Controlling our tendency toward Creative Avoidance
By Kevin M
How is it that that some people seem enormously successful, yet astoundingly they have more free time than the rest of us? Have you ever noticed as well that some people who are incredibly busy are at best only moderately successful? Perhaps you’re one of them, always busy, but not having as much to show for your efforts as you think you should.
The typical human reaction to this apparent contradiction in the natural order of things is to assume that the successful person with all the time on his hands is a) lucky, b) has an “in” with important people, and even c) must be doing something unethical, immoral or illegal.
While each of those considerations isn’t beyond the realm of possibility, there’s a far greater chance that the successful person with all of the free time on his hands has found a way to
maximize his results while minimizing his efforts. He manages to do this by saying “NO” to unproductive tasks, either by making it clear to others up front that he won’t engage himself in them, or by simply refusing to participate.
Logically, isn’t that what we should all be doing?
Continue reading Majoring on the Majors by Learning to Say NO →
By Kevin M
Recently on OutOfYourRut I’ve been writing a series of posts centered on employment alternatives–self-employment, side businesses and soft employment (part-time, temporary or contract work). The purpose in discussing these alternatives is based on my belief that the weak employment environment we now find ourselves in may not be temporary, and longterm changes need to be implemented in order for us to survive in a job market that may look very different from what we’ve know for most of our lives.
( Photo by Phil Campbell )
Though connecting employment weakness to the recent recession is the standard line, doing so fails to give proper recognition to longer term trends which have had an even greater effect on the job market than we assume. Globalization, advances in technology and rising healthcare costs have marginalized much of the labor force in countries such as the United States. While technology has been eliminating jobs at home, wage arbitrage has been taking place globally, in a competition that high wage/high benefit labor bases, such as that of the U.S., are at a competative disadvantage versus low cost/unbenefited work forces in third world countries. We can protest that it’s unfair competition all we want, but it’s also the reality of our time.
Though the evidence is all around us, I stumbled upon a recent article that addresses the longer term job outlook more directly.
Continue reading Jobs and Careers That Aren’t Coming Back →
By Kevin M
Starting a new business is often a process of navigating a series of challenges. The greatest ideas can land in a ditch for unforeseen reasons. In fact it’s often not a bad concept that causes a new business to fail, but a lack of staying power. Starting a business should be thought of as a long term plan and not a get-rich-quick scheme.
Motivational author and speaker Robert Ringer provided a user-friendly re-definition of the concept of positive thinking as positive thinking through assumption of a negative result. You don’t assume failure, but you anticipate problems and prepare for them.
There is a constructive difference between true optimism and blind optimism. True optimism is based on solid planning—it springs from preparation and planning. The more common blind version rests on vague concepts like an idea that’s “too good to fail” or “I’ll succeed because I’m me, and I believe in me”. That kind of hype can quickly vaporize in the face of an empty bank account or a failed business deal.
So what kind of preparations will stack the deck in favor of your new business venture and generate a sense of true optimism?
Continue reading 7 Ways to Improve the Success of Your New Business →
STRATEGY #10 TO SURVIVE A DOWN ECONOMY
By Kevin M
When careers and money become questionable foundations in our lives, what’s left? It’s often only in bad economies that we even entertain the question.
In 10 Ways To Survive a Down Economy (published on Christianpf.com June 1) we listed ten strategies to help us deal with the bad economy. Our topic for today, the final strategy, Strategy #10:
Seek fulfillment beyond your work. In a world where careers are no longer either peaceful or progressive, self actualizing through your work may not be the path it’s been in the past. Fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities to find fulfillment outside of work. Take more active roles in regard to your health, family, faith and community.
Continue reading Seek Fulfillment Beyond Your Work →
Radical Self Reliance in the New Economy
By Kevin M
What if the economy isn’t turning the corner? What if the “Great Recession” isn’t a recession at all, but the early stage of a longer term economic devolution?
I consider this as more than a reasonable possibility. As much as we might cling to the notion of “business as usual”, the history books tell us that long term cycles are periodically broken by the onset of a new eras. The fall of the Roman Empire was one such turn; the onset of the Industrial Revolution was another. Closer to our own time and place were the Civil War and the Great Depression. All of these events changed not only the rules of the game, but also the way the majority of people lived. And they were hardly isolated incidents.
I’m reading Survival+, Structuring Prosperity for Yourself and the Nation, where author and website host Charles Hugh Smith spells out the “Great Transformation” that we may well have entered already. The evidence to support his claim isn’t hard to find.
Continue reading Radical Self Reliance in the New Economy →