The Monday Read: Do the thing, then get motivated

It’s not the other way around

Fans of the YouTube channel (yes, all three of you) may have noticed we haven’t published any videos since mid-July or so.

My excuse for this is layered.

First I got busy trying to hire a new teacher for my wife’s school. Then I took a trip to Europe. Then my wife was sick (she is slowly getting better). Then I was sick (not particularly seriously).

And then this weekend I made a new video. It was an easy one (see below) but just having done that increases the chances of me making another one immensely.

So what changed?

I started exercising a bit more. While my wife was in the hospital I could use her car, which meant I didn’t walk to cycle to work. But she’s a bit better, so I don’t have the car anymore.

And that small step of being a bit more active was enough to give me the momentum to make the video.

When you’re in a bad rut and nothing is going well it is hard to do this, but doing something makes it easier to do something else. And then that makes it easier to do a harder thing.

Momentum is a beautiful thing, but it doesn’t come from motivation. Motivation comes from momentum. So if you’re not feeling motivated maybe it’s time to just do a small thing and get the ball rolling.

Your First Ten Million Yen

Our flagship personal finance course returns in November!

We’ll be launching in mid-October, and people on our waiting list will get priority to sign up. Please share that link with anyone who might be interested in getting their personal finances sorted out this year.

YouTube

Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel. We’re back!

It was surprisingly easy to fall out of the habit of making YouTube videos, and surprisingly difficult to get started again. Hope to be more consistent going forward.

I made a short video with a walkthrough of the Rakuten Securities main page, aimed at people who find it confusing or intimidating.

Meetup in Shinjuku

From the forum: Our group is still meeting (One Year Anniversary) and we welcome anyone (retired or near retirement) who would like to join us.

We meet on the last Monday of each month to socialize and discuss topics of interest to members focussing on life as a retired person in Japan.

The next meeting will be Monday October 28th at 11 am. The venue is the Shinjuku Multicultural Plaza, about a 10 minute walk from Shinjuku station (English map in the link). Please join us if you are interested.

The Forum

Speaking of which, the Forum is doing well (37,693 posts so far). The forum rules are here. In essense, they are:

1. Be nice
2. Ask any question you like
3. Only answer questions when you have relevant knowledge or experience

Here are the latest active threads:

Throwback forum post of the week

Reread this forum thread this week about postponing taking nenkin. Really interesting stuff, especially if you are close to making that decision.

This week’s books

Finished the Cormoran Strike novel, The Running Grave, by Robert Galbraith/J.K. Rowling. It’s was good (better than the previous one in the series). Doing a lesson for my high school students this week about cults, mainly because of the book.

Still reading Burn, by Herman Pontzer, about metabolism and calories. You can see a long-form interview with him here if that’s more your thing. The book is pretty interesting and quite readable, especially for someone in the middle of long-term dietary changes.

Started reading Alchemy, by Rory Sutherland, after watching a bunch of interviews with him. He’s a really interesting speaker, and the book is also very good so far.

This week’s links

1. Not investment advice: All aboard for the Tokyo Metro IPO!
2. A bit harsh: Japan’s New PM Has Barely the Concept of a Plan
3. Ooops. At least they noticed and stopped doing it: Shikoku Officials Halt Inbound Tourism Survey; Tout Inaccuracy of Counting Based on Visitors’ Physical Appearance
4. Hmm. The BOJ, the Fed, and The Future Of The Yen
5. Don’t really have a problem with this. From October, if you choose to have a brand name medicine when a generic one is available, you will have to pay 25% of the difference in price between the two as an extra fee (when using health insurance to help pay for the medicine): 10月以降は「ジェネリック」を選ばないと、薬の自己負担が「25％」増える!? 2024年10月から導入される“新医療制度”を解説
6. How to recover from setbacks is an immensely valuable skill: On Difficulty and Persistence
7. Ooof. This post hits hard. The small talk thing is definitely something I also have trouble with: Growth Means Choosing a Different Kind of Pain
8. Interesting Reddit thread on the pros and cons of manshon vs. detached house. Having rented a house and bought a manshon, seems pretty accurate.
9. Every parent’s nightmare, but at least they found a solution: What’s a mother to do when your non-Japanese child is bullied in school?
10. True in Japan too. Always check the hazard maps: The Biggest Risk in Real Estate
11. I’m starting to teach my granddaughter about fraud, cults, mind control, and being careful. Hopefully she won’t end up in anything like this: Inside the Yakuza’s Growing Empire of Crime in Cambodia
12. Or abandon large swathes of the country, or develop effective telemedicine: Japan Must Bridge the Urban-Rural Divide among Doctors
13. I can’t see any justification for the death penalty, especially in Japan’s legal system: After freeing a man who spent half a century on death row, will Japan keep using the death penalty?
14. I really like this approach: 5 Years of Spending in Retirement
15. If it could, I think it would almost immediately stop working: Can AI Turn You Into Warren Buffett?
16. For those closer to retirement: 4% and Beyond! The Evolution of Safe Withdrawal Strategies with Bill Bengen
17. I like this, but it has to be handled very carefully -all too often I do this wrong and just spiral out of control: Perfection vs. Greatness
18. Oh, good. Exported gas produces far worse emissions than coal, major study finds

What do you think? Anything interesting in there?

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