Category: Shifting your Perspective

  • Correlation vs. Causation

    A fundamental concept that everyone must understand is the difference between correlation and causation when interpreting the relationships between two variables. Too often, assumptions are made that a correlation between two variables implies a causal relationship. But the association between the variables may be coincidental without any cause-and-effect relationship. Here…

  • Unjustified Confidence

    English philosopher Bertrand Russel famously said, “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts” (Carney, 2021). It is a natural human characteristic to have confidence in matters when understood only at a high level.…

  • Commodification of Society

    In his book Value (s), Mark Carney discusses how commodification – adding economic value to an activity or service formerly without economic value – can erode social values and altruistic motivations (Carney, 2021). Social values and morals drive behaviors of those in a community. Why do we help our elderly…

  • What is your Lawn Costing You?

    The quintessential American home includes a lush green front lawn. Growing up, I always wanted a suburban home with a large grass lawn. That is until I had it. At 25 years old, I purchased an older suburban-style house with a big grassy lawn in the front and back. It…

  • Rewarding Confidence over Competence

    In his TEDx Talk, Martin Gutman introduces the Action Fallacy. This is the incorrect notion that the best leaders are the most visible and create the most noise and activity. History shows that we tend to celebrate leaders with dramatic stories of triumph. But many of these celebrated stories, like…

  • Overconsumption

    Earth’s Biocapacity is the total regenerative capacity of the planet’s ecosystems, including crops, grazing lands, forests, and fishing areas. The Ecological Footprint is the global population’s demand for agricultural products, livestock and fish, timber and forest products, and urban space (Ecological Footprint, 2024). 1971 was the first year when Earth’s…

  • A Dollar Saved is Two Dollars Earned

    In his book, The Wealthy Barber, author David Chilton famously wrote “a dollar saved is two dollars earned” which is a play on the common phrase “a dollar saved is a dollar earned” (Chilton, 2002). His version corrects the former version because it did not account for taxation – the…

  • Understanding Your Personality

    In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink, he introduces the reader to the concept of ‘thin-slicing’ – using a small specific set of information about someone to make an accurate assessment of their personality. He explains psychologist Samuel Gosling’s experiment where individuals were tasked with assessing the personality traits of strangers based…

  • Would you buy it if no one could see it?

    The first time I realized how much some people pay for status was when my boss purchased himself a Ferrari in 2014. Until then, and with me being a bit of a car enthusiast, I (naively) thought only car buffs purchased high-performance sports cars. But when I saw my boss…

  • Voluntary Taxes

    Many of the taxes we pay are voluntary and can be avoided or minimized. This post is not about sophisticated tax avoidance schemes or offshore banking – it’s about realizing what taxes we pay that are completely within our control and taking action to minimize them. Sales Tax Most states…

  • Status Tiers

    No matter what you achieve, there will be a higher level you want to progress to. This is obvious as you think about your career, education, and everything you buy. You start your career in an entry-level position, and you aspire to become a manager. Once you become a manager,…

  • ‘Net Worth Mindset’

    It is beneficial to maintain a ‘net worth mindset’. What I mean is that you should consider how each purchase and every item you own impacts your net worth. When you purchase an item, think to yourself: at what rate will the item depreciate? What recurring costs will this item have?…