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The Power Of Positive Thinking

We all know the power of positive thinking and how it can help us reach our goals and dreams. But do you know why? Positive thinking isn’t just an attitude adjustment; it has powerful psychological benefits that can significantly improve your life. Studies have shown that a positive outlook

Budgeted Living Experiment: 1 month in

This is a summary after one month of my 3-month Budgeted Living Experiment. While I set a monthly budget of €5K, I actually spent €5,7K in the first month. I keep reminding myself that this isn't a cost-saving experiment; it's merely trying to observe my spending and identify potential

My health & wellness stack

I love optimizing stuff. Plus, who doesn't like feeling in control? —And the best way to be in control of your life is to live intentionally and design it to your liking. "Designing your whole life is impossible," you may say, but what if you break it down into small,

Finding purpose

As I keep working on my path toward financial independence, I keep asking myself: "What am I optimizing for?" While I'm not completely sure about the answer, I do have an answer, and it's a transformation to a career of writing and being a Creator. I've been working on newsletters,

Budgeted Living Experiment (BLE) after week 1

Here's a recap of the first week of running my Budgeted Living Experience. I spent €854,23 for a daily burn rate of €106,78. Top category: Health I spent €452,68, or about 53%, on Health, which includes monthly gym membership, physiotherapy, and spa services. I see all these

BLE: Day 1 update

Well, it's Day 3, actually, but it's the first day since I actually put together a spreadsheet and started to follow things. Today I spent €252,73 as I had a number of errands lined up, and the biggest part went for my Health, namely for the gym subscription and

Budgeted Living Experiment 2023

€15K budget for the next 3 months — my Budgeted Living Experiment!

How my Net Worth dropped by €51K in 2022

Looking at my Google Sheets file, my net worth dropped by €51.341,61 between December 2021 and December 2022. I chalk this up to a combination of macroeconomic (market) situations and some dumb choices. For the record, I am not calculating my primary residence in my net worth since

What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health

Learn about the effects of alcohol on your body, brain, and health in this comprehensive article.

The Best AI writing software tools

It makes sense for everyone to publish more online content. Who will do this for the next generation: ourselves, the writers, freelance writers, the publishing agency, or... machines? How did computers actually understand and become better at creating written texts? The competition for online writing is about quality and speed.

Unlocking the Benefits of NSDR: How Non-Sleep Deep Rest Can Help You Feel Refreshed and Recharged

Do you ever feel like you just can't get enough rest, no matter how much sleep you get? If so, you may be considering investing in some form of restorative sleep therapy. But what if there was a way to get the restorative sleep you need without having to invest

Top 5 podcasts for personal growth & development

Learn & Grow with my selection of the best podcast creators to listen to Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, Rich Roll, Shane Parrish, and Ryan Hawk.

A walk in the middle of the workday

You can turn any insignificant errand into a mindful thing. Today, for example, I had to go to the grocery store. Instead of sitting in a car, I took the time to write down my grocery list, dress appropriately for the cold winter day, and get my shopping trolley. Instead

A simple 5-step personal finance plan

Spend less than you earn, make more money, and live frugally. Do something sensible with the difference. Control your own destiny.

8 steps to typing your first post on the Ghost.org Creator platform!

8 steps to typing your first post on Ghost.org Creator platform!

How to Start an Email Newsletter on Ghost vs. Substack vs. Revue

(This post was commissioned to a writer on Upwork and is not edited). Newsletters are phenomenally effective at publicizing articles, news, and other types of content. Even with social media becoming a rage, emails remain the top form of communication as most people check their emails every day. Moreover, newsletters

Why I started using Ghost for my blog

Similar to many other bloggers, my path started on Blogger, then matured on WordPress, where it finally died of a miserable death by plugins. I'm 100% pro-Ghost now, and I wanted to launch this site by giving a shoutout to what this awesome team is doing. My path with Ghost

Why I Started Using Ghost Instead of WordPress To Launch My Blog?

(This post was commissioned to a writer on Upwork and is not edited). Why I Started Using Ghost Instead of WordPress To Launch My Blog Blogging is quite different from running an ecommerce website, and the latter is what WordPress seems to be all about now. So, it comes as

Why I Started Using Ghost Instead of WordPress to Launch My Blog

(This post was commissioned to a writer on Upwork and is not edited). All bloggers would have a history with Google’s Blogspot and WordPress. Blogposts did not reach the peak of blogging. WordPress emerged to be the most resilient and innovative when it came to providing that ideal platform

On screen. On paper.

I'm a very digital guy. I walked away from taking notes on paper and retired my Moleskine practice years ago. The reason is esthetic — I have terrible handwriting. And the less I practice it, the worse it gets. It came to a point when I'm not able to read my

Financial situation: March 2022

Last update from November 2021 [https://www.mykaizenway.com/financial-situation-november-2021/]: Financial situation: November 2021My last update from October 2021. Financial situation: October 2021I had a big jump in my total savings and investments. I decided to diversify the proceeds by putting 1/3 in crypto, 1/3 in index funds,

Minimalist living in the EU 🇪🇺

Designing a minimalist lifestyle the Kaizen Way.

Financial situation: November 2021

My last update from October 2021 [https://www.mykaizenway.com/financial-situation-october-2021/]. Financial situation: October 2021I had a big jump in my total savings and investments. I decided to diversify the proceeds by putting 1/3 in crypto, 1/3 in index funds, and spending 1/3 on cocaine and hookers.

Financial situation: October 2021

I had a big jump in my total savings and investments. I decided to diversify the proceeds by putting 1/3 in crypto, 1/3 in index funds, and spending 1/3 on cocaine and hookers.

Designing 2022 budgetary living

Now that I'm flush with cash, and I decided to leave some of it uninvested (so, in cash), I'm holding about €40K on a basic savings account. But I'm considering trying to see if I can live on a budget. The idea is to estimate how much money I need

Financial situation: September 2021

I shared my last update at the end of June 2021 [https://www.mykaizenway.com/financial-situation-june-2021/]: Financial situation: June 2021I shared my last update at the end of May: Financial situation: May 2021I shared my last update at the end of April: Financial situation: April 2021I shared my first update

Financial situation: June 2021

I shared my last update at the end of May [https://www.mykaizenway.com/financial-situation-may-2021/]: Financial situation: May 2021I shared my last update at the end of April: Financial situation: April 2021I shared my first update in March, then shared another update, and now I’m developing my spreadsheet to

Sundays in San Francisco

I used to enjoy Sundays in San Francisco. I’d get up early, somewhere between the Fisherman’s Wharf and 4th down the Market Street. I’d grab a coffee from one of the early-opened Starbucks inhaling the morning breeze from the bay. San Francisco mornings around Market Street aren’

Financial situation: May 2021

I shared my last update at the end of April [https://www.mykaizenway.com/financial-situation-april-2021/]: Financial situation: April 2021I shared my first update in March, then shared another update, and now I’m developing my spreadsheet to follow more things. Financial situation updateIn my March Financial update[https://www.mykaizenway.

Sanctuary

I've got some workers fixing up my place and I'm wondering — what am I really building? This is more than an office, more than an atelier,   more than a reading nook and a getaway — I'm building a sanctuary. It even goes beyond that — I'm building a new home for myself.

moving out

As I'm pondering my situation, maybe I just need some extra space. Maybe it will help if I get to create my private space where I can work and enjoy distraction-less solitude. I'm imagining how simple life would be there. Getting up early without worrying to wake someone up. Write

Financial situation: April 2021

I shared my first update in March [https://www.mykaizenway.com/financial-situation-march-2021/], then shared another update [https://www.mykaizenway.com/financial-situation-update/], and now I'm developing my spreadsheet to follow more things. Financial situation updateIn my March Financial update[https://www.mykaizenway.com/financial-situation-march-2021/], I forgot toinclude a special deferred-tax retirement

honeymoon over?

I might have been celebrating too fast [https://www.mykaizenway.com/missing-honeymoon/]. As we've been close to taking some days off and travel for vacations, I got into a bad mood. I was nervous about how it's going to look like, and I realized it's going to be like that

Rethinking car ownership

Cars are expensive. —No shit, Einstein?! Here's my car's breakdown: * €450/month repayment * €50/month gasoline * €1300/year insurance * €200/year services/maintenance cost TOTAL: €7,5K/year. In the coming season, I'll also need a new set of tires (~€1,6K) which totals €9,1K ($10,7K). > Ouch. That's

Content creation

I enjoy creating stuff. Mainly written content, something I can share and publish. I have this constant hunger for creation, and I keep wanting to do different, new stuff. Ghost is a wonderful platform for this. It offers an undisturbed space within my Chrome browser when I CMD-Shift-F the toolbar

My financial best practices

I decided I'm not a penny-pincher but instead developed financial habits that work for me. I guess these would be the main ones: * A limited number of credit cards * Multiple savings accounts * Automated bill payments processing * FinTech * Savings as a (semi)automated process * Diversified investments * Building multiple income streams * Separate

Missing honeymoon

We saved our marriage in the end, but it was a struggle. I fell in love the moment I saw her. We became friends, hung out a lot, and the day I dumped my ex, we got together. We fell in love, and then she got pregnant. We got married,

New yogini 🧘🏼‍♀️

Changing yoga teachers is tough. Once I get to feel them and the way they run their practice, I get spiritually attached. It's a special kind of bond. Not the usual man-woman or man-man connection; there is something deeper that I can't describe. Once I had a yogini that I

Bob Dylan in my dreams

I had a dream about Bob Dylan [https://amzn.to/3txQ96Y] tonight. Probably because I just finished reading Chronicles: Volume One [https://amzn.to/3tgFUnA] and then also read this post [https://austinkleon.com/2020/05/26/no-ones-disciple/] and went down the rabbit hole [https://tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/140418441801]

Penny-pinching

When you closely follow the FIRE movement, you stumble upon the penny-pinchers. The FIRE world is full of people denying themselves five-dollar pleasures. Sure, hundreds of those add up, but is it worth burning all that energy? The major things that can financially kill us are real estate and cars

illiteracy

There are still countries in the (Western) world where they have poor literacy. Whilst that might be a problem, there's another, much bigger, first-world problem: financial illiteracy. It seems to be the general case that financial basics aren't taught almost anywhere. That might be on purpose, but why are we

A stupid trap

I noticed how Seth Godin often calls something a trap when I'd use the word stupid. The thing is, the trap comes across differently than stupidity. People don't get as offended. So I'll steal that. Let me practice it right now: Watching TV is a trap. Social media feeds are

Financial situation update

In my March Financial update [https://www.mykaizenway.com/financial-situation-march-2021/], I forgot to include a special deferred-tax retirement savings account to which I'm contributing €200 per month. I've added it to my FI spreadsheet now, visible below: The reason I forgot it, is that I'm not really looking at that

Lost friend

Back in fifth grade, I had a best friend. We hung out, debated deep things, and we did some crazy shit. He was considered a criminal; I was just someone in a bad company. One day, he didn't come to school anymore. I tried calling at his house, but his

Restroom sanctuaries

Why do you hate yourself so much? 🚽 At any point when I go to the restroom, there is someone in the stall, doing their business to the tune of a puzzle-solving game or something like that. It’s discouraging to realize how many people hate themselves their jobs so much

Purposeful non-monetization

Starving artist vs. thriving businessman I’ve got five thousand ideas in my Notion [https://www.mykaizenway.com/notion-an-introduction-for-beginners-why-and-why-not/] ideas collection folder, tons of drafts in my Evernote [https://www.mykaizenway.com/the-new-evernote-is-it-still-worth-it/] and Roam [https://www.mykaizenway.com/roam-research/]. Sometimes I look at them and think to myself:” If

Working remotely

I haven't been to any of our offices since April 2020. The last time I met my boss in person was sometime in May 2020. Ever since, I've only been meeting people on video calls and in chats. I haven't met a customer for well over a year. Still, I

Building side gigs

My Notion is filled with all kinds of ideas, many of them about potential side-gigs, and most of those are related to the Creator Economy. I mostly follow and read about it, so it's only natural to have most ideas revolving around this. In the past, I used to start

Financial situation: March 2021

I'll be providing summaries at the end of each month, just to have a comparison on the status. March income and savings rate This month I had a smaller income due to lower commissions — €6,929,- and I added €3K into my savings account (43% savings rate). Savings and

A spiritual journey towards financial independence

I started thinking about this as I'm embarking on two journeys, financial — towards financial independence and spiritual — towards discovering my deeper self. How —if— are these two connected? I've been listening to Julie Piatt's TK podcast today, and she has a nice way of describing the money as energy. That

Corporate America is the best thing that happened to this European

Listening to the Inspire to FIRE Podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/si/podcast/inspire-to-fire-podcast-financial-independence-retire/id1511486861?i=1000508574791] , I heard some things that resonated with me. Corporate America has become an expression for bad, careless capitalism, but it has also been a great factor in upward social mobility. ‎Inspire To FIRE

Freedom Fridays: an alternative to the "RE" in #FIRE

#FreedomFridays as an alternative to Early Retirement? How about doing a 14-day trial Retirement to see if you really need it?

Financial Independence vs. #FIRE

I'm studying the whole FIRE movement, trying to decide what's the right flavor of #FIRE for me: * #LeanFIRE with the super-frugal approach feels more like that statement I once saw on Twitter saying that you're living miserable for 15 years, so you can live miserably for the next 30 years.

#FatFIRE start: my current financial situation

At first, I need to work out my starting line and figure out my objectives. My #FIRE goals & rules * Full #FatFIRE by 2030 * Saving at least 50% of monthly income * journal & share the journey Current financial status This is a snapshot of my current status: Current status —March 2021 * Investment

Joining the FIRE movement

I am considering slowly start orchestrating my departure into early retirement or a writing career, or whatever I choose to do. My idea revolves around working through the 2020s, building up the capital, and then having an option to retire in 2030. Having an option is an important part, as

Digital Intelligence (DIQ)

How do we find a way to address the Digital Intelligence (DIQ/DQ) of the general population?

Roam Research: thinking by writing

If you're in the market for an awesome note-taking tool, then you can't overlook Roam Research —possibly the best tool for thinking by writing.

Notion: an introduction for beginners + how to get 5-months of free credits!

Notion: an introduction for beginners. Why and why not use it + how to get 5-months of free Notion credit!

The new Evernote — is it (still) worth it?

Evernote Premium user since 2009, this is my take on the new EN. Also on Notion, Roam Research, Scrivener, and Apple Notes.

Seth Godin on Tim Ferriss

I can't believe this is free. Listen and bathe in wisdom. Seth is like a creative encyclopedia inspiring you to ship great work.

Finishing a book

Today I applied the last touches to my manuscript and exported it from Scrivener. Then I opened Kindle Create and was surprised by how easy they make it. Upload a file. Decide what's a chapter, how you want things to look, tinker with it if you wish to, or leave

Lockdown slowdown.

As another lockdown unfolds, I noticed the tranquility it brought. The coffee places are closed, so the noise in the business centers subsided.  The volume knob reduced the decibels, and the mornings are nearly as quiet as during the first snowfall. If you're running a coffee shop, that's a tragedy.

On screen. On paper.

I'm a very digital guy. I walked away from taking notes on paper and retired my Moleskine practice years ago. The reason is esthetic — I have terrible handwriting. And the less I practice it, the worse it gets. It came to a point when I'm not able to read my

Impatient towards the end.

Nearly done. I finished the draft of my first book, ran it through the Grammarly check, and now proofreading it. Next, I'll revise the chapters and the lineup and then throw it into the Kindle Create. I was patient through the whole process so far, but now I find myself

How I stopped drinking and why you should too.

Yesterday was the 600th day of my complete abstinence. I hadn’t had a drop of alcohol while I kept partying and living a fun life. I realized that I’m crazy enough without the booze, and I can have all the fun in the world without drinking. And there's no pangs or itches either.

Work blessings.

Today I arrived at my office/studio at 0630. It was still dark outside, and there wasn't another person to be seen. I love to show up early, and I love the fact that I don't need to do it. I could have worked from home, and dial into my

Never too late.

I’m signing up for university today. —What’s so special about that, you might say. —I’m about to turn forty [https://www.mykaizenway.com/fat-forty-and-fired-taking-control-of-my-life/], I’ve got a great corporate leadership career [https://www.mykaizenway.com/the-best-way-to-handle-your-email-after-vacation/], and I’m living the life I always dreamt of

Seth Godin: The Practice. Sold out.

Seth Godin: The Practice. Seth is the Zig Ziglar of creatives.

Better for whom.

The whole internet is designed for one reader: Mr. Google. Not for you, not for me. For Mr. Google. The second page might just as well be one big photo of a tombstone for the unknown soldier. For millions, maybe billions who never made it to the first page.

Newsletters on Substack vs. Ghost

Newsletters on Substack vs. Ghost

Optimizing my blogging process.

Figuring out my perfect writing process. These are the tools & techniques I use.

🧘‍♀️🙏🧘‍♂️ World mental health day

Don't put off contacting your friend. Reach out before it's too late.

Why I'm moving from WordPress to Ghost.

Why I'm moving from WordPress to Ghost.

The power of enough

The Power of enough. How much do we need — and why. It's not just about the money; it's also about relationships, sports, growth, ...

.kaizen

I’ve been thinking about brand building. If I’d decide to build a brand, I need to disassociate it from my name — I think that’s a way of making it future-proof, so it’s not tied to a person, but to an idea. So what’s the idea

5 things to do before spending any money on your blogging

I’m writing this piece about the Blogging Toolbox, where I’ll collect the tools I’m using and recommending for new bloggers. But I find myself wasting way too much time discovering fancy new tools. This is stealing from the time I could be creating content. So here’s

Apple Watch vs. Garmin Fenix 6X

What makes me consider Apple Watch with every new version and why I'm staying with Garmin Fenix 6X.

Living a perfect life

Here’s how yesterday went: I got up before 5 am, and engaged in my morning routine: Surya namaskar, and then journaling while sipping the Turkish coffee. I got ready and went to my atelier/office at 6 am, the commute time was six minutes. I worked on the new

My intentions with this blog

I started this blog as a way to restart my digital/online life. It’s the first indie-web project for me. No Team, no VAs, no hired freelancers (for now). I wanted to do it from scratch. Signed up for Bluehost [https://www.bluehost.com/track/vanderbee/], found the domain

How I'm using Evernote, Roam‌ Research, and Notion.

How I'm using Evernote, Roam Research, and Notion. Thoughts on digital tools.

The 4 main paths to becoming a millionaire

I read this somewhere recently*, and it made sense. * The Company Climbers path: These people devote all of their time and energy to climbing the corporate ladder until they land a senior executive position with a very high salary. * The Saver-Investors path: These individuals make saving and investing part of

The rise of cloud cities?

Balaji Srinivasan [https://twitter.com/balajis] was the guest on the Paradox Podcast. I love this idea that we’re building internet cloud cities, and that the internet is the next Silicon Valley. —Now that lots of tech workers are spending most of their days on the laptops remotely working

How to build a career by Climbing the corporate ladder.

Too many ambitious people mistake climbing the corporate ladder with ass-kissing. The latter won’t help you climb the ladder. And nobody likes ass-kissers, nor do they like themselves. Climbing the corporate ladder can be a planned, well-orchestrated strategy of building a great career. My first advice would be — don’

The best way to handle your email after vacation.

I earned over €250K (~$300K) from my corporate job last year. That’s the gross amount, of course, and here in the European Union, you can calculate to net around 50% of your gross salary. Still, that kind of money enables more than a decent living in the European country