Buster's Mutual Improvement entries

From http://mutualimprovement.com

I thought work was tough... health, diet and exercise are even more difficult to whittle down to a universal set of goals.  What do you think of these?

The 43 Things Health Challenge

1. Stop eating fast food
2. Quit smoking
3. Develop an exercise habit
4. Try a vegetarian diet for six months
5. Drink enough water
6. Get enough sleep
   
7. Reach my ideal weight
8. Take the stairs
9. Walk or bike to work
10. Get regular checkups
11. Know my blood pressure and cholesterol levels
12. Develop a meditation habit

I thought work was tough... health, diet and exercise are even more difficult to whittle down to a universal set of goals.  What do you think of these?

The 43 Things Health Challenge

1. Stop eating fast food
2. Quit smoking
3. Develop an exercise habit
4. Try a vegetarian diet for six months
5. Drink enough water
6. Get enough sleep
   
7. Reach my ideal weight
8. Take the stairs
9. Walk or bike to work
10. Get regular checkups
11. Know my blood pressure and cholesterol levels
12. Develop a meditation habit

Work is a tough one for goals.  Is getting a raise really something you'd like to check off your life checklist?  Do you really regret not having an updated resume when you're on your death bed?  We are focusing our work-related goals on having a form of work that fulfills you.  What do you think of these?

The 43 Things Work Challenge

• Define my dream job
• Start my own business
• Moonlight in a different field than my day job
• Work at a job I enjoy
• Sell something I created
• Volunteer

We're spoiled over at the Robot Co-op regarding work though.  Tell us what your work goals are, especially if you think they can be applied to all people as things that are worth doing before you die.

Can you prioritize these life categories in the order that is most important to you?  Will you?

1. Home
2. Travel
3. Creativity & Self-expression
4. Love & Relationships
5. Beliefs
6. Education & Self-improvement
7. Money
8. Work & Career
9. Health

My order is: 3, 4, 6, 8, 5, 7, 9, 1, 2

When it comes to money goals, there are lots of potential sources of inspiration. There are shelves full of books promising to teach you all you need to know about money in 7 steps or offering 12 steps to a better financial future. One of the better lists came from Scott Adams in the form of Dilbert's Unified Theory of everything financial. Another influence on us was the curiously straight-talking debt guru Dave Ramsey who has a list of "Baby Steps" to getting your finances in order.

So with many revisions and lots of conversation, the Robots of the Robot Co-op have come up with six money goals that we think we can recommend to everyone. As usual, we'd love to hear suggestions for additions or revisions. Here they are:

The 43 Things Money challenge
1. track everything I spend for a week
2. save $1,000 in an emergency fund
3. pay off my credit cards
4. live within 80% of my income
5. save 6 months of living expenses
6. make a plan for financial independence

What do you think? Next up? Career & Work - we need suggestions!

Work is a tough one for goals.  Is getting a raise really something you'd like to check off your life checklist?  Do you really regret not having an updated resume when you're on your death bed?  We are focusing our work-related goals on having a form of work that fulfills you.  What do you think of these?

The 43 Things Work Challenge

• Define my dream job
• Start my own business
• Moonlight in a different field than my day job
• Work at a job I enjoy
• Sell something I created
• Volunteer

We're spoiled over at the Robot Co-op regarding work though.  Tell us what your work goals are, especially if you think they can be applied to all people as things that are worth doing before you die.

Can you prioritize these life categories in the order that is most important to you?  Will you?

1. Home
2. Travel
3. Creativity & Self-expression
4. Love & Relationships
5. Beliefs
6. Education & Self-improvement
7. Money
8. Work & Career
9. Health

My order is: 3, 4, 6, 8, 5, 7, 9, 1, 2

When it comes to money goals, there are lots of potential sources of inspiration. There are shelves full of books promising to teach you all you need to know about money in 7 steps or offering 12 steps to a better financial future. One of the better lists came from Scott Adams in the form of Dilbert's Unified Theory of everything financial. Another influence on us was the curiously straight-talking debt guru Dave Ramsey who has a list of "Baby Steps" to getting your finances in order.

So with many revisions and lots of conversation, the Robots of the Robot Co-op have come up with six money goals that we think we can recommend to everyone. As usual, we'd love to hear suggestions for additions or revisions. Here they are:

The 43 Things Money challenge
1. track everything I spend for a week
2. save $1,000 in an emergency fund
3. pay off my credit cards
4. live within 80% of my income
5. save 6 months of living expenses
6. make a plan for financial independence

What do you think? Next up? Career & Work - we need suggestions!

It started in the early 1970s, following a terrible television accident that left astronaut Steve Austin a man barely alive. "We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was.  Better...stronger...faster."
   
Let's update that for the 21st century.

To celebrate the return of Mutual Improvement we are kicking off a new effort we are calling: "How am I doing?"™  Our goal is not to turn you into a bionic freak addled with technology (though that sounds pretty cool).  Our goal is much simpler - we want to create a system that will let you quickly measure where you are, where you want to go, and make a plan for getting there.

And we are inviting you to help us create it.  After a round of brainstorming and lots of time reviewing the most popular goals on 43 Things, we came up with an initial list of 12 categories:

1. Travel
2. Money
3. Career/work
4. Health
5. Diet
6. Exercise
7. Love/relationships
8. Family/home
9. Education
10. Habits/self improvement
11. Art/music/hobbies/culture
12. Spiritual/religious 

Our thought is, to build a system that lets you assess "How you are doing?"™ in each of these 12 categories as well as indicate which areas are of the greatest importance to you.  Based on that data - we'll generate a list of goals that have been recommended by users to help people make progress in that area.  After measuring whether you've accomplished the goals or not, we'll have a sense of where you are, and make a set of recommendations on goals that might get you ready for the new year.

What do you think?  We'd love to hear what you think of the 12 categories -- are there some you'd combine, delete, or add?  Do you think the users on 43 Things can pitch in to create lists of recommended goals in each of these areas?  We'd love some feedback on the ideas behind "How am I doing?".

It started in the early 1970s, following a terrible television accident that left astronaut Steve Austin a man barely alive. "We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was.  Better...stronger...faster."
   
Let's update that for the 21st century.

To celebrate the return of Mutual Improvement we are kicking off a new effort we are calling: "How am I doing?"™  Our goal is not to turn you into a bionic freak addled with technology (though that sounds pretty cool).  Our goal is much simpler - we want to create a system that will let you quickly measure where you are, where you want to go, and make a plan for getting there.

And we are inviting you to help us create it.  After a round of brainstorming and lots of time reviewing the most popular goals on 43 Things, we came up with an initial list of 12 categories:

1. Travel
2. Money
3. Career/work
4. Health
5. Diet
6. Exercise
7. Love/relationships
8. Family/home
9. Education
10. Habits/self improvement
11. Art/music/hobbies/culture
12. Spiritual/religious 

Our thought is, to build a system that lets you assess "How you are doing?"™ in each of these 12 categories as well as indicate which areas are of the greatest importance to you.  Based on that data - we'll generate a list of goals that have been recommended by users to help people make progress in that area.  After measuring whether you've accomplished the goals or not, we'll have a sense of where you are, and make a set of recommendations on goals that might get you ready for the new year.

What do you think?  We'd love to hear what you think of the 12 categories -- are there some you'd combine, delete, or add?  Do you think the users on 43 Things can pitch in to create lists of recommended goals in each of these areas?  We'd love some feedback on the ideas behind "How am I doing?".

It's easy to make more money: just drink more!  In particular, drink socially with friends (drinking at home alone has no apparent correllation with making more money, even though I'm positive it must have some impact).  The Journal of Labor Research says social drinking boosts your income, so it must be true right?  It's always nice to run into an article that casts your weaknesses as strengths and your addictions as good habit.

Let's count the cognitive biases and logical fallacies in this study, just for fun.

Illusory correlation. Correlation doesn't mean causation.  Does drinking lead to making more money, or does making more money lead to drinking?  Or, does being social lead to more drinking and making more money?  Or is there yet some other unseen explanation for the results?

Confirmation bias. We look for studies that agree with our desired beliefs.  A thousand studies could go by that prove that alcohol leads to madness and death, but we ignore those and wait for the one study that makes us think that our drinking is healthy (either for our bodies or for our wallet). 

Von Restorff effect.  The stand-out studies make better news.

Attentional bias. When we think about whether or not this seems true, we think back to see if any of our drinking friends have money.  If one of them does seem to make more than the average number of tacos, that memory will stand out as stronger proof than the ten or a hundred friends that don't make as much money.

Illusion of control. We like to think that we can control something like how much we make by pushing buttons on some other part of the cage.  Go out drinking = make more money.  Make more money = be happier.  Surely!

Post-purchase rationalization. We like to think that the things we do or buy are naturally good. Drinkers, since they drink, assume that it must be good in some way.

Observer-expectancy effect.  I'm not that familiar with the Reason Foundation (the group that published this study), but their about page claim to support Libertarian principles... it's possible that they were conducting this study with a bit of hope and experiment-altering subjectivity.

Not to mention the You're Still Going To Be Poor Principle which I just made up.  Given that I currently spend 18% of my income on alcohol, that my social drinking would have to be responsible for at least a 20% jump in income to pay for all that networking and good will.

I'm not picking on this particular article for any reason other than that it is an easy and fun target.  Other than those minor flaws in the study, I do like the gist of it and really wish it had stronger legs to stand on.  Speaking of, it's happy hour.  Time to go make me some money.

Via collision detection, Plastic,  and in recognition of National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.  My favorite found quote, attributed to Anacharsis, was:

"The first cup for thirst, the second for pleasure, the third for intemperance, and the rest for madness."