For me, all this stuff is just a game and I want to win. About 10 years or so ago, I was huge into extreme couponing (like the TLC shows but before they existed). It took a lot of time but I didn’t mind because it was FUN! I kept detailed spreadsheets and in 2006, I actually spent NEGATIVE money on groceries.
I don’t do that as much now due to changes in the grocery landscape and less time from me, but for me, racking up miles and points is just a different face to the same game
It is a game, and I want to take that mindset and the rules into a place where we can play on any playground, including those that people might think are too dangerous, or too specialized. I think we can apply this to taxes, to businesses, to large purchases like homes and so forth…. There really isn’t a limit.
Matt,
Great post, Matt. Once you incorporate this mindset, it is easy to apply this to other areas of life.
Over the years, I have observed various interactions in my life and whenever the transaction is not favorable, I’ve simply opted out to go find a new game. Just this one policy has saved me numerous hours(and dollars too).
Can you write a post on when to take risk, evaluate risk-reward parameters & when to get out/stop playing the game ?
Wow – that’s a huge topic! And a very interesting one. I can certainly attack it in a post but I think it is so broad that it can be written many times over with many different perspectives. I will put my thinking cap on!
What about saving in gas? I also started with the couponing, then added miles and points and now I’m a fan of gas rewards. There are parts of the country where people is filling their cars for free. In the northeast, we can drop the gas price by $2.20: still it’s good enough to play a new game.
Ah yes, I do that. I wrote a step by step guide on how to in the forum today.