I recently rented the movie, “Margin Call.”  The storyline, simply put, is about one investment firm’s decisions in the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.

This is definitely one of those movies that kept me thinking long after it was over.

The how and why of what happened doesn’t seem to be as much about understanding the technical or financial details of the crisis as about understanding the motivations, circumstances, lifestyles, personalities, aspirations, and situations that the players found themselves in. 

While it can be said that the financial crisis was about greed, somehow this movie portrays something that is different from just greed. 

The character flaws spanned a range of personalities, pressures, situations, ages and experience levels.  The magnetic appeal of making large amounts of money quickly is hard for many to resist.  Even aside from material things, it can be surprising what money will buy, e.g., loyalty, a fall guy, a lifestyle, compliance, etc.  From that perspective, it’s not hard to see how this could easily happen again. 

It’s sad to see what people rationalize doing to sustain the money flow that they/we have grown to become dependent on or accustomed to. The common mantra is:  “You might as well take the money.  If you don’t, someone else will.”

It’s about sustaining a lifestyle that some have grown to expect or feel entitled to.  It is also about an economy that isn’t based on a real value exchange.

Rather than describing this self-described thriller as “frightening” or “sad”, it is actually “sobering”….”surprising, yet not”…”disturbing, but also the reality” of human nature. 

To me it is about Blood Money and what we sacrifice to get it.

This is definitely a movie that I would recommend seeing, though I think we will have to wait a very long time to see a satisfying resolving Sequel.  Would you agree?

Self expression isn’t always easy.  Maybe that’s why I admire those who openly exhibit an apparently unshakable confidence to be themselves. 

It’s easy not to realize that behind outwardly confident people there are probably many encounters with ignorant people than most people are even aware. 

It seems that in life, it’s almost impossible to escape criticism entirely.  The schoolyard “Sticks and Stones” saying and the online advice of “Don’t feed the trolls” is only a small part of the story.

Sometimes scarier that just the verbal assault of a bully or an online troll is the scarier form of this which is extremist ideologues, a.k.a. people that are on a mission to push their own agenda as being the only correct agenda and will use any means available to acheive their outcomes.

Granted, it is not easy for some people to be tolerant of points-of-view that are diametrically opposed to their own, especially when it comes to political, religious, economic ideologies, or any ideology for that matter.

Let me clarify that I’m not saying that all ideologues are bullies, because there is a huge difference between an ideologue who is mature and tolerant and one who is an irrational extremist.

Conventional wisdom is to not even bother fighting the sorts of battles that you’ll never win. It sucks to hear that sometimes the bad guys win, especially when things escalate beyond just name-calling.

Optimists may point out that losing the battle isn’t the same as losing the war.  But to those lost in the battle, unfortunately the outcome of the war does become rather irrelevant. 

Everyone has a right to choose where their loyalties lie. There will be people on both sides of almost every argument who will never give up their loyalties. 

And, different ideologues have different ideas about what they are fighting for.  Some simply seek support for their ideas, while others seek apologies, and others want you to join or leave their group, to just name a few.  But there are also those that seek more extreme outcomes as well.

There are tribes on all sides of every argument.  It’s great to have a tribe on your side.  But that’s where I see is an ugly side of tribes, too. It’s scary to know that the enemy has a tribe on his side, too.

New technologies allow for the easy expression of many different points of view, many that may not align with our own. 

People will believe who and what they want to believe.  Yet I feel that it is still important to get our unique stories out.  Giving both or all sides of the story allows people to decide for themselves who or what they want to believe, especially those people who want or need to understand others sides of an argument, too. 

Isn’t that how we work to encourage tolerance, e.g., how advocacy against bullying and acceptance is growing through movements like the “It Gets Better Project”?

It is unfortunate how it is often easier to find the negative one-sided stories than to find the  more balanced or first-hand accounts of a story.

But there are stories to be told about all sides of situations.  And, there are people that want to hear the other side of the story, too.

Maybe it’s easier to tell a story than to fight a fight?  Maybe story telling is how we fight some fights.  Maybe we can only know what value our stories provide by telling them? Maybe the recent movie, “The Help”, is one example of this? 

What other stories still need telling?  That’s something that I’m going to give some more thought to. What about you?

In the current economy many people are cutting back on “extras”, or at least attempting to.  But are we as frugal as we think we are?

Maybe we should start by getting clear on what frugality means to each of us. As we know, frugality can have a full range of definitions and connotations which range from the negative, i.e., being a Scrooge-like miser, to the positive, i.e., being a monk-like minimalist.

In general, as expressed in this blog post entitled: “Frugality – Not Just for the Poor”, frugality is described by The Frugal Goddess as a positive, i.e., “it is about getting the maximum out of available resources.”

Clearly “cutting back” is not the same as adopting frugality as a lifestyle, but it is definitely a step in the right direction, especially if building up savings and digging out of debt (or similarly: trying to lose weight; or getting healthier; or managing our time better; etc.) is our ultimate long-term goal.

Is there value in being “only sometimes” frugal? That all depends on: which definition of frugal we are using; what our goals are; and also if we are as frugal as we think we are.

For example, let’s say we are “frugal” on 90% of our supermarket shopping (or dieting; or exercising; or time management; etc.), but then feel we deserve to splurge on some extras which end up costing us more than we initially saved.  Is that maximizing resources?  Or is that being “penny wise and pound foolish”, i.e., “overcareful about trivial things and undercareful about important ones”?

Can we really be happy being frugal in a world of plenty alongside “the Joneses”?  Excess spending (or, over-eating, or mindless TV watching/gaming, etc.) can quickly become a lifestyle choice without us even realizing we’ve made those choices.   Cutting out (or at least cutting back on) those things that we don’t “need” shouldn’t be considered a sacrifice or deprivation (though it may seem so at first) because those are things that are not adding real value to our lives anyway.

Maybe the question we should be asking is:  Does this “Excess Stuff” (or Fast Foods/Snacks, or Time Killers, etc,) truly make us happier in the long run (though it may seem it does in the short term) and does it get us closer to achieving any goal(s)?

Is frugality an “All or Nothing” Game?  Or can we strike a balance between the two extremes?  What if we filled the voids created by what we cut back on with a new appreciation for the simple things of life that would become more apparent if we only believed they existed and we made the effort to find them (e.g., calm; peace of mind; patience; relaxation; awareness; etc.)?

Articles that I recommend which further exemplify the benefits of frugality include:

(1)   “Simplify, and Savor Life” by Leo Babuto, Zen Habits.

(2) In “Black Friday: The World Tells You to Shop, We Ask You to Stop” by Inhabitat, consider this quote: “We may live in a world governed by consumerism, but next time you’re standing in hour-long queues with a cart-full of goods, you should really consider whether or not this is something you could skip. We think those hours could certainly be spent more wisely with the same friends and family you happen to be shopping for.”

(3) “What Is Frugality Really?” by The Frugal Goddess.

What questions would you ask yourself (or others) about frugality?

I really don’t like to hate.  But there is one thing in particular that I just hate that I love.  It is: Diet Coke. 

I admit, I love Diet Coke. I love the brand.  I love sipping it in the afternoon (especially around the 3 o’clock hour); often I even love it with breakfast.  I love the Olympics for which they are a sponsor.  I love the sound of the can opening.  I love the feel of the plastic 20 ounce bottles. I love the red color in the logo.  I love it over ice.  I could go on and on… 

On the other hand, what I hate about Diet Coke is knowing that the ingredients aren’t particularly healthful, though the industry claims they aren’t particularly dangerous either.  I hate the claims that Diet Coke can potentially even cause weight gain; that its ingredients affect calcium absorption;  and that the articfical sweeteners can have adverse affects in our bodies, though the American Diabetes Association and American Heart Association don’t seem to have any problems with the product.  I hate that it is addictive.  I hate that it’s an expensive vending machine habit.  I hate that I still love it anyway. 

At the same time, I have been successful in some self-imposed spans of abstinence, from which I have often relapsed, too.  Currently I’m off it again, trying to stay away from sources of caffeine to sleep better. 

But then again, considering the movie, “Thank You for Smoking”, I can’t say that I would fight to have the product banned either.  That movie nicely supports the message that we all have a choice.  That we can’t blame an industry for making profits by offering a product that we can perfectly well choose not to consume. 

I could probably write a whole book about the pros and cons of Diet Coke.  (If you’d be interested in reading it, just let me know since I’d love to write it.)  But for now, I’ll close with the following thought which was sparked by these two articles I just came across: 

• “Plain Old Soda Gets a New Pop in a Down Economy” – Time
• “Coca-Cola CFO: Industry must fight soda taxes”  – The Boston Globe

Consider this fact:  Carbonated beverage sales in the latest 12 months ending May 2010 totalled $18.7 billion.  That’s almost as much as BP is putting into its uncapped oil cleanup escrow fund. 

That’s a lot of money that we as consumers (collectively) spend in a year for a little bit of enjoyment.

So….what do you hate that you love?

There were some recent news reports that the board game, Scrabble, was changing the rules of the game to now allow Proper Nouns.  

But, before anyone, who hasn’t yet heard the whole story, gets overly excited about nothing, be comforted to know that any kind of sacrilegious move like that would not apply to the Classic version, but would only apply to an upcoming Family Friendly version of the game.

While Scrabble really is “just a game”, our first knee-jerk reaction to the initial news reports does tell us something about ourselves. 

Probably the more outraged people are either really serious players or simply very rules-based people, as opposed to the more casual player who is happy to play to any set of agreed-upon rules.  Which are you?

Maybe you are the type that takes comfort in traditions?

Or, maybe you are someone who has worked hard to master the strategy of the game by memorizing the right words to take advantage of those double and triple letter/word scores?

Personally, I enjoy finding long words which surprisingly amount to very few points compared to those strategically placed short high-point combinations.  For some reason, I don’t seem to want to change my ways in order to get more points?  What does that say about me?

Or, maybe you are the rule-breaker who would be the first one to get your friends to agree to not play by the official rules anyway?

Could we even go so far as to suggest that if you experienced a strong adverse reaction to the initial news reports, that perhaps this reaction may have to do with more than just the Scrabble game, but might reflect how you feel about the need to follow rules in other areas of your life?  …and vice versa?

I don’t know.  What do you think? Is it okay to mess with the Classics?

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:

1. While it’s great to have both quality and quantity, sometimes having just the right amount of ”quality quantity” can create the more unique experience.  For example:  Having over 100 people leave comments on an article would be great, but who would really read them all?  isn’t reading through a list of less than 20 comments much more do-able and satisfying?
2. Sometimes paraphrasing thoughts gives just enough info to point someone in the direction of where you’d like them to explore further.  I like how Josh Hanagarne achieves that is this post he wrote on Victor Frankl.
3. Sometimes quick and simple is all that people need or have time for.  For example: A “How To” guide on how to do something quickly probably shouldn’t be lengthy and detailed.
4. Then again, small or “less” is relative.  Someone else’s “sporadic” behavior might be another person’s regular or peak level.
5. Either way, I’m sure we can agree that doing something, no matter how big or how small,  is better than doing nothing.  For example:  Isn’t any reply (or acknowledgement) to a comment or request better than ”the sound of crickets chirping“?
6. Starting small is often the best and only first step.  For example, earning that first dollar in any business pursuit is a great initial goal, as explained in this: Tony Robbins/John Reese interview.

 

In the end, it does depend on what you are looking for.  For me, I’ve been finding that sometimes when I look too much for only big things, I can under-appreciate or overlook those smaller things that can be exactly enough, too.

Can you think of other examples where “Less is More”? or, perhaps the opposite, when “More is Better”?  If so, please share below.  Thanks!

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.”

Yet, even to those not directly experiencing a job loss, seeing others go through this has an effect.  You may feel like you want to do something to help, but you may not know what to offer, or you may be too worried about your own situation to even really be much help to anyone else anyway.

Either way, I’ve found it invaluable to look at our current economic and political environment as a time to re-evaluate — a mid-life crisis of sorts, regardless of whether it is truly mid-life for me or not.

Another favorite Mary Engelbreit artwork quote to consider is:
“I don’t really care if my glass is ½ full or ½ empty –
I’m just happy to have a glass.”

For me, it’s become a good time to ask:  Do I want more of the same or do I want to take things in a completely different direction?  Is status quo going to cut it for me in the long run?  And, of course, the ultimate follow-up question is then figuring out a realistic and achievable route to then pursue.

To those currently employed, my best advice to you is to: keep yourself marketable, and always have a plan for the unexpected.

For those currently seeking new income opportunities, consider the following resources for ideas and inspiration:

• For top career news (including freelance, entrepreneurial, full- or part-time employment, etc) check out: career.alltop.com. (Note: Find your favorite blogs there & create your own customized My Alltop page.)
• In addition to the traditional job search engines of: CareerBuilder.com, Yahoo! HotJobs.com, and Monster.com, also try the job aggregation site: Indeed.com.
• For good books about non-traditional career paths, consider:
  • Career Renegade by Jonathan Fields, @jonathanfields
  • Fired to Hired by Tory Johnson, @toryjohnson
  • Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pamela Slim, @pamslim
  • Escape from Corporate America by Pamela Skillings
• Career planning goes hand-in-hand with good financial planning, my favorites for great free financial advice include: Liz Weston @lizweston (of MSN.com) and Suze Orman (of CNBC) @suzeormanshow. (Remember: As Suze Orman says, “Plan for the worst, but hope for the best.”)

I hope that you find this information helpful for yourself, and/or for sharing with those you care about. 

If you know of additional sources of reliable career or financial advice, please add them in a comment below.  Thanks in advance!

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?

How many people are now re-assessing, or no longer putting off, serious planning for: retirement; long-term health care; emergency funds for unexpected expenses, including car repairs or necessary home repairs (e.g., plumbing; electricity; heating) or major appliance replacements; etc.?

To what degree will we see a re-emergence of the suburban survivalist and the do-it-yourself industry? For how long will we pay for more things with cash and less with credit? What changes will we see in sales pitches, incentives, rewards, penalties, bonuses, interest rates (on savings, on debt, on loans.), role models, and the behaviors of our neighbors or friends?

Have some of us become more grateful for what we do have and what we haven’t lost or put at risk?

How many of us will instead choose anger and resentment towards those that have recklessly or negligently put the system and taxpayer money at risk?
And, how many others of us will make no changes at all, believing that these kinds of things only happen to other people and that the environment around them hasn’t significantly changed much at all?

In the end, it’s important to know how our behaviors will change collectively, but regardless of what everyone else is doing, it is most important for us to look out for and do what’s best for ourselves.

That’s why I most align myself with the following Denis Waitley quote:

Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.”

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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?

After watching Cruise Inc. Big Money On the High Seas, where we hear how cruise ship profits are earned from on-board spending (in particular, drinking and gambling) and are not from cabin fares (which include free food and shows), I thought of an interesting experiment to test….

Could you go on a cruise at the heavily discounted rate of $35 per night, with a simple inside cabin with no views, and not spend any additional money, AND still have a great time?

I would assume that most people probably can’t.  Then, try adding this additional twist to the experiment:

How much do you think you could charge people for a frugal cruise course that teaches them how to have fun without spending money?

How dependent are you on the service-sector for your happiness?

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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?

When some people talk about the reticent workforce and the gullible populace/citizenry, a.k.a.  “sheeple“, i.e. the masses that don’t (or are afraid to) question authority while expecting “nose wipes” from their government, it is usually meant derogatorily.  To me, it implies that more people believe in the Madness of Crowds than the Wisdom of Crowds.

Add to that the assessment that:  “our current educational system trains people to be employees not entrepreneurs.”   While I agree with that to a point, I must admit that I also somewhat take offense to it, too. 

I am a product of our educational system.   I have been an employee for many years.  I have dreams of more, too.  I’ve also walked on fire and heard all of the empowerment talks.  I’ve bought and read the books: ”Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow“  and “What Color is Your Parachute?”  There seemed to always still be some elusive missing ingredient to having a dream life.

A new wave of this type of book is now surfacing that may soon overtake those older “classics”, they include:  ”Escape From Corporate America“, “I Don’t Know What I Want, but I Know It’s Not This”, and the new-to-be-released “Career Renegade“, the latter of which looks to address this very issue of “passion and prosperity.”

I believe, or maybe it’s a hope, that there is a layer of people that have appeared to lie dormant for far too many years that are now awakening to a need to change the status quo.  Can the upcoming unprecedented economic crisis create a societal shift in our expectations for our working environments and income opportunities?

At the same time, this reminds me of one of my favorite thought-provoking quotes from my Twitter buddy, Blair Warren:

Can society really change?

Seth Godin, in his book, “Tribes“,  also talks about a related concept of “Sheepwalking”, i.e., employees that have been raised to be obedient and fearful, afraid to speak up and challenge the status quo.

I believe that this fear isn’t always misplaced.  People aren’t going to risk their livelihoods for something they aren’t passionate about.   

However, sheepwalking certainly does become a tragedy when there are ideas worth fighting for that aren’t fought for because of a misplaced and unproductive fear. 

Another online-friend of mine, Jim Kukral, recently spoke about how he looks at fear.  He does not have a fear of failure as an entrepreneur because his incentive to succeed is his fear of having to get a job where a boss yells at him all the time.

Have the past twenty years, which created our current financial crisis, also created an environment that has made people become more curious and passionate about changing the status quo?  As quoted from “Tribes“: 

“It’s easy to underestimate how difficult it is for someone to become curious.  For seven, ten, or even fifteen years of school, you are required to not be curious.  Over and over and over again, the curious are punished …. It’s more about a five- or ten- or fifteen-year process where you start finding your voice, and finally you begin to realize that the safest thing you can do feels risky and the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe.” (Tribes, p 64)

Might we now be at the point where an awakening is brewing?  I want to add, too, that I don’t believe this is a trend that is being lead by the Millennials, though they are clearly a part of it.  I think this is a concept that is finally ripe and ready to be enjoyed by those that have dreamed of it for so long.

Maybe we can create more jobs through a changing of the guard.   As one layer of “sheepwalkers” awaken and become entrepreneurs or leaders of change, the jobs they leave behind can be filled by the currently unemployed that need to get back on their feet.

Either way, as “risk”, “fear”, and “safety”  take on new meanings, I mostly want to suggest that we not underestimate the potential of the people which can too easily be written off and assumed to be “sheeple” — they might not be (or remain) as fearful and unaware as some may assume.