Intentionally Vicarious: Having more fun than anyone else you know! - Self-Actualization - Lifelong Learning - Think About It - Explore - Try New Things - Life A Full Life: Recent Episodes
Todd Youngblood: Learning to have more fun than anyone else you know. - Sel
You’ve got a good job, you’re paying all the bills, you’ve got awesome people in your life... Now what? What else??? What next??? How on earth do you sort through all the options of fulfilling, exciting things you COULD do? You gotta’ be intentionally vicarious... Listen to in-depth stories of what other successful people are doing to reach self-actualization!
"For over 30 years, Park Pride has engaged communities to active the power of parks. Parks have the power to increase quality of life. They promote community engagement, health, safety, and revitalization. They make citizens happy, communities strong, and cities sustainable. Park Pride’s programs, leadership, and funding helps communities unlock these benefits in parks across Atlanta.
DO NOT get swept up into the money-chasing, "Simplify & Polarize" strategy of the politicians and political media. The fact is, 85% of America is in general agreement about what abortion policy should be. That's right, 85% agreement.
Political polarization in America is a MYTH!!! Follow the money and it's easy to see how the media manipulates into believing this baloney.
Living and/or working in an echo chamber is safe and comfortable, but unconscionably lazy and dumb. It is SO, so easy to intentionally - or accidentally - place oneself in an environment that constantly reinforces pre-existing beliefs and opinions, and at the same time prevents consideration of alternative ideas and perspectives.
Listen up to understand just how scary an echo chamber can get...
It's the BEST of times. Not even close. It's HUGELY better to be alive today than ever.
I just got an invitation to connect on LinkedIn from a guy whose profile headline is, “A preeminent expert in leadership development through inclusion.” Not just any expert, a preeminent expert! Are you as impressed by that as me?
Simple, profound and extremely helpful for career planning. Dive deeper and Ikigai becomes a set of guidelines for your whole life.
As we all slowly begin to emerge from our shelter in place lockdown we need to continue to examine and think about what happened, what we did in response to this pandemic and what we should do next.
Am I a crazy daredevil, or am I hopelessly risk averse? No offense, but I don’t give a damn what your answer to that question may be.
Trump’s ability to be an effective President of the United States of America and Commander-In-Chief is incidental to the primary goal of the Dems & Republicans, which is to ensure the ongoing growth and financial health of the Political Industry.
This COVID crisis is serious, but... it's also merely the lastest catastrophe in a centuries-long chain of catastrophes. Everything will be fine.
The short answer to "What's a capitalist's path to community service?" Implement a Willful Impact Business Unit that makes a profit and climbs the Hierarchy of Community Service.
So the COVID crisis got you down? Consider this thought from M. Thomas Blalock, III...
“Hate the pandemic. Love the opportunity.”
Like it or not you, me and everyone else we know is part and parcel of placing a dollars and cents value on a human life. Get your head around that!
All of it! It all needs to become null and void. The CARES Act got passed in a gigantic hurry. I’m OK with that. BUT... When the crisis is over, the CARES Act needs to end with it. If parts of it make sense, Congress can enact new legislation to reinstate those and only those parts.
The Constitution is an amazingly extraordinary document that captures amazingly extraordinary ideas and ideals.
Seems like I touched a few nerves with my “Whither the Post Office” episode a couple of weeks ago. Enough so that I feel compelled to respond to a few things that emerged as objections to my perspective.
With politicians and bureaucrats using crises to suck up more power for themselves, we Americans must insist upon and/or take it upon ourselves to accomplish 3 things:
- ALL “corona-legislation,” that is, bills passed to address this black-swan COVID-19 event, must have a 12 month sunset provision.
- Relax regulatory restrictions - temporarily - to facilitate development and deployment of products and services to address the pandemic and aid economic recovery. Unleash the entrepreneurs!
- Each of us needs to get and keep our own health and economic house in order NOW! We must do so to avoid becoming a burden on others.
It was obsolete and dopey. And I never did wear it. But I still knew where it was after the 4+ decades and 11 homes I’ve had since my collegiate days.
A Zero-Sum game = Higher Costs = Lower Quality = Nothing Left to Invest in Innovation = No Progress. Seriously now, is that a good idea?
Let's keep things in perspective. We survived bubonic plague, SARS, HIV and all manner of other biological crises. Not that it isn't serious, but don't get crazy!
I'm appalled that we allow our federal government to employ more than 600,000 people to expend 95% of their work effort to deliver trash to our homes; while annually burning 146 Million gallons of gas and cutting down 100 Million trees.
I might just draw the line, however with the Skyrider 2.0 standing airplane seat made by the Italian company Aviointeriors. A stand-up seat?
Pampered, self-absorbed, lazy, narcissistic, entitled, reality-TV-watching, participation trophy bearing, smartphone addicted, self-esteem obsessed ne'er do wells, still living in their parent’s basement and craving ever more respect from others that they never even came close to earning? Or those running the show?
Not to sound too harsh, but... a good 80-90% of those wallowing in unpayable student debt are suffering due self-inflicted wounds. For sure, there is no need for one more individual to get self-saddled with student debt. Alternatives abound.
In the 50 years since 1970, the total number of people living in abject poverty decreased! The total number of the abjectly poor today is less than half what it was only 50 years ago!
WOW!!!
Can you think of a politician who does things out of guilt, obligation, duty, or for a reward? Ummm... Wouldn't that be ALL of them?
The Wizard of New Zealand is a real guy who has been in office and guiding that country’s political process since 1990...
The easiest, fastest and best strategy to reduce the insanely high cost of healthcare in the U.S. is to seek out, attack and eliminate crony capitalism. It's all really quite horrifying....
They say we’re entitled to health care. They say we’re entitled to a “living wage.” They say we’re entitled to a school or workplace that is free from words or actions we might find to be offensive or upsetting. etc., etc...
I don't necessarily agree with the entire list...
We humans are getting more and more and more health, nutrition and life-improving stuff using less and less and less energy and earth’s natural resources. Seriously! We are!
I decided to figure out the single best piece of advice I’d ever gotten that:
- Applies to both business AND personal life
- Seems off-kilter at first, and...
- Is spot-on accurate
Thanks for nothing, NCAA. Thanks for nothing, NCAA Conferences. Thanks for nothing, college presidents, administrators and coaches. Thanks for nothing, all you capitalists who tout capitalism up to the point where your own income might get negatively affected. You sleazy, shameless hypocrites!
Imagine the founder of a charitable organization firing an employee for helping a poor family. Sound crazy? Yes, but...
Learn more about the fascinating story of the Family Independence Initiative.
The citizens of the UK are saying, “Enough is enough!” with regard to centralization of political power. The European Union, created for an extremely good reason - preventing war among European countries - took on a life of its own and slowly but surely expanded its role, influence and power, and continues along the path to more and more detailed micro-management of everyone under its purview.
Always be alert for new things to learn, and always recognize that the education may come from an unexpected source.
Congress served its own self-interest by passing at least 19 bills they proudly touted as “making higher education more affordable.” In fact what they did was subsidize the banking industry.
"Science vs. Religion" is a dumb debate. Science and religion are two different and complementary ways to advance our understanding of the universe.
For the sake of our children, grandchildren and all future Americans, we must all stand up to the political industry and loudly and repeatedly declare that I will NOT be made to look ridiculous!
Washington, DC is not broken. Washington, DC is delivering exactly what it is currently designed to deliver.
it's all due to domination of the Political Industry by an unregulated, self-serving duopoly.
So this guy, literally the best in the world at his craft, knew in his heart that without continuing, daily, hard work, he could not maintain his level of performance.
The federal government is now VASTLY bigger and more powerful than any of the Founding Fathers intended or could have possibly imagined. And it’s still growing! This bothers me...
I just finished up the first cruise of my lifetime, an 11-day extravaganza from Anchorage to Vancouver on the Crystal Symphony. Customer service like I've never experienced before.
Going 10 miles per hour under the speed limit when in the passing lane? YOU are that guy!
I tried really, really hard to not get cynical about this debate over including a question about U.S. citizenship on the upcoming U.S. Census. I failed.
In the midst of a recent political conversation, the question of what are the most widely misunderstood political concepts surfaced. In my book, the world champion in this regard is Democracy. Americans in particular, I think, for the most part - get it very wrong.
Sometimes I wonder if any of all those qualifications listed on LinkedIn really matter...
Albert Einstein, arguably one of the smartest, most intelligent people ever once said...
“The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.” When you spout your opinions do you think about this perspective?
I’ve made more than my share of mistakes and have been wrong enough times about enough different things to realize I need to eat a healthy portion of good old humble pie on a regular basis.
It’s not unusual for me to get a quizzical look or a blank stare when I talk about my annual bicycle trip. For me, 10 days pedaling around some European countryside is downright glorious!
I was shaking my head, wondering why on earth I watched an hour of TV news shows last night...
I hated piano lessons as a kid. My quest to re-start is a whole different kind of challenge.
Why would you complain about something that 1) will never go away, and 2) is a good thing? Would you really prefer the STUPID version of EVERYTHING?
The politicians’ level of deceit about debt is going to rock you back in your chair. If we took literally every single dollar in existence in the universe today, and used it to pay down the federal debt, we’d still be short $8.5 Trillion.
We owe more dollars than there are dollars!
Answer "Yes" or "No" - It makes sense for Congress to pass a law that would instantly convert someone in 43% of U.S. households into a felon.
Why do our politicians constantly mislead, mischaracterize and deceive? Because we INSIST they do so. We constantly demand they do stuff, but DO NOT make us pay.
Ever considered that maybe you didn’t actually solve anything? But instead just got tired of thinking?
Yes, politicians do indeed LOVE to spend more and more money and to disguise the fact that they're doing so. BUT... Are We The People pretty much demanding that they do both?
“Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.”
That’s what Colonel Crosby O himself would advise. I think you need to heed his advice.
The feeling that government has grown larger than is good for the country and continues to grow unabated is anything but new. I am far from alone in decrying Big government. I also recognize that not everyone agrees with me about the too-bigness of the Feds, so I decided to try to figure out a way for all of us to get a better feel for just how big, big actually is.
If it was somebody other than Yogi Berra that said this, that sombody was channeling Yogi!
Every single one of us can tell multiple stories about a truly awful customer service experience. How can bad customer service be so rampant? It’s literally a $350 Billion industry. With that much money up for grabs, how can this be?
"...true learning continues until it is put into action." Book learning is fine. So are degrees and certifications. But... ACTION reigns supreme!
Former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Tip O'Neill, a Democrat from Massachusetts, is most closely associated with the phrase, “All politics is local.”
Today??? His famous assertion is sadly - scarily - totally wrong.
Big Brother isn’t watching us. Big Brother is expending tons of effort to keep us from watching him!
Polititainment, Recreational Outrage and Competitive Victimhood, are not only clever, insightful and intriguing all on their own, but are also all tightly linked together.
Be aware that they exist and us this knowledge to beef up the sensitivity of your bullhshit detector!
An old friend and colleague of mine e-mailed me with an intriguing observation. “100 years ago, if you did not have common sense and situational awareness, you would starve or be eaten by a bear. Nature was self correcting. Today, modern society protects people with no common sense or situational awareness. They are growing in numbers and finding careers in politics.”
IV's thoughts from this bit of insight from my pal, Nick S!)
For all practical purposes, the 10th Amendment - which limits the power of the federal government - does not exist. What should we do about it? Convene a Convention of States maybe?
Centralization of political power is an eerily potent and scary phenomenon. There’s a tipping point somewhere that marks severe trouble. The poster child for centralization run amok, of course, is the former Soviet Union.
The great conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein really got it right when he said...
"To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time."
Reality Leakage: Daniel Patrick Moynihan was a Democrat who held significant positions in the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford administrations. He also represented New York in the U.S. Senate from 1977 to 2001.
In 1994, the Senate debated Bill Clinton’s “Goals 2000” legislation. Among other things, it promised - not suggested working toward or trying, but promised - that America’s high school graduation rate would be 90% and that American students would lead the world in math and science achievements.
At that time, Moynihan stated that those goals illustrated the “leakage of reality from American life.”
Common Sense is common. It’s Common - Typical - Average - Run-Of-The-Mill. By definition, if something - anything - is common, virtually everybody has it. There is nothing the least bit special about it.
I had the good fortune to catch up with a colleague and friend from the past. Paul Nicholson is a Zoho ONE Authorised Training Partner among a host of other things... Paul & I got connected in a bit of an unusual way - It was about 10 years ago and we were both doing consulting work for a company in Bermuda - So the guy from Doncaster in the UK meets the guy from Atlanta, GA in Hamilton Bermuda!
It’s no secret that I claim to be having more fun than anyone else I know. Yes, quasi-tongue-in-cheek, but the fact is, it genuinely is an important life-goal for me, and I take having fun seriously.
No, I don't like golf all that much. THAT said, each year for the last 28 years, I've gotten together with three buddies for a golf trip. Maybe it's not about golf...
Of the 56 cities in the U.S. with more than 250,000 residents, only 11 are conservative compared to 45 that are liberal. Why is that???
Without 2 Senators per state and the Electoral College, the U. S. Constitution would NEVER have been ratified. NEVER! And the dream of a United States would have fallen apart before it ever really got started.
Change Senate representation to something based on population and/or abolish the Electoral College today, and discussion of the catastrophic impact would EXPLODE.
I don't often get to take advantage of the opportunity for a double-header bashing of our politicians and their foolish shenanigans. This government shutdown and silly border debate just teed one up for me!
“More than 90 percent of the medicine being practiced today did not exist in 1950.”
John Steele Gordon in A Short History of American Medical Insurance
“Follow the money” is clearly the best strategy for understanding what REALLY motivates somebody. But that’s not always easy or even possible. Given that I figured I’d share a few more thoughts on how I keep my BS Detector tuned up.