LifebyMark

 Welcome to LifeByMark Installment #4! How do you approach difficult, untenable or complicated decisions?   How do we enter this market? How do we save for retirement? How do I get healthy/fit? If you're like many people, you likely seek to simplify the problem by starting with your perceived constraints - the things you "can't" do: "Someone else owns this part of the market already" "I can't find any money to save" "I don't have time" etc. I would like to suggest that starting with constraints is "asking the wrong question".  I have suggested to many teams over the years that a better way to begin is to ask where do you really want to end up first. Why?  I find that often once I've finished considering all the constraints (what can/can't I do?) there are no longer any possible destinations worth going to.  So, you might think that means there aren't any good destinations.  I have found that absolutely not to

 Welcome to LifeByMark Installment #3! So... picking up on the theme of my last post "Give the Gift of Friendship", my wife and I are also working on its first cousin: "Give the Gift of Listening".   Now we all know people who are just good at this.  I have to say, I have always admired, and in some cases, been in awe of these people.  I know people right now that are just amazing at this. This is not a natural strength of mine, but I want it to become one!  I was a little cautious of writing about this for fear that some of the people to whom I have not listened well might respond to point it out!  So I know that suggesting that we should all listen better is not exactly an original idea.  We've likely been told that our whole lives.  The only "new" idea here is the same one I mentioned in my last blog, which is to think of it as a gift we give others, rather than just a self betterment step.  It's not about me getting to state my case or make my