Gaper blocked! I was driving through Fortitude Valley this weekend, at a time of day when there really shouldn't have been a traffic jam, but the flashing blue & red police lights in the distance foretold a disruptive accident. Fortunately, I managed to lurk away from the highway down a… full article

Born of frustration Do you ever have days where everything seems to be frustrating? Aye, so do I! It's easy to become discouraged when something unforeseen happens ('why me?'), or when we seem to be going nowhere fast on a rat wheel (where is this heading?), and especially when someone… full article

Letting go Some years ago I went to live in East Timor, and without particularly planning to do so ended up staying for a long time. It was a wonderful experience for a whole range of reasons, not least that I first went there with, in the literal sense, no… full article

Patience - not just a virtue When it comes to building your net worth, patience is not only a virtue; it's essential. In the short term markets can be risky, but over the long term they tend to be much less so. Don't fall in love with an investment, it… full article

What is intelligence? We can probably all remember from school days peers that took academic achievement in their stride, yet in some instances the very same people could barely tie their own shoelaces or deal with social situations easily. An intellectual quotient or 'IQ' is a traditional measure of intelligence… full article

When less is more With the world having been through a tumultuous decade through the global financial crisis & beyond, I've sometimes wondered whether partial ignorance was bliss as many of the gruesome details of the subprime crisis subsequently came to light (the books always seem to follow afterwards). After… full article

Keeping perspective I heard some awfully sad news today, which got me thinking about what really is important in life, and what isn't. On reflection, the list of unimportant things is virtually endless. Trying to win a debate on Twitter with someone you've never met (OK, maybe occasionally I've done… full article

Work in progress About a decade ago I began an annual exercise of setting goals in various areas of my life, & these days I review my progress in detail once a year at a dedicated week's retreat on the Gold Coast, before once again setting targets for the year ahead.… full article

Let it grow! The pursuit of economic growth is widely considered to be important because it allows businesses to create jobs, profit, & prosper, and then in turn expanding tax revenues allow governments to invest in education, welfare, or transport, and living standards improve accordingly over time. At the personal… full article

Agonisingly unproductive I had a disrupted week, in part due to an excruciatingly painful cracked tooth requiring some remedial filling work. I'm not going to lie, the drilling was painful, both orally and to the hip pocket! Feeling that I'd achieved less than I wanted to over a period of… full article