Okay, time is about up! The “100 Articles in a 100 Days” contest which I wrote about in my last post is as good as over.
While I started off with high hopes of accomplishing what I now realize was an overly-ambitious goal of completing this contest in about 1/3 of the allotted time, not surprisingly, that didn’t happen. But that’s okay. I’m still glad I gave it a go.
Surprisingly, I didn’t realize that I would learn as much as I did in such a short period of time. If you are curious, here’s what I got out of my brief participation in this challenge: Read more »
This month I’ve belatedly and ambitiously undertaken the “100 Articles in 100 Days” challenge via Ezinearticles.com. And, since I only found out about it with less than 30 days left, this is an extra big challenge for me. Apparently it is still do-able, so I’ve decided to give it a go.
I don’t know why this challenge excites me. I’ve never succeeded at anything like it before. As it is, I already seem to have a hard enough time trying to write more than two blog posts a month anyway. But, for some reason (maybe it’s the bragging rights) this challenge has caught my attention. If I succeed at it, it will be the hardest I’ve ever worked for a coffee mug (so you can see, the “prize” isn’t the big draw either.) But, I particularly like that I can write about anything I want. Read more »
The current financial crisis has certainly made many people re-think their way of doing things. I would expect that those hardest hit by a sudden, severe, and unexpected shock would most likely be the first to change their ways. But, for how long?
The degree and amount of change will certainly depend on how hard hit such individuals and their loved ones have been by this financial crisis, as well as their ability to recover from it, what and how much has been lost, and what is still at risk of being lost.
And, what about those of us that are still in pretty good financial shape and are not being forced to change due to circumstance, will we still change some of our habits based on a reawakened awareness to the realities of risk and uncertainty? Read more »
Physical product over-consumption clearly hasn’t been good for our environment nor for our pocketbooks, but, is enough being said about service-sector over-consumption, too?
Do we really need to hire someone to regularly clean our homes or take care of our lawns, have a personal assistant or personal shopper, pay frequent visits to a chiropractor, get pedicures and manicures, or massages, or attend expensive seminars, multiple times per year?
Once we are used to the convenience (and benefits) of these kinds of service-sector amenities, and we see our neighbors and co-workers indulging in them, they are hard to give up. Plus, these things are important for the health of our service-sector economy, too, right?
What if we can learn to be happy with or without spending money? Maybe knowing that we could easily give up those kinds of things, if necessary, would be a good skill to acquire? As Suze Orman has suggested, what if we only spend money on things that we can truly afford to and not spend money when are only able to afford things on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis? Read more »
Every year, new buzzwords are coined (see last year’s list: “The Buzzwords of 2008“). Clearly the list for 2009 is still evolving and will certainly include words that do not even exist yet.
Surprising or not, even the “eye-blurring” subject of Economics has contributed buzzwords to our lexicon as when “irrational exuberance” became a buzzword back in December of 1996.
“Green shoots“, as first heard from Bernanke in a “60 Minutes” interview last month, is sure to make the list of buzzwords for 2009. In reference to the state of our current economy, this phrase is a metaphor indicating that we are starting to see signs of economic recovery (or as others would suggest are merely indications that “things are not getting worse at an accelerating rate.”)
Depending on your political persuasion, “green shoots” might even be a good way to characterize Obama’s first 100 days in office.
Quite conveniently, the phrase “green shoots” has also arrived in time for the Celebration of this year’s Earth Day, or as some would say is Earth Week, or Earth Month. The Obama Administration’s new focus on the environment also reflects the “green shoots” that make this year’s Earth Day different from those in the past.
Yet, as pointed out and paraphrased from at least one of this Sunday’s morning talk shows: “a good start doesn’t insure a good finish.” There is still a long road ahead.
Read more »
Opinions are essentially based on: our interpretations of information; and, our life experiences. Once we form an opinion, it is not uncommon that we believe that our opinion is the right opinion to have.
Groups form based on people with similar opinions, priorities, and interests. We often reinforce and nurture our beliefs from these groups.
Yet, we know that it is also important to form opinions of our own, too, and that we can’t just blindly accept the opinions of others.
There will always be things that we can’t possibly know everything about and/or things that we haven’t experienced in the same way that others have. For those times, it is important to be open to seeking out and considering the opinions and experiences of others.
Read more »
Is it better to know or not to know?
Does more learning occur before, during, or after we’ve studied something?
The truth is that many times the learning stops once we believe we’ve solved a problem. That’s when we think we can safely put the previous concerns to bed, go into “autopilot” for that situation, and begin focusing our energies on the new/next situation.
Often we’ll stay in that “solved” mode, never giving it much more thought, until it resurfaces as a new problem for us or someone else.
Uncertainty about any situation inevitably can lead to feelings like anxiety, frustration, fear, anger, or apathy. These are feelings that no one is comfortable staying in for extended periods of time. Often, longer bouts of uncertainty can appear to be more tortuous than even swift negative results.
Read more »
Is there a right or a wrong way of thinking? Some would say there is – that if you don’t think like (or agree) with what they think or believe then you’re wrong, or worse, that you’re stupid.
It’s easy to be judgmental of others. Sometimes we’re conscious of our biases, yet many times we’re not. Regardless, it is something that none of us are entirely immune from doing.
So, maybe being right or wrong isn’t the only stance to take. Today’s problems are much too complex for that. Maybe a better question is: How much thought have you given to your current quandary, situation, or opinion? And, what might be different if some new information or perhaps a different way of thinking about your position was objectively (non-defensively) taken into consideration? Would new solutions be possible? Would more constructive conversations take place?
Read more »
So, how are we to resolve the mental tug-of-war that can come up around the topic of making mistakes?
For example, there can appear to be a clear conflict between: (1) the desire to completely avoid making potentially detrimental mistakes, while also (2) hearing that if we’re not making mistakes then we’re not learning and thus less likely to achieve the same level of success than if we did.
Read more »
These days it seems almost impossible to avoid reading, seeing, or hearing news reports about the current economic crisis.
I, personally, am not one of the people that can honestly adopt the mantra of: “I refuse to participate in this recession.”
Instead, I try to listen, understand, consider, and learn. I’ve even been considering whether or not I need to re-consider some of my existing beliefs. The jury is still out on that.
Most recently I’ve been thinking about some of the different ”personality types” that I’ve encountered regarding money, three of which include the following:
Read more »
