Marius Schober

Embracing the Mysteries, Unveiling the Realities

A polymathic exploration of innovation, philosophy, and the mystical.

Category: Posts

  • The Mindset of Spending, Earning, Saving

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    3 min read

    Today’s morning started different from expected. As I unconsciously opened my Amazon app, I saw a notification which informed me of changes on my ‘wish list’. The MacBook Pro 16’ suddenly was €2.388. This price was too good to be true (and ignored) so I pressed “buy”.

    After this impulse buy, I somehow thought: “Marius, no matter what, this still is a lot of money. Are you sure?”.

    It’s not that I cannot afford it. I easily can. As I just thought about it, I realized it is a more overall mindset that I have.

    I like to focus on investing, earning, and saving. Spending – on the other hand – somehow invokes a negative feeling in me. I cannot really describe it. I’d have felt good investing €2.388 into Apple stock, but spending €2.388 on a laptop???

    In general, I’d describe myself as a simple and Stoic man. I don’t need any luxuries. I prefer minimalism to consumerism. I still drive a cheap used car – which totally does its job of getting me really reliably from A to B. We still live happily in a simple apartment because we see no point in upgrading to a larger and more luxurious apartment.

    For me, it’s not a question of whether I can afford something, but whether I could allocate this money in a better way.

    What could I’ve done with €2.388 instead? I could’ve hired a freelancer to program a web app for me, pay my rent for 3 months, or simply invest in Apple stock.

    Whatever. I knew that – earlier or later – I will need a new laptop. I’m still working with my 13’ MacBook Pro from 2014. It works fine – as long you restrict yourself to 2h of battery life, writing, emails, and 4 or 5 Brave Browser tabs. Everything beyond that? Not really.

    So, the purchase was totally fine.

    What I philosophize about is this “scarcity” mindset I have. Which, for quite a while after I pressed “buy” I thought “are you sure?”.

    After a while, I realized that the better way to think about (and a better mindset to have) is to say to myself: “Great purchase! Now, how can I earn €2.388 today?”.

    This reframing helped me to go from doubting my impulse buy to instantly getting back to work, be productive, and now trying to earn €2.388.

    The quintessence is the following: pay attention to your mind and reframe negative connotations to get into an abundance mindset again – as soon as possible.

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  • Getting Started in Longevity: Resource Collection

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    6 min read

    This is a constantly updated overview of the best resources you may find useful for learning and studying human longevity.

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  • No Coffee for 45-Days

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    3 min read

    Good morning alltogether,

    Last week, I decided to quit drinking coffee for 45-days. I decided to do so, as I realized that — for a couple of weeks — I drank at least one espresso or cup of coffee a day.

    I already experimented with “not drinking coffee” in the past. When I did not drink any coffee, I had better sleep, and I actually slept less as a result. I felt more relaxed, and my focus improved.

    In my last experiment, I realized that we often drink coffee out of habit. We wake up and prepare a coffee. We arrive at the office, we drink a coffee. We have a meeting, we drink a coffee. And so on.

    Caffeine — however — is a drug which we should consume and dose wisely. If you drink a lot of coffee today, and you join my challenge and stop drinking coffee for a few days, you’ll immediately experience heavy withdrawal syndromes such as a heavy headache.

    Last time, I decided that I don’t want to quit drinking coffee entirely, but rather drink coffee much more consciously. To do so, I set up two rules:

    1. Coffee only in Companionship: Instead of drinking coffee alone by myself (like a drug addict), I decided that I will drink coffee only when I’m drinking it with another person. For example, having a coffee-business-meeting or enjoying a coffee date with my fiancée in an excellent Italian coffee shop.
    2. 3/7 Rule: Only drink coffee on three days a week. Let’s be honest, if you go to the office or attend several business meeting every day, it’s easy to drink 2-5 cups of coffee daily while drinking it socially. That’s why I decided it might be a great limit to drink coffee only on 3 days out of 7. This way, your body cannot become addicted and used to the caffeine.

    Somehow, I failed my own rules. That’s why I decided it’s time for a reset. No coffee for 45-days! Why 45-days? In the first 15-days, you’ll experience withdrawal syndromes. This will make you question you “coffee habit” and you’ll realize: “fuck, I’m a drug addict”. Thirty more days allow you to live and thrive without coffee. To experience all the positive effects of not having too much caffeine, how it is affecting your focus, sleep, workouts, and mood. After 45-days, you will either quit drinking coffee entirely or drink it much more consciously!

    I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going. Will you join me?

    Have a great start into this powerful new week!

    Greetings from Kaarst, Germany with some sun and some clouds 20 °C (69 °F)
    Marius Schober

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  • Thoughts on Australia

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    2 min read

    In 2013/14, Christian, a good friend and travel mate of mine, and I travelled and worked in Australia for a couple of months. We loved the country, we loved the nature, we loved the people, we loved the cities. When our stay came to an end, we filed our tax return. We had to choose whether we will or will not return to Australia for work purpose in the future. I crossed “No”. At that time, I did it to avoid further bureaucracy. I questioned my “cross” at that time, as I was pretty certain that I will return and one day move to Australia.

    Today, I’m asking myself: what went wrong in Australia? One of the (previously) most liberal countries became totalitarian. Citizens are stranded abroad, citizens are not allowed to leave the country (not even intrastate travel is allowed), not allowed to leave the house. South Australia is even working on an Orwellian app to monitor its citizens. 

    So totalitarian that I know, at that time I crossed the right answer: I’ll never return to Australia for work.

    However, I wish it were not like that. I hope that Australians will wake up and stand up against their completely totalitarian dictatorship. By doing so, you show me (and the world) that Australian people still stand for freedom and liberal values.

    Read more in this article worth reading: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/pandemic-australia-still-liberal-democracy/619940/

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  • Corruption – Solving the World’s Most Important Problem

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    17 min read

    We see so many problems around the globe. Experts are warning about massive inflation, we see forests burning. The ocean is full of plastic rubbish. The COVID-19 pandemic halted the world economy. The virus and the lockdown measures are costing millions of lives. What role does corruption play, and why is it our world’s most important problem? Which tools can be design to fight corruption once and for all?

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  • How to Sell Your Small Business

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    4 min read

    Successfully selling a small business to an investor, group, or competitor in your industry requires preparation. Otherwise, your business will be less interesting to the potential buyer. Which means that you will struggle to find a buyer in the first place. If you do find a potential buyer, you might be dissatisfied with the purchase price. With a bit of preparation you can achieve both: Your business becomes more attractive to potential buyers and the purchase price will be higher. So, what do you need to consider?

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  • Bitcoin Ponzi?

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    4 min read

    Over the last few weeks, the crypto market has suffered from substantial losses. The last months showed once again brutally how volatile Bitcoin – and with it the entire cryptocurrency market is.

    Ever since I first read the Bitcoin white paper and learned how the blockchain technology works – I have been a big believer and fan of decentralized currencies. However, for over five years I have been telling people that while the blockchain technology is great and decentralized applications will be the future, there is no value in any of them – neither DAPPS nor cryptocurrencies – unless there is a real-world usage of them.

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  • Asking the RIGHT Questions

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    5 min read

    To think about the future of a certain industry, we must start by asking questions. These questions should be honest, and they should be challenging. Right now, we can see entrepreneurs and technologists who are re-inventing entire industries. They do so by identifying a problem and then asking the RIGHT questions.

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  • The Harm of Vaccine Certificates

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    2 min read

    It is absolutely ridiculous that COVID-19 passports or vaccine certificates become more and more acceptable in our society. Currently, there are serious efforts to let those who have been vaccinated (and those who’ve been infected) re-enter life. Those who have not been vaccinated yet or those who have been infected asymptomatically are still waiting to regain their basic rights.

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  • Avoiding Ghettos with Quotas

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    5 min read

    Denmark announced in March that it plans to limit the number of “non-Western” residents in neighborhoods to a maximum of 30%. The plan is to avoid the emergence of parallel societies and ghettos. This unexpectedly was a great opportunity for the sensational media to formulate attention grabbing headlines. However, in this article I want distance myself from attention grabbing headlines and talk about how quotas might actually establish a more equal and fair society – especially for immigrants.

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