4.28.2009
Where Does the Time Go? I Know
4.17.2009
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
4.16.2009
What the Fish Can't See
4.15.2009
Abe Lincoln's Formula for Prosperity
So much wisdom in this piece. These are great principles to live by when building a company, a family, or a community.
- thrift is the precursor to prosperity
- we all need to work together to be successful
- cannot spend more than you earn
- initiative and independence build character and courage
- teach a man to fish and he will fish for a life time
4.09.2009
They Are Not Your Friend
The Wall Street Journal reported today that Bank of America is raising interest rates on 4 million US Credit Card customers who are carrying a balance. This means that even if you have always paid your account on time, you can expect your rate to go up if you don’t pay off the balance at the end of each month. WSJ reports:
“The bank's move follows similar rate increases that other banks, including Citigroup Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., and American Express Co. have implemented in recent months. The banks, facing rising delinquencies, blame the economic turmoil. Many have been tightening the screws on people with less-than-perfect credit, but now they're pinching a broader range of customers who have good credit records, but carry a balance.”
With money I do not have
To impress people I do not know
4.08.2009
Interesting Way to Save Money...
A Couple of More Ways to Save Money:
4.07.2009
Money as a Symbol
A friend of mine owns a coaching company, Sensible Coaching, focused on helping people with money. Her unique talent is helping people and their relationship with money.
“We assign meaning and significance to money that is purely arbitrary. We act as if money has will and volition on its own. We blame things on money, and, even more amazingly, we assign responsibility to money. Money seems to be responsible for ideas like “Rich people aren’t as nice as poor people” or “I always struggle with money”. The way these concepts are expressed makes it seem like money itself is the responsible party, and not the humans involved in the process.”
Worth and worthy. No mistake here. Notice how often we seem to tie our worthiness to our worth. We even speak of “self worth”
Credit. We use the word “credit” to imply validity and trustworthiness, even to give praise. And then there is that whole issue of your credit when it comes to how much you can borrow. Have credit cards changed the way we think of the word “credit”?
Broke. Here’s the big one, if you are broke, are you broken? Many people feel a direct connection here, as if being broke truly does make you a broken human being.
4.06.2009
Lessons From the Men's Urinal
I recently ran across an experiment conducted in the men’s room at
4.03.2009
Successful Habits Formula
“Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.” – Steven Covey
The Successful Habits Formula
1. Clearly Identify Your Bad or Unproductive Habits
Make a list of them, everything from watching too much TV to sleeping too much to not working out. Write beside it the long term implications of that habit, be honest with yourself.
2. Define Your New Successful Habit
This is usually the opposite of the bad habit. Read instead of watching TV or getting up early to work out instead of sleeping in and not working out. Most importantly, write a vivid description of the benefits of the action.
3. Create a Three Part Action Plan
What are things you could do that would implement the new habit. Using the working out example: get a gym membership, develop a workout routine and schedule, get a friend to meet you at the gym as an accountability partner. Make sure you are being accountable to someone. I have found this to be key.
4.02.2009
It Is Not the Critic That Counts
4.01.2009
How Are You Dealing With Change?
This recession underscores the harsh consequences of the failure to understand and respect the fundamental truths of the marketplace.
- real estate and stock markets are cyclical (they go up and down)
- the marketplace is constantly changing due to technology, demographics, economics and politics
"Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure." Confucius
Now is the time to prepare for the future. Life is not going to get easier, we need to learn to make it easier. We need to take the responsibility upon ourselves to learn and think and strategize and act powerfully. We cannot rely on someone else to figure it out and then “hope” that we fit into the plan.
The Aji Network – I have been in courses with them for 3 years and it has completely changed the way I think - http://www.theajinetwork.com/index.php
TED.com – source for tons of educational videos, all free - http://www.ted.com/
MIT OpenCourseWare – MIT has made available all of their curriculum for free - http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm
Insightful Magazines – most are fee now online – Fast Company, Inc, The Economist, Business Week,
Read Books – ask those around you that are successful what they are reading – libraries are still free!