Skip to content

My Happiness Obsession

Over 1000 Blog Posts!!

Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Top Categories
    • Personal Growth
    • Money & Investing
    • Law of Attraction
    • Blogging
    • Running & Health
  • Complete Post Index
Menu

Day 304: Don’t just do something… sit there!

Posted on June 3, 2019

Several years ago, my wife got me a subscription to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Generally, I enjoy flipping through it, as everything in the magazine tends to be about managing one’s money well. The latest issue describes possible ways of earning a higher return, the front covering proclaiming

“33 Ways to Get Higher Yields: Earn Up to 12% with Our Favorite Income Investments.”

Of course, who wouldn’t want to earn up to 12%? Sure, it might not be mind-blowing earnings, but for us little guys, it’s a solid return. (Case in point: right now I’m earning 2.25% in an online savings account, and for a guy who didn’t full understand interest rates until a few years ago, that’s at least something).

Anyway, at one point in the article, they mention the idea of investing in dividend paying stocks. Now, I have always liked the idea of receiving dividends. I love the yearly dividends that show up in my IRA. My curiosity being piqued, I ended up looking more closely at some Vanguard dividend-stock funds. I asked myself, briefly, Would it benefit me to buy stock funds specifically to maximize dividends?

Although I found the research interesting, I got nothing conclusive from it (besides the momentary mental salivation of thinking about higher returns). As I said, I’m already invested in stocks that pay dividends, even if I haven’t specifically bought them for that purpose. If I did so, it would amount to making a change of direction from what I’m already doing, which is buying broadly-diversified index funds (that include some dividend-paying stocks).

That’s when my investing training kicked in, including this saying that I encountered somewhere along the line:

Don’t just do something, sit there!

Although I can’t be sure if he said it, I associate this with Jason Zweig, a financial writer I have gotten a lot from. He wrote a book called “Your Money & Your Brain,” in which he thoroughly discusses the many ways we humans are neurologically wired to be crazy when it comes to our money.

For instance, Zweig says we have two types of thinking brains: the reflexive brain and the reflective brain. The reflexive brain is emotional and acts automatically. In fact, it is our default mode in moments of excitement or stress. It is emotional, easily-excitable… and can be dead wrong when it gets worked up.

The reflective brain, on the other hand, is our thinking center. It’s where we process complex math problems, consider long-term investment strategies, and take the higher-road with those we love (even when we are irritated at them!).

The reflexive brain is what gets us into trouble with our money (and many other things!). For instance, it tends to make us greedy when we shouldn’t be, fearful when we don’t need to be, or over-confident when we should be cautious.

It also tends to get us excited over taking action… even at times when we should probably stay put. By dangling the possibility of some gain or benefit, it works us up into a state where we might be susceptible to doing something we’d later regret. After all, how often does taking action when we shouldn’t get us into trouble? Said another way,

All the misfortunes of men come from only one thing: not knowing how to remain at rest in a room.

“Your Money & Your Brain,” p226, originally said by French philosopher Blaise Pascal

Going back to my research on dividend-paying stock funds, I have concluded, at least for the time, to do nothing to change things. Yet for a moment I considered it. My reflexive brain started to get me excited, and just a little greedy, as I thought about those dividend-paying stocks. But it would have meant making at least a partial change to my overall strategy, without having enough knowledge to know that it is a good idea.

I am open to learning more about the topic, for sure. Maybe in the future, with more knowledge, I will inspired to take action in that area.

But in the meantime, what I got is working well enough. I won’t just do anything… I will sit there!

Side note: This post reminds me of a post I did a few days ago, in which I quoted the Tao Te Ching asking, “Can you remain unmoving until the right action arises on its own?” Funny how these themes show up again and again, from different points of view!

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Property of:

Recent Posts

  • Saturday’s Alright For… Quality Questions
  • The Blog Shines On
  • When Today’s “High” Prices Become Screaming Good Deals
  • “Dark Emotions” (Original Rhyme)
  • The Timeless Timeliness of Past Posts

Read Posts by Category

Blogging (150) Books (93) Creative Writing (76) Creativity Topics (90) Higher Self (88) Home Life (22) Law of Attraction (153) Miscellaneous (135) Money & Investing (149) Movies (15) Music Career (61) Original Music (57) Personal Growth (378) Running & Health (134) Shenanigans & Ruminations (89)

Archives

Share this page

Share

More Recent Posts

  • Saturday’s Alright For… Quality Questions
  • The Blog Shines On
  • When Today’s “High” Prices Become Screaming Good Deals
  • “Dark Emotions” (Original Rhyme)
  • The Timeless Timeliness of Past Posts
  • Focus Relentlessly On What Already Feels Good
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • Swimming with Faster Swimmers
  • I Believe in the Power of Quality Questions
  • You Do Not Need an Intermediary
  • I Did It My Way
  • “Dead Dragon” (Original Rhyme)
  • Highly-Sensitive Chronicles (Update)
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • Deliberately Taking It Slow
  • “Living for the Softer Hum” (A Rhyme-y Poem)
  • A Dandy Time Blogging
  • The Book (Update #9)
  • “Rhyming Drivel” (Original Rhyme)
  • Fishing in the Milky Lagoon
  • “The Silkworm” (Verse in Iambic Pentameter)
  • Most Versatile Blog Award?
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • “Paradise of Mirth” (Original Rhyme)
  • Building My Cathedral
  • The Thing About Groups
  • “Into Creative Waters” (Original Rhyme)
  • Friendly Financial Reminders from Me to Myself
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • From the Vault: The North Star of Happiness Beckons (11/28/20)
  • The Book (Update #8)
  • Still Playing “Toy Blast”!
  • And Now October…
  • No Exceptions
  • Highly-Sensitive Chronicles
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • What’s in Your Vibrational Meal? (Part 4)
  • Clarity is Sweet (Part 2)
  • What’s in Your Vibrational Meal? (Part 3)
  • What’s In Your Vibrational Meal? (Part 2)
  • Using the Emotional Guidance Scale
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • Despite the Drama…
  • A Week of Satisfying Blog Posts
  • What’s in Your Vibrational Meal?
  • Clarity is Sweet
  • The Slow-and-Steady Way to Become Unstoppable
  • A Highly-Sensitive Man’s Trip to the Department Store
  • Mental Muscles of Focus
  • “What’s in it for Me?”
  • Coming From a Creative Space
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • Still Calm, Cool, and Collected about Mr. Market
  • Appreciating Regular Exercise (vs. Intense Training)
  • The Book (Update #7)
  • Friendly Financial Lessons
  • Bogus Ideas Like Judgment and Unworthiness
  • Your Mood is Like a Radio Signal
  • Don’t Expect to Make Lemonade Out of Vinegar
  • Tonight’s Musical Appreciations
  • When It Comes to Piano Compositions and 1000-Piece Puzzles
  • Already a Great Year for Introspection
  • A Verbal Sculpture Garden I Just Keep Adding To
  • Hello, Old Friend
  • Thoughts on the Vibrational Universe
  • Give Them a Break
  • The Ideal Weekend for Highly-Sensitive Me?
  • The Book (Update #6)
  • Beethoven’s Third Symphony with my “Digital Orchestra”
  • Tonight’s Answers to Quality Questions
  • When Someone Else Isn’t Being Nice
  • From the Vault: Generating a Positive Attitude No Matter What (11/23/18)
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • Vanguard’s Courage to be Disliked
  • Reaching for Satisfaction (2024 Running Edition)
  • Thoughts on Blogging, Digital Footprints, and Personal Agendas
  • The Game of Achievement
  • Musing on “Separating Tasks”
  • No One Said It Wasn’t an Effort
  • Thoughts on Blogging and Book-Writing
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • More Gems from “The Courage to Be Disliked”
  • Three Years of Steady Share Prices
  • Focused on the Long-Term
  • “The Courage to Be Disliked”
  • Glutton for Punishment
  • Winning the Game
  • Exploring Traits of Being Highly Sensitive
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • Enjoying the Prosperity Game
  • Breaking Down Chronic Habits of Thought
  • With All We’ve Been Through!
  • Nothing Has Changed, and Other Financial Commentary
  • Lessons Learned in 2023
  • Day 365: Don’t Overthink It!
  • Day 364: Missing It Already
  • Day 363: “Of Futile Efforts” (Original Music)
  • Day 362: Things Are Looking Up in Highly-Sensitive Land
  • Day 361: Today’s Appreciations
  • Day 360: Focus Where It Feels Best
    ©2025 My Happiness Obsession | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme