Talking about building a financial foundation, a motivating app, and a video about a wild love story!
Howdy folks,
Whoa, bit of a writing lull for me there! Luckily, the distractions were good ones - a fun family trip, mountain biking in Utah, and local community organizing - and I'm amped to kick off this decade with more writing. Utah magic up on the mesas near Hurricane!
This week's newsletter:
A blog post about money that I wish I'd written years ago (or at least read when I was in my 20s), my favorite new motivation tool, and a beautiful short film about adventure in Alaska.
What are you stoked for in 2020? Always fun to hear from y'all, so if you feel inspired, let me know what's up in your world!
Here's a blog post I've wanted to write forever!
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“What should I do with my money?” is a common question people ask me. They’ve snagged their first solid job or want to wipe out debt from student loans or credit cards. They’re excited to take the next step, and also overwhelmed by the sheer amount of options.
I love to share what I’ve learned from years of reading about financial topics, plus experience with living below our means and saving/investing. Nothing complicated, just concrete, actionable advice that I wish I’d received early on.
This is a condensed version of all the stuff I wish I'd read when I was starting out on my my financial journey. If your finances are dialed, forward it to a friend or someone looking to nail down their money life!
Rather than constrain these thoughts to individual emails, I decided to condense the ideas into this blog post.
Spar! Because Not Losing Money Is Super Motivating
To kick off the New Year, I started a pushup challenge with my friends. Nothing major, just 50 per day. That morphed into pushups and/or core every day. The catch: if I didn't check in on the iPhone app Spar, I was charged money.
Now I'm in both a $20/day meditation and a $10/day writing challenge, which is incredibly motivating for me. I wake up every day thinking about meditating and haven't missed a single day for either challenge in almost a month.
You can create your own private challenges for a group of friend. There are also a variety of public challenges, ranging from "50 pushups" to "drink a gallon of water" to "do daily business planning." If you're looking to create a habit and stick with it, I highly recommend checking out Spar! There's no Android app yet, but it's coming soon.
Can't even do a pushup challenge video check-in without some kid jumping over you on his mtb!
Video: A Wild Love Story
If there's anything that's brought me and Chelsea closer together as a couple, suffering together in the outdoors is high on the list! Perhaps that's why I so enjoyed my friend Graham's film for REI about a wild backpacking/kayak trip to the most remote wilderness in the U.S., the Aniakchak in Alaska.
Three reasons to watch this: a) Graham and Shannon are both honest about the experience and hilarious b) the views and terrain are phenomenal c) neither of them knew how to kayak before this trip. Yeahhhh.
Side note: if you dig this film, Google "engaging the curve." That one is Graham and Shannon's foray into bikepacking and it's equally hilarious and touching.
