LM portfolio as at 04/09/2020:
| Code | Sector | Date Bought | Cost | Value | Gain/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LM012 LM012-2 |
Real Estate Investment Trusts | 20/05/2019 28/11/2019 |
£2030 | £2370 | 16.74% |
| LM023 | ETF | 19/05/2020 | £1020 | £1010 | (0.94%) |
| LM024 LM024-2 |
ETC | 01/06/2020 23/06/2020 |
£2030 | £2060 | 1.88% |
There's something about wandering around Waterstone's or any other good bookshop that always persuades me to pick up a book or two. A trendy cover or vaguely self-help/finance book title will usually end up being passed to the assistant at the till.
This last week one of the books was "Digital Minimalism" by Cal Newport.
It promises to show you how to have a "focused life in a noisy world".
And it was a very interesting read. Not least because it gave me several ideas and there were several points where I was hit with 'why haven't I ever thought of that?'
The long and short of it is that you should get rid of all your social media apps from your smartphone. Full stop. Just delete them and move on.
With the apps gone, you can't waste time scrolling through them anymore. The book suggests that when you have the discipline to only log on to Facebook when you are sat at a PC or laptop you'll find that:
(a) you don't spend anywhere near as much time on these sites and
(b) you won't miss anything by not having these sites notify you of new posts
Confession time - I've never been on Facebook or Instagram.
I had a Twitter account for a couple of months but I struggled to see the point. Despite never having accounts on these sites or whatever other social media websites there are, I am as guilty as anyone of wasting time by pulling out my phone whenever I feel even slightly bored.
On Saturday mornings I'd be really pissed off with myself when I looked up from my phone to see that I'd missed my daughter doing a length in the pool. After missing a couple of her achievements I resolved to keep my phone in my pocket for the half an hour she has swimming lessons every week.
Ditto the hour she does football training.
These are moments I will never get back.
I can browse the BBC website anytime.
For years I've had my phone on silent/vibrate mode and never, ever missed anything important.
Now I've finished the book I make sure my phone is placed face down in the evenings - I just don't need to read WhatsApp group chat messages as soon as they are posted.
And just this week I've signed up for an evening class to learn a skill I've long since wanted to have but never got round to pulling the trigger.
All because of this one book.
So I can recommend "Digital Minimalism" if you ever feel you look at your phone too much or waste too much time looking at screens.
Shortly after finishing it I had a couple of mini-victories - finally fixed the windscreen washers on my car and learned how to crack a combination padlock that had been sitting useless in a drawer. Small accomplishments but surprisingly satisfying nevertheless.