Ben Sinclair

Hey! I'm Ben. I’m a Christian, husband, father, son, friend  and I work at Tithe.ly. I'm passionate about finance and technology. These writings are for me, however, maybe they’ll be interesting to others. Thanks for stopping by!
December 21, 2022

True forgiveness

I learned recently what true forgiveness was. Forgiveness is totally about the person who is doing the forgiving. Holding onto un-forgiveness is like a rotten apple in a barrel of good apples. Forgiveness is more than you saying you forgive someone. It’s you making a decision to not hold whatever it was they did to you (knowingly or no...
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December 20, 2022

When everything seems worse

Notice that everything seems worse when you’ve had a fight, feel low or sad about something? These are NOT moments to make big decisions. Write it down if that helps and then wait for the feelings to pass. Then relook at the doomsday feeling and you’ll generally find it actually wasn’t that bad, if at all. -Ben
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December 19, 2022

On being kind to yourself

We can be our own biggest critic. I know I am. I was wondering recently whether or not I am giving enough time and attention to my children. Some nights I’m so exhausted that the thought of spending an extra 5 minutes playing before bed is massive. Is it ok to feel that way sometimes? Yes! It’s ok to sometimes be a bit low or not motiv...
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December 18, 2022

How much is enough?

This is an incredibly hard question to answer but a good one to ponder on. When does one have enough? Money, possessions, acquaintances, experiences, and so on. The thought that comes to my mind is what does “more” cost? Time, relationships, money, joy, anxiety, and so on. Does the “thing” outweigh the cost? Those with a longer time pr...
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December 17, 2022

Favorite books as of 2022

Audiobooks and podcasts have been a lifesaver for me as someone who hasn't liked to read text so much in my life. I've managed to consume a lot more content audibly. Below is a list of my favorite books as of 2022. These are books that I felt impacted my thinking and life in some way. Religious • The Bible (NLT) • The Bondage Breaker •...
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December 16, 2022

All fiat money is debt

I’ve been listening to an awesome book called The Creature from Jekyll Island recently and it’s been fascinating learning about the Federal Reserve and related entities. One point I was reminded by the book was that when you take out a loan from the bank, they create the money out of thin air. That’s right, the money didn’t exist. When...
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December 15, 2022

Heart knowledge

The world is full of information. We can learn and become experts at anything we set our minds to. You can have all the head knowledge that you can fit into your brain but it’s through experience where that knowledge is really solidified within us. That’s when it converts to what I call heart knowledge. What we experience and go throug...
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December 14, 2022

Wisdom is applied knowledge

You know the saying “actions speak louder than words”? You might know what to do (knowledge), but do you do (apply) it? -Ben
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December 6, 2022

Giving is a gift

As a Christian, we are required to give. God gave so much to us, how could we not? I gave away something today to a complete stranger and boy did it make me feel good. I struck up a conversation with an older gentleman in line to receive a gift card. I asked him how it worked and he told me if someone spends over a certain amount at th...
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December 4, 2022

My testimony

Today I shared part of my testimony at my church which has encouraged me to write it down. Here goes... I was born into a Christian family. My parents were a part of the Anglican church before having children. My dad met a lady who was miraculously healed of cancer and she gave him a booklet with 7 steps to obtaining the gift of the Ho...
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November 29, 2022

My startup business story

It's been a joy looking back at the last 20 years of my experience where I co-founded one business and founded a second on my own. Both were self-funded and both were sold. I never had the intention of selling, it just fell into my lap. Each attained different levels of success and brought with it a lot of wisdom, knowledge and talent ...
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November 27, 2022

We get good at the things we practice

The more you do something, the more experience you have with it. You can do things badly for sure so it’s not perfect. Question…. What do you practice often vs what do you want to be good at? -Ben
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November 27, 2022

Synchronous vs asynchronous remote work

At our recent all-in meeting with the Australian team at Tithe.ly, we had a constructive discussion about what it's like working for an international company. This got me thinking. The bottom line is, running a remote international synchronous (RIS) company is hard. The hard part revolves around the word "synchronous". I define an RIS ...
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November 26, 2022

Why every Christian should do the Freedom in Christ course

My church ran the Freedom in Christ course recently. I'd seen it before and as someone who'd been a Christian my whole life, never even stopped to consider it. My amazing wife suggested I attend it as I wasn't in the best place due to events that had occurred over the last 2 years. I agreed to do it without thinking much of it. After a...
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November 25, 2022

Bitcoin and the bear market

I got into cryptocurrency in 2021 like many others. The excitement, the adrenaline rush and the hopes for riches out of nothing was all so alluring. Bitcoin to $100k! I definitely got caught up in the hype and to be honest it was a little bit of an escape from what I was dealing with. I went deep down the rabbit hole and consumed hundr...
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November 24, 2022

Happiness comes from wanting what we have

“The world's concept of happiness is having what we want. However, never has there been a society where people have so many things yet are so unhappy. Happiness isn't about having what you want. It's about wanting what you have. As long as you're focusing on what you don't have, or what you can't do, you'll be unhappy. But when you beg...
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November 23, 2022

Don't do what feels right now

I saw an ad for a local university/college on a bus stop that read something along the lines of "do what feels right now" when choosing a course to pursue. In a similar vein, I was also reading a health and wellness book (written by a millennial of course) and it was suggesting that if you're not enjoying your job or your partner right...
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November 22, 2022

Tough times = character growth

I've been participating in the Freedom in Christ course that was held at my church recently. Definitely a top 10 best decision in my life to do this course. Something Steve Goss mentioned in the last session around tough times really resonated with me. “If we don't come out of a tough season changed for the better, it would have been w...
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November 21, 2022

NEAT

At our recent company all-in, someone in their 3-minute lightning talk shared about an acronym called NEAT which really caught my attention. “Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) is the energy expended for everything we do that does not include sleeping, eating, or exercise; and ranges from simple things like standing and fidgeti...
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November 20, 2022

What you prioritize, you do

You always have time to do the things you want to do. It always comes down to what you prioritize. What you prioritize, you do. Quick example. If you prioritize an extra 30 minutes of sleep over exercise, then you will sleep. If you prioritize waking up 30 minutes earlier and doing exercise, then you will exercise. Take responsibility ...
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November 18, 2022

Use good judgement

At the company I founded, before selling it in 2018, we had your typical employee handbook. It had a section on policies and rules. Rather than a big list of dos and don'ts, it simply said that we don’t have any policies for social media or using your phone and so on. Instead, the one rule we had was to use good judgement. I wanted to ...
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November 15, 2022

Take responsibility for your life

Have you got a habit you want to get rid of? Do you want to exercise more? Eat healthier? Have more friends? Overcome low feelings or depression? Most of the time, a solution is not going to fall in your lap. Getting all the help and knowledge is almost useless if you do nothing with it. You have to do something. Take responsibility fo...
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November 14, 2022

Breath. Be Present.

It can be easy to be triggered by something that makes you go down a negative path either in your mind or verbally to a friend, loved one or maybe some stranger on the train. Breath. Rethink. Calm your mind. Be present. Is it worth getting worked up about? -Ben
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November 9, 2022

Two examples of making customers lives harder

It's interesting to see the security decisions decided by companies. Some value security over usability which can do more harm than good. Two examples... Example one: forcing users to manually type their password A bank I use does not allow me to autofill my password when I log in. I have to manually type it. That's right, I can't even...
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November 8, 2022

What's with the obsession with dark mode?

Why are software companies so obsessed with dark mode? I saw an app the other day proudly announce in their release notes, their top feature, was the fact they now had dark mode. I have nothing against dark mode but I struggle to see why there’s so much excitement around supporting it. Dark mode makes me think of the old school develop...
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November 7, 2022

The best way to become more uncertain about something is to ask one more person’s opinion

Jason Fried made a great statement in a podcast I was listening to. The best way to become more uncertain about something is to ask one more person’s opinion. It’s a challenging thought that encourages me to make decisions without the need of including too many others. -Ben
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November 6, 2022

Subtle things that have substantial impact

I learned the other day something about handling my 5 year old son when he is really upset about something. If I try to distract him or downplay his reason for being upset, it can subconsciously teach him that it’s not good to show emotion. Instead I should do the opposite and show him it’s ok to be upset and to show emotion. I can sco...
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November 5, 2022

Think about what you’re thinking about

One thing I’ve been trying to do this past year is to be more self aware. What I think about is a tell tail sign of what’s going on in my inner world. The Bible says to “take every thought captive” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Once a thought has been captured, I ponder whether the thought is truth. I also think about where the thought coming ...
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November 4, 2022

I’m glad we all agree

I love this comic. It’s so true! “I’m Glad We All Agree by Jeff Patton” This comic reminds me why it’s so important that we write ideas up first to get everyone on the same page. Discussing verbally can be thwart with problems around everyone leaving a meeting thinking the same thing. Writing ideas up goes along way in saving time and ...
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November 3, 2022

What you do comes from what you believe

The true test of what one truly believes about themselves, others, the world is put on show based on what they do - their actions. Does what you believe match your actions? If not, maybe you don’t truly believe what you think you do. -Ben
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