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Book Club: Dollars and Sense

Wuffles Leave a comment

Hello fuzzbutts!

I enjoy listening to so many books and I just finished one that was great and I wanted to recommend to you.

So this one is called Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter. It discusses the various ways we think about money and how absurd we can be when faced with situations.

One example is how people will watch a locksmith for twenty minutes struggle to unlock their door, breaking tools along the way, and then happily pay 80 dollars plus whatever fee to replace the tools. On the other hand, if that locksmith were able to deftly open the door in less than a minute, 80 dollars suddenly sounds like a rip-off. “You’re absurd. It took you two seconds to open that door and you want 80 dollars?”

It also goes into things like how the owner of an item values it for more than a buyer would (I know people who do this routinely and sometimes I do it too). The way language can focus our brains and steer us into a certain direction. Would you like a 20% fat burger or an 80% beef burger? How about the way the convenience and instant expectations we’ve developed as a society has affected our spending habits? Sunk cost fallacies.

The book does use pretty fascinating research and the humorous tone was delightful to listen to. It does give practical advice for a lot of the information it gives and, for some of it, just becoming aware of my own thinking will be useful in the future. Given the state of furries and finances, I think this book would be a great read to help the fandom.

Enjoy, fuzzbutts!

You don’t have to “earn” everything

Wuffles Leave a comment

Hi fuzzbutts!

In the pursuit of decluttering and trying not to bring more stuff into my home, I decided to make mini goals for myself before I bring in new stuff. However, I realized earlier this week that it doesn’t always make sense.

I wanted a graphics tablet. For those who don’t know, it’s a tablet you plug into your computer and you can draw on the screen. Cheap tablets that I’ve had before require you to draw on a blank surface while staring at the monitor. This tablet displays everything you’re drawing and you can draw right on it. Lovely.

So I set a mini goal. If I could do 5 sketches with a pencil within a month, I’ll buy the tablet. It would be a good reward and I would prove to myself that this was important to me.

Well that was the equivalent of saying you want to pour a concrete driveway but “I’ll pour and mix half of the driveway by hand to prove I’m serious before I just buy a cement mixer to do the job.”

Realizing this, I bought the tablet. As soon as I got it, I was off to the races, drawing rapidly and streaming it and streaming with friends and chatting furry stuff while I drew! It was easy to do. I loved the work I completed on the tablet and I’m excited to do more and draw with friends.

The mini goal to prove I was serious was actually more of an obstacle I was throwing up in front of myself to buy a tool I know I wanted and could really use. So this week’s lesson is that if there is a certain tool you know will help you along toward your big goals (me drawing more and getting more followers and faves) then you should help yourself to it. Remember, though, to seriously consider if that thing is actually going to help you. Good luck out there, fuzzbutts!

Are you Researching too much?

Wuffles Leave a comment

Hello fuzzbutts!
Are you all set with your chosen goals and ready to get started? Have you read endless amounts of material? Do you know ALL the things you’re supposed to do? Are you finding the wealth of knowledge from the internet? Have you actually done anything yet?
If the answer to the last one is No, then you might be falling into a trap. “Well I have to know what I’m supposed to do before I do it, right?” you ask, one ear perked with mistrust. Well sure. However, there is a point where you need to actually BEGIN the tasks you need to do.
Say you want to draw better. You can read any number of articles or watch the unending list of videos to learn drawing. Even if you finish every bit of those, when the time comes down to put pencil to paper, you’ll find your skills severely lacking. That is because, in your quest to become better at drawing, you neglected to do the one thing. DRAW!
Researching a skill, whether it’s fursuit building, drawing, or even fishing, doesn’t matter if you don’t put it to actual practice. For any skill, you have to practice. Research has to be considered a supplement to your practice, not a substitute for it. You may never feel ready if you constantly doubt whether or not you know enough. In order to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to learning something, you need to start practicing those skills and learn as much as you can along the way! Good luck!