January 6, 2019 marked the two-year anniversary of Market Misbehavior. My goal with the blog was to help myself find a voice during a time of personal and professional transition. Getting my thoughts out there helped me gain the confidence to write for other websites and later to launch an independent research firm, Sierra Alpha Research.

I love to read. My goal is to read every day. For hours and hours. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have told me that taking the time to read and think is one of the key roles of the CEO. Yet despite my lofty goal of a daily reading binge, I find that I rarely, if ever, meet that goal.

What a bittersweet pleasure this week to watch the tributes to late President George H. W. Bush. From Bob Dole standing to salute his fellow statesman, to President George W. Bush breaking down as he gave the eulogy at the National Cathedral, there were so many meaningful moments.

This is Part 3 of a four-part post on how I strive to align my days and weeks with my values. Combine this article with my earlier posts below to get the whole story on how I manage my time and priorities. I think of keeping organized in terms of three areas: a planner to set your goals and plan them out, a calendar to decide when to execute on those goals, and a repository for brilliant ideas you're saving for later…

This post has nothing really to do with food, except my Uber driver this morning was from Brazil. He was telling me all about Brazilian delicacies such as coxinha and pao de queijo and by the time we arrived at the hotel I was pretty much starving. But three quick market/behavioral observations to share with you on a Wednesday…

I’m traveling back home to Cleveland today after a ten-day trip to Asia.  This was my first time to Kuala Lumpur, where I spoke at the IFTA Annual Conference.  This has become one of my favorite annual events as it rotates to a different country every year and gives you a chance to learn about the people and their culture.

I’m a huge college football fan.  From my days in The Ohio State University Marching Band (no, I did not dot the “i”), I’ve cheered the scarlet and gray to a multitude of wins, including multiple national championships.  I even had to study Ohio State football history to win the favor of my future father-in-law, who took coaching class with the great Woody Hayes.

As I was just getting started as a technical analyst, an early mentor of mine warned me that I was getting into the dark arts. The way he put it, “A technician’s phone always rings more in a bear market.”

I first read Julia Cameron’s fantastic book The Artist’s Way years ago, and it impacted my life in a number of positive ways. I started writing a three-page journal every morning. I reflected on how I could better incorporate creativity into my routine. And I made a list of five “Imaginary Lives” that I might lead.

I’m down in Orlando for FinCon 2018 which is a gathering of personal finance writers, bloggers, Youtubers, and everyone that helps them provide great content for individuals. A little out of my comfort zone but I’m quickly realizing that people here understand marketing, social media, and audio/video production way better than I do.