And here are the lineups for this week…

Retirement is a Human Invention (Four Pillar Finance) 

When I first started my financial journey, I was dead set on early retirement. Then, as I began to realize that I love working as long as I own the work and can determine my own hours, I decided that it made the most sense to pursue barista FIRE and start growing my income outside of my day job as fast as possible. 

Managing reputation in the age of infinity (Seth Godin) 

They sell junk that would never, ever be sold at a Wal-Mart store. That’s because in order to get into a store, a buyer, a human being with a reputation, has to allocate shelf space. The easiest way to lose your job as a buyer is to put brand-destroying lousy products on a valuable shelf.

Living on $10,000 a Year: Attempt #2 (The Deep Fish) 

The defining lesson of this year is that I need to get better at just saying no to things. I don’t have to join every social event, or accept every invitation. Popular ‘must-do’ activities are rarely worth it. I have managed to turn down almost every freelance gig and other offer this year, which feels sacrilegious—saying no to money!—but invigorating.

How to be Intentional with your Friend Spending (The Fioneers) 

We have friends (the same ones who tracked friend spending) who are saving for a down-payment on a house, and we feel like we’ve been able to help them reach their financial goals by proposing free and low-cost activities. There are many specific things we’ve done over the past year to reduce our friend spending while not lowering the quality of our relationships. 

What’s the Rush? The Power of a Slow Morning (Wall Street Journal) 

Spending time doing nothing gives the brain a break from multitasking and interruptions, especially from technology, Mr. Berthelsen says. “If you have too many interruptions you become absent from yourself,” he says. “Technology isn’t bad, but we have to find ways for it to serve us better – that interruption is probably the biggest loss of productivity.”

And here’s a quote to inspire for the weekend.

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