Seth Haines's Blog, page 13

One Tool For Investing in What Matters

Habituating investment—every financial guru, economics professor, and money manager will tell you it’s the key to success. Put a little aside every month, they say. Watch it grow, they say. See the impact, they say. But we all know the tricky truth: Habituating financial investment is hard. My 401(k) balance proves as much.

What holds true for investing in the market holds true for my marriage. And my kids. And my spiritual life. And my creativity. But investing in these things—the things I...

Am I a Liar? (A Life of Examined Investment)

Last week, a friend sent me this quote by the inimitable Walker Percy:

“I believe in God and the whole business but I love women best, music and science next, whiskey next, God fourth, and my fellowman hardly at all. Generally, I do as I please. A man, wrote John, who says he believes in God and does not keep his commandments is a liar. If John is right, then I am a liar. Nevertheless, I still believe.”

It’s not a quote about investment, at least, not on financial investment, but doesn’t the...

A Life of Examined Investment: Does Your Calendar Prove Your Priorities?

“Never invest in any idea you can't illustrate with a crayon.” ~Peter Lynch

Investing in the things you value, the things that bring joy—this is a life of examined investment. And though Peter Lynch’s crayon maxim related to investing in stocks and bonds, doesn’t it apply to examined investment, too? The simple things—(your family, your art, your community—can’t you illustrate them with a crayon?

Over the last several months, I’ve spent more than my fair share of time with the honorable...

A Life of Examined Investment: This isn't About Your Retirement Accounts

It’s an ongoing series, a day-by-day stream of consciousness that’s moved from waking to pain to addiction to dopamine to social media addiction to breaking the habits by way of gratitude . Let’s keep the ball rolling. Let’s talk about examined investment.

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The feast is in the books. The turkey, the stuffing, the sweet potato pie—it’s all a memory (one that might stick to the ribs and hips for a few more weeks). Between the fasting, football, and family rows about politics and religion, did...

Make This List Before You Carve the Turkey

"Therefore the prayer of thanksgiving should be quite specific: 'I thank thee for this friendship, this threat overpassed, this signal grace.' 'For all thy mercies' is a proper phrase for a general collect, but not a private gratitude. If we are 'thankful for everything,' we may end by being thankful for nothing."
~George Buttrick, excerpted from Devotional Classics, a Renovaré resource for spiritual renewal.

To be thankful for everything is to be thankful for nothing. It’s a gut-punch of a...

An Intentional Practice of Thanksgiving for Your Feast Week

Today, and in the middle of this Holiday week, I’m continuing an examination of gratitude.

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"In prayer itself there is no fixed order, but both a primary impulse and the experience of praying people show us that the first stage may be thanksgiving ..." ~George Buttrick, excerpted from Devotional Classics, a Renovaré resource for spiritual renewal.

The world around us thrashes forward in its nervous, unending, apocalyptic act of striving. It struggles for more, pushes the people to engage in...

Thanksgiving Week: A Week of Celebration or Excess?

If I were a cynic, if I ran Thanksgiving week through the neurochemical rubric I’ve written about over the last few weeks (hello, dopamine!), this is how I might describe it:

Cram your family in a van. Travel to the someplace a distance away. Fuel your drive-time with the whizz-bang rush of caffeine.

Sit around the table. Eat till you can’t move. Wash it down with wine. Let the whizz-bang of tryptophan, the alcohol, the oxytocin do its thing. Let the dopamine lock in the message—”This is...

Feed the Beast: Social Media and the Profit of Addictions

Today, we’re continuing our exploration of the effects of social media on the brain, how it drives addiction. But why would social media companies drive addiction? The answer is so simple it trends on trite: Follow the dollars, baby. Feed that beast, baby.

Watch the videos below (email subscribers, follow the links), then ask yourself: Is it time to break some social media habits?

(Videos: Simon Sinek on Addiction to Technology; Me on the Profit of Social Media Addiction)

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A Word About These...

Feed the Beast: Social Media and the Profit of Addiction

Today, we’re continuing our exploration of the effects of social media on the brain, how it drives addiction. But why would social media companies drive addiction? The answer is so simple it trends on trite: Follow the dollars, baby. Feed that beast, baby.

Watch the videos below (email subscribers, follow the links), then ask yourself: Is it time to break some social media habits?

(Videos: Simon Sinek on Addiction to Technology; Me on the Profit of Social Media Addiction)

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A Word About These...

Social Media and our Addiction to Anger, Anxiety, and the Fear of Missing Out

Are you up to speed on the dopamine posts? If you aren’t, you know where to click.

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Jeremy, a friend and world-class photographer, shared about his own social media experience:

"Last year, I scrolled and scrolled and scrolled and just became more angry with the abuse I saw in religious systems. More angry with the President. More angry with the troll posting racist memes. When I wasn’t angry, I saw my friends’ posts on Instagram—parties, date nights, impromptu gatherings, even their incredi...class="">