There’s a beauty in being aimless
But it can go too far, and in the drifting dissolution of atoms
We’re back to being dirt and ashes
With no money
Flexible Titling
I asked Sora, the text-to-video generator, to make me a 5-second video of flashing lights that said “finance Friday”, but through a fun glitch, what came out was “fine finance Friday”, and oh man are we keeping that, moving forward.
Four plausible definitions of the word “fine”, and “finance” as an adjective or a verb, and suddenly we have so much more meaning to play with!
I’m going to briefly introduce two of the big topics to talk about in future “fine finance Friday”.
Lag Me To Your Leader
The first, the big one, is the idea of “lead” and “lag” goals. This was probably my favorite topic in business school because it can represent such a massive change in personal, professional, and creative perspective, and also because there’s such incredible resistance to the idea of moving from the imagined stability of “lag” to the uncertainty and anti-immediate-gratification realm of “lead”.
The ideas of lead and lag were presented as goal types, but you can do some mental fishing and massage the concepts into something more usable. Lags aren’t really goals. They’re consequences or results. And leads aren’t really goals – they’re actions. So instead of envisioning goalposts or finish lines, instead there are physical motions and resultant energy.
You can use this for money matters, and you can also use it for things like health, relationships, conversation flow, and all kinds of other possible situations and contexts. It’s a long, beautiful conversation to have, and applying it to my life has made much more sense out of my disappointment of things not going right because “I HAD A PLAN WITH A GOAL!”
100% of all my old plans had to do with lag expectations.
So with that introduction, leads and lags will be my primary Friday topic for calendar year 2025.
Unchained From The Dollar Bill
Another main topic is going to be how I wiggled my way into my current relatively-financially-free living situation. I’ve been traveling without income for almost two years. I’ve kept on an excellent budget. I’ve had zero stress about finances. I can stay in comfortable places and eat good enough food, even though I still have the natural inclination to eat trenchy meals.
I could survive off 7-11 and street vendor food in Taiwan with no problem at all, and I have found a specific Burger King in the Sanchong district of New Taipei City that has become one of my favorite meditation spots. American-style fast food is more expensive than typical restaurants in Taiwan, but this Burger King, this amazing mecca I found, is special. It’s never busy, they play jazz music from good quality speakers, and there are a few tables that are almost always empty that have a second-floor view out the window toward an artistic traffic intersection that I could stare at for hours.
I always have to ask for one more ketchup packet, because it doesn’t come by default. The iced green tea, for whatever reason, is some of the best-tasting I’ve had, even compared with some of the high-end tea shops. The pointed end of the paper straw pops through the plastic seal on top of the medium cup with a familiar snap, and the paper molecules themselves always start dissolving right around the time I’m done drinking and there are just the last few ice cubes left.
I’m willing to pay the extra for this experience.
Money Skeptics
Later I’ll tell more of the story of how I got the mental and financial space for this journey – not having to worry about income for now. When I’ve gone to my Tinder or Bumble meetings and adventures, or when I’ve met new people at events, they almost always ask what I do for work, or for money, and when I say “nothing” – the look of shock is always there, a similar expression on different facial features, often with skeptical eyes, and a small silence after.
This year I do want to turn that corner and start exchanging creative work for cash. I’m also working toward my Paradox Process therapy certification, so I’ll be able to market myself as a person who can help you become who you want to be, in the same way my facilitator opened up my life – pulling out the old knots and observing them, then watching them undo themselves with a long, easy sigh.
More stories soon!
