Author Archives: josephsmusings

“I already have more than my family/friends. It is not fair for me to have more.” “My family and friends make fun of people like who I am becoming.” “I should always be giving to others who have less.” “I’m already privileged and shouldn’t feel bad about anything in my life.” I’ve met many people,Continue reading “How to Achieve Wealth”

“A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.” – James P. Carse Years ago, I read the book Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility. The impact it’s had on how I view the world is both subtleContinue reading “Playing the Infinite Game”

At times, being helpful is the least helpful thing we can do. As human beings, we have a natural tendency to want to help others. When we see another person dealing with challenges, we want to give them solutions. “If they’d just do what I tell them to do, all would be better.” On theContinue reading “Being The Angel’s Advocate”

Sometimes, setting a goal is a way for me to figure out what is not important to me. Goal setting is almost always an important part of what it takes to become successful. By setting important goals and milestones for ourselves, we are better able to align our actions and make incremental results toward theContinue reading “The (false) promise of goal setting”

“Money can’t buy your happiness.” – American proverb “Whoever said money can’t buy happiness isn’t spending it right.” – Lexus ad Money is a complex topic. On one hand, it is simply a financial instrument to facilitate trading of goods and services. On the other hand, it represents a complex set of needs and beliefsContinue reading “Finding Happiness with Money”

What if it is impossible for me to teach my clients or my kids anything? Clients come to financial advisors hoping to make changes to improve their financial lives. Most people want to reach a point when they can stop working and maintain their lifestyle. In the meantime, they need to make current decisions onContinue reading “The Paradox of Teaching”

Once upon a time, I thought life is all about experiences and actions I take. However, as I seek out new experiences and different things to do, I found that experiences for their own sake didn’t give me the feeling of fulfillment that I seeked. Some Background My father, having grown up without his fatherContinue reading “Experiencing Experiences”

For most of my life, I’ve seeked to be rational and logical. When my grandmother died, I told myself that everyone dies eventually; there’s no point feeling sad over it. When our house was burglarized, I reported it to the police and moved on. “There’s no point crying over spilled milk.” Over time, it’s becomeContinue reading “The Importance of feeling your feelings”

It is not just what I’m saying, it is who I’m being. Over the past 6 years, I’ve spent a lot of effort learning about interpersonal communication, coaching and relationships. While I recognize that attaining mastery in anything is a lifelong process, I’ve always taken pride in how much I’d improved my communication skills. ThatContinue reading “The Spirit of Communication”

Fear is a good thing. In our society, fear is generally considered to be bad and something to be avoided or overcome. To be clear, I am not referring to fear as a result of brain chemical imbalance or when there’s imminent physical danger. Fear aversion makes instinctual sense; our brain and body are designedContinue reading “The Light Beyond Fears”