12-Minute Principles (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 December 12, 2012

There's more to the 12-Minute Approach than great number 12. Some principles and premises also inspire this revolutionary method.

They are exposed here with some brief explanations:

1-Realize Your Dreams  

Having dreams is essential. Dreams give life a meaning. They give you a purpose and a sense of direction.

Planning to realize your dreams is also important. By setting goals and making plans, you’ll move closer to your dreams.

Your unconscious and intuition will guide you thru the venture even if you don’t possess all the details right now.

Financial Freedom Insouciant Mindset

A couple months back, after Preparing for it, we took our first steps Out of RRSPs. Since then, our focus has been more about Minimizing Taxes instead of Maximizing RRSP. To briefly remind you, one of our main strategy has been to keep my taxable income just under the lower tax bracket upper limit.

Many details around the whole process, like the first transfers and withdrawals, made me realize my salary wasn’t essential anymore and that I could stop working whenever I wish from now on. It felt like I literally was at the doorstep of financial freedom.

Strangely, a completely different mindset quickly set in. I deeply felt like everything was now cool and okay. Furthermore, it seemed like it would always be alright. That freedom was a relief and a wonderful feeling. To some extent, the burden of many financial obligations was finally off my shoulders.

But there was another odd side to it. I felt invincible, almost indestructible and some kind of carelessness settled in. It’s tough to precisely describe it. You could call it detachment, nonchalance, disinterest, insouciance…with an added touch of selfishness. In short, I didn’t care about other people and what they thought of me. Having enough money kind of made me feel like I didn’t need others anymore. In that insouciant mindset I became somewhat negligent. With that financial security, I now felt like I could get away with anything.

Using Technology to Generate Extra Free Time

Sometimes I feel like technology gobbles up more time than it gives us. Ideally, technology should help us and to some extent, free up some of our precious time. Not the other way around.

For many, having a portable phone or computer only makes them more incline to work. Being available 24/7 can really become a nightmare. In that sense, you can often even become a slave to technology, always connected and reachable for a question that probably could have waited for the next morning or at least, for a more suitable moment in your already hectic schedule.

Be careful not to get hooked up by the latest cool phone. It often comes with its fair share of increased work-related expectations along with a solid dose of distraction. Some distractions can be relaxing but most can only make you waste time. It the end, being distracted will affect your performance and possibly amplify your stress level.

People that view technology as a magic solution and expect it will tackle on all the work for them will be deceived.

Despite these reservations, technology can still be a great tool that can immensely help get things done if you learn to use it the proper way.   

12-Minute and Your Career (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 November 12, 2012

The 12-Minute Approach offers you a multitude of techniques to improve your job and career.

Here are some ideas we hope will inspire you on the way to becoming real happy and efficient professionals in your respective fields.

Achieve A Little More Each Day

A quick and easy way to start improving right away is to take 12-Minute to accomplish one simple extra action each day.

Portfolio Update May 2018

With this year’s late blooming spring first warm sunny days comes another update of our DIY Portfolio. As usual, you can expect our following update in about 12 weeks, in August 2018.

You can also access our previous portfolio updates here:

Portfolio Update August 2015

Portfolio Update November 2015

Portfolio Update February 2016

Portfolio Update May 2016

Portfolio Update August 2016

Portfolio Update November 2016

Portfolio Update February 2017

Portfolio Update May 2017

Portfolio Update August 2017

Portfolio Update November 2017

Portfolio Update February 2018

After several quarters of what we have called Trump’s rally, markets finally noticeably stumbled. It may be in part due to somewhat artificial and what can look like improvised measures. Markets sure don’t like trade wars or even talks about them. They also worry when you are always picking a fight, especially with the likes of Russia and Iran. Will it all transform into Trump’s bubble? No one can tell.

To be fair, stock markets cannot go up forever. It’s in their nature and healthy for them to take a pause or even meaningfully correct once in a while as it wouldn’t be sustainable for them to only go up for long periods.   

You know we have been expecting a market decline as we have been talking about it for some time. It’s normal and the long-term trend should still continue on its usual way up. In the end, markets going bad is good news. After all that patient waiting, we will, at last, be buying some more stocks as very interesting deals are coming!

In fact, at this point, we have been a little more active than usual and started doing some buying…after some selling.

Magical Number 12 (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 October 12, 2012

The more we look at it, the more Number 12 appears Magical!

In its original stages, our research revolved more around number 15.

But, as soon as we dug deeper, 12 evidently became the front running candidate. 

For one thing, a dozen always fits way better in a box!

More seriously, remarkable Twelve as deep roots throughout History; 
it even has some kind of mystical character associated to it.

The Number of Nature