Starting to learn again

This week has been crazy; I have learned so much that I almost forgot about school!

I just had the unfortunate experience of firing the driver I had for my Uber account. I learned what not to do next time I hire somebody and lost quite a bit of money. I need to have everything on writing, be inflexible with the agreements and conditions I set at the beginning, and separate some personal feelings from business before they create unfortunate situations.

Also, a few minutes ago, I just finished filling my first annual tax return by myself (most employers in Mexico do it automatically for the workers, but since now I have additional sources of income besides employment then I need to do it myself). In the last few months I have also been filling bimonthly tax declarations for my Uber business after realizing that accountants were overcharging me for something I could easily learn how to do.

Right now I’m reading the book ‘’The Lean Startup’’ by Eric Ries. I have learned about how a business project executed perfectly can be a total failure if it’s going in the wrong direction. The Lean startup methodology focuses on rapid learning, experimentation and adaptation in order to create value in a context of extreme uncertainty. I remember seeing a class on Lean Startup offered in Coursera; I will probably take that class one of these days.

I have also realized how difficult creativity can be for me. I really need to make an effort to come up with ideas and dreams the way I was able to do a couple of years ago.

50 Things to Do Before I Die - Revisited

I made the original list in May, 2014. The notes in red were added in January 2015. The notes in green were added today (April 2016).

Old List

1. Buy a car without getting a loan – I have a car now. I just need to do the second part for the next one.

2. Buy a house

3. Invest in the Stock Market - Already doing it. Still doing it.

4. Speak German fluently

5. Take a tour around Europe

6. Own my own company

7. Get my Bachelor’s Degree

8. Obtain a Masters Degree

9. Write a book

10. Have children

11. Baptize my children

12. Send my children on missions

13. Visit Las Vegas (Where I served my mission) with my wife

14. Visit Chile - I sent my wife to Chile for a debate contest for a week and she brought lots of pictures and stories, now I just have to visit Chile myself

15. Visit Norway and Iceland and take a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords

16. Give scholarships to young talented people

17. Visit China, walk on the great wall

18. Take scuba diving lessons with my wife

19. Go scuba diving in a coral reef

20. Have a salt water aquarium

21. Have a planted fresh aquarium

22. Learn basic Mandarin – I just started doing it

23. Visit New Zealand

24. Finish reading the Book of Mormon in German - I am a few chapters away from accomplishing it – I already did it.

25. Help my wife finish her bachelor's degree - She's probably going to finish hers before I do. She is about to finish.

26. Make my wife smile every day - Doing it as much as I can. Still doing it.

27. Make a person happy every day – Struggling with it

28. Help change someone’s life by offering a great opportunity - I realized that I might have already done it during my mission without realizing but I want to do it again

29. Have an Alaskan dog

30. Visit Switzerland

31. Be an expert trader in Forex and the Stock Market - I'm really, really far from being an expert but I know more than anybody I know in person

32. Have a hydroponic garden

33. Go camping in the mountains when it snows – I have hiked in a couple of mountains in Central Mexico when it snows but I haven’t stayed overnight yet.

34. Always have time for my family and my dreams

35. Play the electric guitar with my friends and a symphonic orchestra

36. Attend the Wacken open air festival

37. Learn how to ride a horse – I have completed it!

38. Take a very long bike ride

39. Start a travel agency

40. Write a blog about places and culture In Mexico - Already doing it: www.saliradentro.com – I had to take my website offline for now, but I will start it again in the future.

41. Attend General Conference in person

42. Take my parents to visit Salt Lake city

43. Help people in Mexico invest and save their money

44. Visit Chihuahua, and Guanajuato

45. Buy an Xbox one – I did it!

46. Buy an HDTV

47. Give a conference on financial education

48. Become a leader so others want to follow me and trust me

49. Learn how to create a website - Already doing it with Drupal

50. Go ice skating with my wife – I did it!

51. Learn how to sell

52. Learn how to cook bisquets and gravy

New List

1. Buy a car without getting a loan – I have a car now. I just need to do the second part for the next one.

2. Buy a house

3. Speak German fluently

4. Take a tour around Europe

5. Own my own company

6. Get my Bachelor’s Degree

7. Obtain a Masters Degree

8. Write a book

9. Have children

10. Baptize my children

11. Send my children on missions

12. Visit Las Vegas (Where I served my mission) with my wife

13. Visit Chile - I sent my wife to Chile for a debate contest for a week and she brought lots of pictures and stories, now I just have to visit Chile myself

14. Visit Norway and Iceland and take a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords

15. Give scholarships to young talented people

16. Visit China, walk on the great wall

17. Take scuba diving lessons with my wife

18. Go scuba diving in a coral reef

19. Have a salt water aquarium

20. Have a planted fresh aquarium

21. Complete the Basic Chinese course in Coursera

23. Visit New Zealand

24. Help my wife finish her bachelor's degree - She's probably going to finish hers before I do. She is about to finish.

25. Make my wife smile every day - Doing it as much as I can. Still doing it.

26. Make a person happy every day – Struggling with it

27. Help change someone’s life by offering a great opportunity - I realized that I might have already done it during my mission without realizing but I want to do it again

28. Have an Alaskan dog

29. Visit Switzerland

30. Have a hydroponic garden

31. Go camping in the mountains when it snows – I have hiked in a couple of mountains in Central Mexico when it snows but I haven’t stayed overnight yet.

32. Always have time for my family and my dreams

33. Take a very long bike ride

34. Start a travel agency

35. Write a blog about places and culture In Mexico - Already doing it: www.saliradentro.com – I had to take my website offline for now, but I will start it again in the future.

36. Attend General Conference in person

37. Take my parents to visit Salt Lake city

38. Help people in Mexico invest and save their money

39. Visit Chihuahua, and Guanajuato

40. Buy an HDTV

41. Give a conference on financial education

42. Become a leader so others want to follow me and trust me

42. Learn how to sell

43. Learn how to cook bisquets and gravy

44. Finish the Pearl of Great Price and D&C in German

45. Climb Iztaccihuatl

46. Start the financial freedom project that I call ‘’My Personal Bank’’

47. Pay my car loan off

48. Find my ancestors all the way to the 1600’s and take their names to the temple

49. Go on vacations with my wife to Cancun

50. Invest in person-to-person loans

Acton Hero: Bruce Thompson

After watching the video, the first thing I did was looking up ALS disease and what the symptoms are. I feel a great admiration for Mr Thompson as I imagine what he is going through with his disease and the fact that he stays positive. He mentioned an experience where they found fraud in an investment project they were about to take part in. He was nervous about informing the investors about what they had found, but he did it anyway because it was the right thing to do. As a result of that, the relationship with the investors was strengthened; he and his company were seen as somebody who is responsible and will take care of investors’ money as his own. Honesty and transparency is the best policy. Mr Thompson also talks about how business is fun, but not the most important part of life; He says that we need to put limits to ourselves in the time we spend at work, and dedicate more time to our families and to God.

http://www.actonhero.org/celebrating-heroes/stories-of-heroes/index.php?hero=bruce-thompson