I don’t like the ‘positive thinking’ craze that suggests you should simply believe what you want in order to get what you want. It’s worth checking out Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, “Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America & the World”, for a debunking of all that.

Not an entirely accurate joke, apparently, but I’m only using humour for the sake of my ‘elf.

I’m here all week, etc., etc.

It’s so true that we’re led at many points by other people’s suggestions on what will be good, or profitable, for us. They don’t know. How could they know when it’s difficult enough for us to be sure?

Do what you Love and the Money will follow.

Scott Young asks “What if you have more than one passion?”
Cal Newport asks if passions are serendipitously discovered or painstakingly constructed.
Cal then looks “beyond passion“.
Leo Babauta gives the short but powerful guide to finding your passion.
Randy Komisar looks at finding passion and then pursuing it.

Hope they help. There’s a lot to chew on there!

I read about the study where researchers discovered a tendency for people to always live to the higher level of whatever is ‘within their means’.

So you may be earning X and you think you’ll settle once you start earning Y. However, those who subsequently begin to earn Y will begin spending as if they *need* to earn Y just to stay alive.

We’re either not very good at budgeting and looking after our money, or we’re so ambitious that instead of settling down we automatically push toward achieving the next goal.

Or perhaps we’re a bit of both…