A Podcast, Guest Post, and Random Musings

Hey philosophers, just wanted to let you know about a couple of small projects I participated in recently. I haven’t had much time or motivation to write these last couple of weeks. I have been paying the work price for my two week vacation to Alaska. Flexibility to take a two week vacation is great. Working 12 days straight as payback…not so great 🙂

Anyways, you may have noticed that I do podcasts every now and then. I really like them. Listening to something is a completely different way to process information. Some of us are just built to understand the world that way. I’ve had a few people reach out to me and tell me that a podcast is how they found out about me and my message.

Doc G over at the What’s Up Next podcast reached out to me recently and asked if I wanted to do a panel discussion on burnout and finance, specifically financial independence. How could I turn that down? So one fine morning I sat in front of my computer with my mic and chatted about topics close to my heart with a few random internet strangers. I like how this one turned out. It was a good discussion. Check it out in all of the usual podcasty places.

In case you are new or newish to the blog, here are some other podcasts I’ve done.

Podcasts

http://radicalpersonalfinance.libsyn.com/338-negotiating-a-better-work-arrangement-for-greater-personal-happiness-interview-with-jeff-the-happy-philosopher

So if you like hearing me ramble on about my life and burnout and such stuff, there you go. Hours of me. Thank God for editing! Sorry if some of these links didn’t embed properly, but I’m way to lazy to figure out how to make them look perfect.

Guest interview

I also did a Q&A over on XRAYVSN. Like me, he is a radiologist who blogs about medicine and personal finance. Check it out.

Saying No

I’ve talked about saying no before. It is a skill many of us to not have. We say yes to everything because we feel bad, or are afraid the other person will get angry or think less of us. Maybe we think the world will stop working properly if we say no to too many things.

Sometimes these decisions are easy. When something takes a lot of our valuable time and resources, and there is marginal benefit to others, its easy. But life is seldom this simple. What do we do when we are asked to do something that takes our resources, but is also something we believe in and may benefit people? How do we make that decision? I was forced to come to terms with this recently.

A doc reached out to me and asked me if I would be interested in giving a talk at a national meeting in front of a couple hundred people. I would just basically talk about whatever I want as it related to my story of burnout and finance. Maybe. I told him I needed to think about it.

I thought about it…a lot. And I did. I consulted my crew. Mrs. Happy Philosopher thought I should do it. My kids politely feigned interest and said do whatever I wanted. A part of me really DID want to do it. But a part of me didn’t. I would be spending my time and money to be away from my family and give a brief talk. Did I mention I really don’t like public speaking? And I still suffer from imposter syndrome like everyone else. I know. I know. Face your fears you coward philosopher!

At the end of the day it wasn’t a “hell yeah!” for me. I think I made the right decision, but I still feel a little conflicted, even now. Maybe I will change my mind, but for now it’s a no.

Saying Yes

A few weeks before, I accepted a request to be on a panel discussing burnout at the Physician Wellness and Financial Literacy Conference. For me this was a “hell yeah!”, even though I gave it some thought as well. I like panel discussions. I like financial conferences (I actually was a bit bummed I didn’t do to this conference last year). There are a lot of people at this conference I am excited about seeing again or meeting for the first time. Basically I get free admission to a conference I wanted to go to (and that sells out in a day) for sitting on a panel and discussing a topic I love with interesting people I want to meet.

Do you see the difference here?

Hell yeah! or No.