The Powerful Nature of Ever-Present Number 12

Whether you’ve noticed it or not, all our lives revolve around omnipresent number 12. Moreover, despite the fact you can choose to ignore it or know zilch about the power of that mysterious number, the truth is that it may already be having an effect on you anyways.

And believe us, there’s more to it than the very convenient dozen.

Evidence Everywhere Around Us

In many previous 12-Minute Articles, we’ve listed examples and reasons why twelve is so omnipresent in our lives. Even if the phenomena can appear strange, it may not only be a mere coincidence. Here’s a couple additional ones.

For starters, you must realize you only dispose of 12 seconds to make a first impression. Furthermore, any respectable teacher or speaker must take into account that, even for adults, the optimal attention span is only 12 minutes. It’s even less for young children.

New Year and Dividend Income Update 2018

As usual, figures have been updated on several pages of our blog to reflect 2017 results.

Among others, these pages have been updated:

Escaping 9-to-5

Investing Goals

Portfolio

A tad sooner than expected, the accumulating phase of our investing plan is phasing out. Our DIY Portfolio should continue to steadily grow but our major contributing efforts are already a thing of the past.

12-Minute Meetings (Revisited)

The 12-Minute Series was originally posted in 2012.

We’ve decided to republish it integrally because we believe it can still help as everyone aspires to make things better.

Let’s hope it stirs up the discussion and stimulates you to change the world 12-Minute at a time!

This article was originally posted on June 12, 2012

Sometimes, meetings can be a drag, especially when your boss likes to listen to himself for endless and countless hours. Furthermore, he’ll probably be upset afterwards because you missed some of his points and you lacked time to complete all your work.

Maybe someone could introduce him to the 12-Minute Segment Rule.

Use The 12-Minute Segment Rule

During a meeting, each speech or presentation should be limited to 12-Minute segments because for most people, the optimum concentration period is only 12 minutes. Beyond that, the average person won’t be able to focus and follow explanations.  

Our Best Wishes

Wow! It’s already that time of year again! I can’t believe 2017 is almost a thing of the past...

Perhaps a sign we are not getting any younger, let’s hope it’s also an indication we are enjoying ourselves. Don’t know about you but for us, pleasant times always seem to go by much faster. And age kind of amplifies that feeling.

With big emotions, both good and bad, the last year sure still went by in a flash!

Enjoy Precious Time with Family and Friends

With a brand-new year already at our doorstep, we hope you can take a break from our hectic modern way of life and enjoy precious moments surrounded by family and friends.

Last year’s tumultuous experiences sure gave us an eye-opening perspective and renewed our focus to strive for a healthy balance life.

We are now more grateful and appreciate all we already have. We also savor our privilege of choice and cherish many possibilities to help others.

Have Faith and Dismiss Obscure Thoughts

New Star Wars movies always inspire us corny analogies and statements.

Luckily for you, this one will be quite classic and simple: « May the Force be with you! ».

We just love when a touch of Disney’s magic brings back Star Wars’ wisdom into the mix. We should be well served in the next couple years.

We will also have a great chance to experience the powerful Disney-Star Wars duo up close as we are going to Disney soon.

We look forward to sharing our magical venture with you in an upcoming post.

Meanwhile, let’s hope the Jedi in all of us can survive longer and won’t cave in to the sometimes-irresistible temptations of the dark side.

Photo Credit

Experience Living with Only 75% of Your Salary

Could you live with only three-quarters of your salary? Extreme savers may find this quite easy as they probably already save more than 25% of their actual income. But let’s face it; they are still exceptionally rare individuals.

Heck, many can’t even get by with their full revenue.

I’ve been experiencing it first hand myself for the last 2 years. As some of you might know, my working conditions allowed me to take a differed 6-month leave of absence in 2017 and to spread out income deductions over a longer period so I’ve been paid 75% of my salary since 2015.

So today, we’ll talk about financial and psychological implications of having your salary amputated and how my family and I fared with it. We definitely think the broad benefits are worth the hassle.

I’ve been doing it for real but everyone has the option to at least artificially implement it. For instance, by using pre-authorized transfers to automatically put aside a significant portion of their paycheck. It can be a great way to discover if you have the financial means but also the stomach to live with less money. If you prefer, gradually doing it could give you a chance to learn to slowly cope with it. 

Is Living with Less That Hard?

12-Minute Balance (Revisited)

The 12-Minute Series was originally posted in 2012.

We’ve decided to republish it integrally because we believe it can still help as everyone aspires to make things better.

Let’s hope it stirs up the discussion and stimulates you to change the world 12-Minute at a time!

This article was originally posted on May 12, 2012

Many believe that one of the most important keys to happiness is balance. Sadly, many lives equate to a never ending juggling act struggling in search of that so elusive concept.  

The 12-Minute Approach offers you simple yet powerful ways to achieve that so precious balance in your life.

Let’s hope that, by focusing on rhythm, order and harmony, these 12-Minute Ideas help you strive toward that balance so essential to your happiness and well-being.

Equal Balance between Needs and Activities

In order to stay happy yet still be effective, your life should be equally balanced between your needs and your activities.