I’m sure you’ve probably heard the saying: “Less is More“. I would agree that, at times, saying too much, doing too much, giving too many details can take away more than it adds.
Sometimes leaving space for someone else to fill in the blanks can be truly magical. And, often, summarizing ”key take-aways” gets your point across much more effectively than losing someone’s attention half-way through.
The tricky part is knowing when to leave “well enough” alone. There is often that desire to add or give just a little bit more. It isn’t always clear when too much is simply too much, or when not enough is not enough.
Lately I’ve been starting to see how the Goldilocks principle of ”just right” can be nicely applied to embarking on new endeavors. Consider these examples: Read more »
Recently another couple of people I know unexpectedly lost their jobs and joined the ranks of the temporarily unemployed, not by choice, nor due to poor performance, but quite simply due to their company’s decision to re-organize its structure and strategy.
True, it really isn’t anything new that companies reorganize or merge or go out of business. It really does happen all the time. Unfortunately, we just happen to be in a time when a lot of this is happening to a lot of people at the same time, thus making it that much more noticeable to everyone.
Losing a job (that you may or may not have loved) no longer seems to be something that only happens to other people. The possibility of this happening to any one of us, or to someone we know, just seems to be that much more of a real possibility than ever before.
This makes me think of a favorite Mary Engelbreit artwork quote of mine:
“Life is 10% what happens to you and
90% what you do with what happens to you.” 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 »
Just as there are two main political parties in the U.S., so, too, does there seem to be two main income-earning paths that people pursue: (1) be an employee, or (2) be an entrepreneur.
Of course, there are the Switchers, those who leave the “safety” of employment for the “risk” of self-employment. The Switchers have been more of the minority to date. But, what if that tide is turning? Will our current economic crisis create a larger percentage of employees or entrepreneurs?
I hear more and more how “the Depression Era created more millionaires than any other time”, that “this financial crisis is our biggest break“. Now is also a time of much rightly placed mistrust and suspicion. And, we are again and again reminded that what appears ”too good to be true” probably is. What are we to make of all this well-meaning advice?
Isn’t pursuing our dreams ”risky”? If people don’t pursue their “dreams” because they don’t know how (or are afraid they won’t be able) to make a profitable living at it, is that really an unwise decision? Living the life of the stereotypical “starving artist” doesn’t make society a better place for anyone, right? Read more »
Often the most important advice given to bloggers, writers, or anyone in social media (and probably in business, too) is to be helpful.
Whether you believe in good karma or not, it is not often disputed that if you are helpful to others without expecting anything in return, you’ll be surprised at what does come back to you in return. If your intent is the opposite, you may still get results, but more than likely not the same as if you did otherwise.
For me, the tricky part is in knowing what other people find helpful. Being helpful means different things to different people. There are many ways to be helpful.
I would say that the extremes on the ’scale of helpfulness’, if you will, would probably range from being totally selfless to being totally selfish. If helpfulness were put on a scale, I would put the following fifteen ticks on that ruler (generally ranked here from better to worse, though I’m sure some of you might re-arrange the order somewhat):
Read more »
I’ve been intrigued lately by a new section of books in the Barnes & Noble bookstore that I frequent. It is a grouping of books labelled “Thought-Provoking”.
Clearly ”Thought-Provoking” isn’t a subject that one can easily build a business idea or a keyword strategy around. People aren’t likely to go to a store or to Google looking for something “Thought Provoking”.
Either way, ”Thought-Provoking” seems to be a viable and growing category of books which might include a mix of psychology, sociology, philosophy and science. Such books are perhaps just as likely show up in the Self-Improvement section as in the Business section of a bookstore.
Perhaps this new category has been spurred by Malcolm Gladwell’s success with his books, Blink and Tipping Point. As a recent article from Timesonline.co.uk entitled, “The 10 secrets of Malcolm Gladwell’s success“, suggests, the popularity of “arcane” books like his might be due to a “sociological transformation of the past 25 years”. An interesting premise. Could there be a “more intellectually curious” business-mindset developing out there?
Are we at a turning point? As the economy slows down and people pull back to take the time to rebuild their net worth and adjust to potentially widespread structural changes, will a new mindset and new work ethic arise, too?
Might not the next ten years be a time when a new set of successes show up to challenge Gladwell’s assertion that there’s not a shortage of talent in the world but that there’s a shortage of people willing to put in the 10,000 hours it takes to become successful? Could these “Thought Provoking” books be a sign of something new to come….
Generally when we hear of a “win-win” solution, we probably think it refers to something good, right? I know I did. I didn’t realize that win-wins can actually be placed on a “scale”, ranging from “good” win-wins all the way over to ”not-so-good” win-wins.
It’s common knowledge that, often, negotiations include some degree of compromise where each party gives in on some points and as a result gets something that they value in exchange. If the “gives” and the “gets” are perceived as comparable (and along with the big assumption that the negotiation was conducted in “good faith”), the outcome is usually considered to be a good deal. Maybe throw in a little face-saving for good measure, too.
I think the difficulty and disappointments come when not all people involved in the negotiations are working towards the same outcome. Read more »
Blogging about politics is always risky. Usually quite early on, a reader will recognize which party you support and will respond accordingly — they’ll either keep reading if they identify with you or they’ll move on if they don’t. Few stick around to hear what someone of an opposing political party wishes to espouse unless they’re looking to judge that opinion and its believer as being ridiculous. I say this because I, too, have been there and done that (and try as I might, I still go there more often than I’d like to admit). We are all human (if that’s an acceptable excuse, I don’t know; you be the judge on that.)
I could avoid the topic all together, or not. As citizens, I don’t think we can continue to avoid these difficult conversations. I would agree that fighting for the sake of fighting doesn’t accomplish anything. So what do we do? How do we approach these conversations respectfully while still being true to ourselves as bloggers and as citizens with points of view looking for solutions and not as journalists that are obliged to be objective in their reporting of events?
Read more »
How’s a consumer to know what to believe? Anything and everything can be debated either way. Check out this post about the new High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) Lobby commercial as posted on Triplepundit.com and Twittered about by @thecitizen. Look at the comments to this post, too. A strong argument can be made for either side.
Then also find, in the sidebar on that same site, an ad for a movie trailer about the business and the future of Water, check it out at flowthefilm.com. The trailer seems to depict a film full of convincing arguments, told in a documentary style similar to An Inconvient Truth and the 9/11 Loose Change films. These films can be convincing. Some people are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt. Some are not. Some fall somewhere in-between.
Looks like we need more places that let us hear both sides of an argument so that we can then choose for ourselves about which side we think should win, such as in the relationship-related site called: Sidetaker.com (as heard on Twitter). But then again, I guess our upcoming elections will be the largest scale version of this. It’s amazing how each side of an argument will have its share of people that are adamant about its side being the only way to think about something.
