Be grateful for your job

It's too easy to complain about your present position, whether it be as a nightshift cashier in a supermarket or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, without appreciating how you got there. Where would we be without mothers taking in laundry so that their children could take piano lessons, or fathers working second jobs so that their children could attend college? Before you go any further, stop and give thanks for the contributions others have made in your life.

You say, "But things are not going too well for me right now." Perhaps, but when Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers he couldn't possibly conceive that God would turn their evil intentions inside out and establish him as a leader to save the nation. The Bible records story after story where adversity leads to advancement and loss leads to gain. There's a master plan unfolding in your life. Be wise, take the lessons you've learned into the future God has in mind for you. When evil comes, be comforted in knowing that God is in control. The Devil may be stoking the fire you're in, but rest assured that God has His hand on the thermostat!

The story of Job teaches us that the Devil has to be given permission to attack us. So if God is allowing the attack, surely He's planning our victory. He wouldn't allow us to be in a battle we couldn't win! God looks for hand-picked people He can send into difficult environments, that He might be glorified. He makes all things "work together for good" (Ro 8:28) so don't be intimidated. Just keep your eyes open and see what God is up to!

To spread a social movement, like scaling up the world AIDS response, religious leaders need to talk to religious leaders, business to business, youth to youth, and media to media. Studies show that messages spread most effectively when they come from their peers.

In an initiative to bridge the gaps between groups that don’t usually connect, the World AIDS Campaign is convening 12 “leadership encounters” – small facilitated meetings away from the microphones and crowds of the main conference. By having these meetings, the campaign hopes the different sectors will find common ground and uncommon activities.

For instance, in the dialogue between leaders of the youth and media, MTV committed to convene a youth advisory panel. Other dialogues occurred between leaders of faith communities and men who have sex with men, and between commercial sex workers and the business community.

The World AIDS Campaign will compile a report of the commitments, and follow them up and report on them in Vienna at the AIDS conference in 2010.

But this isn’t the only group collecting commitments in Mexico. At the Youth Pavilion in the Global Village young people staff a “youth commitments desk”, asking for leaders to promise to scale up youth participation in their programs.

In 2006, the youth commitments desk at the Toronto AIDS conference collected 371 commitments. But making commitment doesn’t guarantee action. A team of youth followed up the 371 commitments and found a completion rate of 25%.

What is standing out for me at the conference is the need to focus on investment and programs for and research of the most at-risk groups---, men who have sex with men, drug users, sex workers and prisoners.

Let’s be frank, this is no “save the children” kind of cause – generally people are afraid of these groups and don’t know much about them. I’ve had a lot of global experiences in my life, but I have never spoken directly with a sex worker or prisoner (to my knowledge). With so many sex workers here, I can surely change this soon.

Simple prejudices and impressions aside – the numbers tell a shocking story. Of global AIDS expenditures, only 1.2 percent is spent on specific responses to men who have sex with men. This totals $3 million out of the estimated $30 million needed according to UNAIDS.

“Less than 10% of high risk populations are receiving appropriate prevention.” Alex Coutinho, Executive Director, Infectious Disease Institute Uganda.

Outside of Africa – drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with men make up the vast majority of those contracting HIV. It’s amazing after 25 years and billions of dollars we are not able to better address these populations. There is research and success stories that document what works in these populations, especially in Mexico and Brazil.

Youth are key to this struggle actually – we need a generation of young people that can fearlessly empower and protect the human rights of sex workers, prisoners and drug users.

To spread a social movement, like scaling up the world AIDS response, religious leaders need to talk to religious leaders, business to business, youth to youth, and media to media. Studies show that messages spread most effectively when they come from their peers.

In an initiative to bridge the gaps between groups that don’t usually connect, the World AIDS Campaign is convening 12 “leadership encounters” – small facilitated meetings away from the microphones and crowds of the main conference. By having these meetings, the campaign hopes the different sectors will find common ground and uncommon activities.

For instance, in the dialogue between leaders of the youth and media, MTV committed to convene a youth advisory panel. Other dialogues occurred between leaders of faith communities and men who have sex with men, and between commercial sex workers and the business community.

The World AIDS Campaign will compile a report of the commitments, and follow them up and report on them in Vienna at the AIDS conference in 2010.

But WAC isn’t the only group collecting commitments in Mexico. At the Youth Pavilion in the Global Village young people staff a “youth commitments desk”, asking for leaders to promise to scale up youth participation in their programs.

In 2006, the youth commitments desk at the Toronto AIDS conference collected 371 commitments. But making commitment doesn’t guarantee action. A team of youth followed up the 371 commitments and found a completion rate of 25%.

With her doll-like face, she hardly looks her 23 years, but Thembi has learned a lot about life. After she was diagnosed with HIV at age 16, she started taking a tape recorder with her everywhere to capture her life.

At aidsdiary.org, listeners travel with her on her first visit to the doctor, hear firsthand about the decline of her T-cell count. The diary covers her progression to full-blown AIDS, starting ARV treatment, and finally having a daughter.

Presenting her story at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, she talks about how keeping a diary empowered her. “Ever since I knew my status my life has changed for the better. Ever since I started my diary I have felt more confident and comfortable and I am an inspiration to other young people.”

In a conference or thousands of experts, the most powerful presentations still come from personal testimony. In one of her entries, she reflects on the future.

”I’m just imagining what a world would look like without me in it. I’m not scared of dying but of leaving my baby behind. I want to see her grow a little bigger. HIV will try to rule my life on the inside but outside I will be boss. I want to study and have a good job, I want to go on with my life.”

Beyond the radio, Thembi also writes a blog http://thembisaidsdiarytour.vox.com/.

A recent concert hosted by the South African government, she reflects below on how AIDS messages still don´t effectively reach young people at risk.

”I felt like those images on those big screens with infected people had nothing to do with me. It reminded me of high school. When they would show pictures of thin, poor orphans that look like they are dying, and try to scare you out of having sex. But it never works because young, South African, at-risk kids do not see themselves in those images. They cannot imagine that it can happen to them.”

Her has been used as a teaching tool all over the world and aired on National Public Radio in the U.S., and in the U.K., Australia and Canada, reaching more than 50 million people.

With her doll-like face, she hardly looks her 23 years, but Thembi has learned a lot about life. After she was diagnosed at age 16 with HIV, she started taking a tape recorder with her everywhere to capture her life.

At aidsdiary.org, listeners travel with her to her first visit to the doctor, hear about the first the decline of her T-cell count, her progression to full-blown AIDS, starting ARV treatment, and finally having a daughter.

Presenting her story at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, she talks about how keeping a diary empowered her. “Ever since I knew my status my life has changed for the better. Ever since I started my diary I have felt more confident and comfortable and I am an inspiration to other young people.”

In a conference or thousands of experts, the most powerful presentations still come from personal testimony. In one of her entries, she reflects on the future.

”I’m just imagining what a world would look like without me in it. I’m not scared of dying but of leaving my baby behind. I want to see her grow a little bigger. HIV will try to rule my life on the inside but outside I will be boss. I want to study and have a good job, I want to go on with my life.”

Beyond the radio, Thembi also writes a blog http://thembisaidsdiarytour.vox.com/.

A recent concert hosted by the South African government, she reflects below on how AIDS messages still don´t effectively reach young people at risk.

”I felt like those images on those big screens with infected people had nothing to do with me. It reminded me of high school. When they would show pictures of thin, poor orphans that look like they are dying, and try to scare you out of having sex. But it never works because young, South African, at-risk kids do not see themselves in those images. They cannot imagine that it can happen to them.”

Her has been used as a teaching tool all over the world and aired on National Public Radio in the U.S., and in the U.K., Australia and Canada, reaching more than 50 million people.

For the first time, a youth caucus delivered a statement to the more than 600 religious leaders meeting at the Ecumenical Pre-Conference to the International AIDS Conference.

Youth of faith are conservative, moderate and liberal.
Youth of faith are infected, effected and affected by HIV and AIDS.
Youth of faith are abstinent, sexually active, married and single.
Youth of faith are of every race, socio-economic class and ethnicity.
Youth of faith are women, men, men who have sex with men, gay, straight, transsexual, people who use drugs and sex workers.
Youth of faith do not all speak English.

Our values come from our faith, but our safety comes from our access to and understanding of comprehensive sex education.

Youth of faith will be and are meaningfully involved in all levels of the churches’ response to HIV and AIDS.

However, meaningful involvement of youth and children requires meaningful investment from us all. It requires young people to raise our voices, and it requires our elders to open their ears.

HIV is a virus, not a moral condition. Youth of faith strive to end stigma between faith-based and secular organizations to make access to treatment, care and prevention to increase the quality of life for all people living with HIV and AIDS.

We can no longer wait to be protected! We look forward to working with all of you to end this pandemic. Truly, our Faith is in Action.

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For more information contact Daniel.Pieper@elca.org

“Cutting to the chase”… Strictly selling hours of your life for dollars is the inverse of a practical and profitable business plan. The word “selling” is very important here because that’s what happens in every business transaction. A product is sold and purchased at an agreed upon price. The corporate exchange of hours for dollars is no different; it just has a different twist.

Everyone is the CEO of Their Own Corporation

What most people don’t realize is that you never really work for anyone but yourself. The only question is: What are you selling, and to whom? Even when you have a full time, salaried, “Corporate America” position, you are still running your own business. You are selling one unit of your existence (an hour of your life) at a set price (the associated fraction of your salary) to a customer (your employer).

Good Business vs. Bad Business

Selling hours for dollars is a flawed business plan. Let’s take a quick look at the components of a good business plan vs. that of the standard hours for dollars routine.

A good business plan:

Multiple Products – Providing multiple options to your customers.

Product Development Growth – Innovating and expanding the core capabilities of your product.

Multiple Customers – Your total income revenue is acquired from several sources. The loss of a single customer will not jeopardize your sustainability.

Scalable – Your business can grow naturally without disproportionately increasing costs. Also, it cannot be shutdown by the absence of a single worker.

Inventory Expansion – Inventory can be expanded to meet increasing customer demands.

The business of strictly selling hours for dollars:

One Product – A single hour of your life.

Static Product Growth – You can change your level of productivity within an hour, but you can’t change the dynamics of the hour itself (which is the metric you are being paid by).

One Customer – Your employer. If you lose your one customer, you lose your business.

Single Point of Failure – If something happens to you (injured, ill, etc.), your business suffers.

Ever Declining Inventory – Life has a limited inventory of hours. They cannot be reproduced.

The Silver Lining: You Must Find Your Passion

There is, however, a silver lining. When you are passionate about your work, even in an “hours for dollars” environment, you open the floodgates to a world of accelerated personal growth and contentment. Suddenly, you are working to learn, mindfully indulging in the task at hand. This passion is the byproduct of interest. You have to be genuinely interested in the subject matter of your profession. In other words, dollars cannot be the primary source of motivation. Once you find your passion, here are some ideas for maximizing your career growth potential:

Learn as Much as You Can – This becomes a natural process when you are truly passionate about your work. Obviously, the more you know the more valuable your time will be to others.

Pursue Unpaid Growth Opportunities – Get out of the “hours for dollars” mindset. See if you can barter your skill set with others in your industry. You educate them as they educate you. Knowledge is worth far more than money.

Provide Value from Within a Black Box – This is how you increase your level of impressiveness. Your efforts must make someone think, “Wow! How does he/she do that?” They can easily see your inputs and your results, but aren’t 100% sure how you got from point A to point B.

Innovate – If you think there might be a better way, try it. The worst case scenario is you’ll have to revert back to the way things are now.

Help Other People – The best way to get what you want is to help others get what they want. This will also aid you in establishing strong professional relationships.

Market Your Visibility – Don’t be bashful. Take credit where credit is due.

Avoid the “Hours for Dollars” Mentality

Even when working in an “hours for dollars” environment, you can avoid the “hours for dollars” mentality. Find something you’re passionate about and take it to the next level. Become a guru. This should help you to strategically position yourself as a “go to guy/gal”, someone your superiors (and industry insiders) see as a vital asset.

Doing so will ultimately free you from the bounds of an arbitrary hourly rate, because you (your business) will become entwined with the future objectives of your employer (and maybe even the industry as a whole). This typically translates into big raises, bonuses, etc. You’ll start getting paid based on the tangible value you provide. Eventually, this position of power can be leveraged to start a company of your own.

Financial wisdom is not intrinsic to the mind, it’s learned. Most people who are brilliant with their finances received at least some third-party guidance. Maybe they absorbed the knowledge from a parent or grandparent. Or perhaps they pursued it on their own by reading personal finance books, blogs and magazines.

Either way, if you’re not doing well financially, you’re probably ready for some advice that makes sense. Here are 28 unique bits of financial brilliance from around the web, each linking back to a source article containing further instruction and insight. Enjoy.

I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something.
- Jackie Mason

1. Stop buying “stuff” you do not need! – “Purchases of a few hundred dollars add up quickly to thousands of dollars. On top of that, if you carry a balance on your credit card, you will pay on average 12% to 14% interest. These rates can skyrocket quickly if you are late on even one payment. In addition, you may become subject to late fees and penalties. All this to get something that isn’t even used or enjoyed. No thank you!” – via My Super-Charged Life

2. Start rolling an income snowball. – “Most people know how they’d make money in an ideal world. The problem is that most of these “ideal” schemes require lots of time, planning, risk taking, etc. On the other hand, most of us have skills that we could implement tomorrow to make money independent of an employer (this could be anything from doing landscape to hiring ourselves out as a consultant). So the first step in creating an income snowball is to write a list of things you can do to make money in ascending order of difficulty and speed of implementation.” – via The Growing Life

3. A car lasts longer than 5 years. Stop wasting your money! – “Cars are simply a method of basic transportation…that’s all they are. They are assembled hunks of metal sitting on four tires designed for the purpose of transporting us safely from point A to point B. I doubt Henry Ford ever envisioned the kind of luxuries we see in today’s automobile - voice activated radio controls, heated leather seats, heads up displays, and backup cameras installed in bumpers. If families invested the $400 a month wasted on new cars into a good, growth stock mutual fund for 30 years they could easily retire millionaires. Hope you like the car!” – via Frugal Dad

4. Live within your means. – “When you spend less than you make, you are buying flexibility and freedom. You gain the ability to change jobs or move to another area of the country. You are buying the ability to say yes to the things that matter because you save on the areas that aren’t as important to you.” – via Productivity501

5. Debt can make you money. It’s called good debt. – “Would you take a million dollar loan at 1% interest? I would. I’d immediately put it in a few interest baring accounts that are FDIC insured (I say a few because FDIC insurance doesn’t cover a whole million). At today’s rates, which are historically pretty low, you can make a guaranteed 3% on that money. That means the debt naysayers would be missing out on 2% of a million dollars, $20,000 a year.” – via Lazy Man and Money

6. Money management can have many positive side effects. – “My husband and I both work out our finances together. I’m still the budget maker and bill payer in the family, but since we make the decisions on how the money is allotted, we have to make the time to communicate, come to an agreement, and project our monthly financial plans. We’re more unified in our marriage than we’ve ever been.” – via simple mom

7. If you don’t have an emergency fund, start one now! – “It’s better to be safe than sorry. Nobody can anticipate when the roof will have to be repaired or an appliance will need to be replaced. The idea is to try to find ways to live below your means so that you can save for retirement and other long-term goals but at the same time make it a priority to set money aside in the event an urgent need arises.” – via Everything Finance

8. Financial freedom only solves small problems. – “You know what really determines our happiness levels? Not money, but how optimistic we are and how often we have monogamous sex. Money cannot solve big problems, like cancer or world hunger or happiness. Money solves small problems, like, can you have a big wedding, can you go on a good trip. Small problems are what people talk about when they talk about financial freedom.” – via Brazen Careerist

9. Financial calculators are your friend. Use them! – “In various posts I have referenced financial calculators that I like. I’m going to put them all in one post so they are easy to find for reference. As I find more, I’ll add them to this list.” – via My Dollar Plan

10. There is no specific template for business success. – “Living a life that’s not based on a template and being true to yourself may not mean paving a road in the sky like the Wright Brothers. However, if you tell everyone you want to start your own business, you will be doubted. They’ll tell you everything that’s wrong with your idea and why it won’t work: You have no experience. You’ve never run a business before, what do you know about sales? It takes money to make money. Almost no one starting their first business knows exactly what they are doing.” – via Illuminated Mind

11. Carrying a credit card is safer than carrying cash. – “The maximum liability for unauthorized use of a credit card is $50 according to federal law. The Fair Credit Billing Act protects you from suffering damages due to unauthorized use of your credit card. If you report a lost or stolen card before anyone uses it, you are not responsible for any charges. If you do not report it before an unauthorized use you are liable for a maximum of $50.” – via The Consumerist

12. There are numerous ways to make money on the side. – “The old phrase “spend less than you earn” is made up of TWO factors: spending and earning. Sure you can reduce your spending by a great deal, but very few people have saved their way to wealth. They have also earned additional income and then put that money to work for them.” – via The Wisdom Journal

13. Dream big! It will motivate you to save. – “We know that we want to retire early, but that goal is completely intangible. If I try really hard, I can conjure up an image of me waking with a sense of freedom to simply work when the mood strikes, but that dream isn’t very action-oriented. On the other hand, I can feel the wind in my hair as I dodge my husband (cackling wildly behind me) around a tree on our custom go-kart track. Now that’s some good motivation to live simply and keep saving!” – via On Simplicity

14. Financial intelligence is your most lucrative financial asset. – “Before investing in real estate or the stock market, invest in yourself by developing your own financial intelligence. As they say, knowledge is power.” – via The Change Blog

15. Concentrate on your passions and money will follow. – “Making money isn’t the backbone of our guiding purpose; making money is the by-product of our guiding purpose.” If you’re doing something you love, you’re more likely to put your all into it, and that generally equates to making money. - Warren Buffett – via Success Soul

16. Some sunken costs are worth letting go of. – “Persisting with bad decisions due to our irrational attachment to costs that we cannot recover has become so common that you can find them just about anywhere. Big organizations and governments excel at it. A government that insists on a war so the lives already spent “are not wasted” comes to mind, but I digress…” - via Litemind

17. The best things are free. Money cannot buy happiness. – “You’ve heard the saying ‘The best things in life are free.’ Do you believe it? Spending time with family and friends, laughing, enjoying the antics of a pet, seeing a child smile, experiencing intimate and heart-felt moments with a loved one - these times are precious, and free. Money brings comfort, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying that comfort. But it’s important to spend money on the things that matter to you and let go of spending that does not add value to your life. We spend on what we need, but we forget why we are doing what we’re doing, and the spending becomes a habit.” – via Think Simple Now

18. There are scores of simple ways to reduce spending. – “Use grocery store bags to line trash cans: This may not work if you use a massive trash can but we use a small sized one for which the grocery bags are a perfect fit. This not only helps us save some money, but reduces our environmental foot print and avoids the kitchen from stinking from a huge overflowing trash can.” – via Dumb Little Man

19. Wealth comes with wealthy thinking. – “Ask yourself, right now, how much you think you are worth in terms of your employment. I can almost guarantee you the figure you came to was based on your current salary. Now add a ‘0’ onto the end of the figure you came to; how does that make you feel? If you thought ‘there is no way I am worth that’, then you are a poor thinker.” – via Change Your Thoughts

20. Be careful when lending money to friends and family. – “It’s age old advice for a reason. The problem with lending money to loved ones is this: If you lend serious cash to someone you care about, you still expect it back right? Sometimes the people we care about expect the relationship you have with them to excuse or “forgive” loans that you have no intention of forgetting about… especially if you can’t afford to. Tempers flare, words fly like knives, and those knives sever relationships. Sometimes those wounds heal, and sometimes the damage is permanent.” – via In My Heels

21. Spending less keeps you grounded to what matters most. – “I like being frugal, living simply, spending less than I have to because it keeps me real. It keeps me grounded. Adds humility to my life. It’s like sticking my fingers in my ears and sticking my tongue out at pretentious people who think money is all that defines a person. I don’t want to be flashy and flaunty and feel the need to show what I have or make to find worth in myself. If that’s how I am trying to value myself, I might as well give up now, because it makes me worthless.” – via Remodeling This Life

22. Bike to work… or anywhere for that matter. – “I bike somewhere between one and three times a week to work. It’s a nine mile ride one way. Taking in the cost of gas in our area (currently $3.85/gallon), and wear and tear on the car, I estimate I save close to $4.50 each day that I ride my bike. And this does not take into account any residual health benefits that will down the road in life make the cost of any potential health care I might need lower due to being in better physical condition. Cost savings alone should make biking at least a consideration for anyone who lives within a few mile of their work location.” – via The Jungle of Life

23. Sit on purchases for at least 24 hours. – “When making a large purchase, it’s far too easy to get caught up in the emotions of having the item, which results in bad decisions. For any large purchase like a car, TV, new furniture, laptop, etc. implement a 24 hour rule. Instead of buying the item right away, go home and wait 24 hours to see how you feel about it. Chances are you’ll talk yourself out it, or maybe decide to purchase something a little less expensive.” – via Gather Little By Little

24. Don’t fall victim to advertising tactics. – “Big companies try many tricks to get us to buy goods we don’t really need. For example, don’t be swayed by 50% sales promotions; just because it is on sale doesn’t mean it’s good value or that you need to buy it. Don’t get excited over every 3 for the price of 2; otherwise you will just start to accumulate things you are never going to use. If you feel pressured by salesman, walk out — if you really want the product you can always come back.” – via Pick The Brain

25. Untargeted capital allows for a flexible lifestyle. – “Some people target all their saving and investing at something in particular–buying a computer, buying a new car, putting a down payment on a house, sending the kids to college. These are all worthy goals, but the sequence of them can easily eat up all your savings for virtually your entire life. I think people who do this miss out on certain large advantages that come from having some untargeted capital. Having a little capital saves you buckets of money. It also gives you a lot of flexibility in how you live your life.” – via Wise Bread

26. You have to decide what you really want. – “What would you like your net worth to be? When would you like to retire? How much money do you need to finance your life goals? What investments would you like to make? Are you going to create multiple streams of income? Are you going to invest in stocks and/or bonds? Are you going to invest in real estate? Are you going to hire a financial planner? Is your goal to create enough passive income so that you don’t have to work another day in your life?” – via Abundance Blog

27. Discuss money openly with your partner. – “Money can’t buy you love, but it sure can tear it apart. And while I can’t claim that my wife and I are perfect when it comes to money and relationships, I can say that we’ve come a long way, and we rarely ever have money disagreements anymore. It wasn’t always that way, and we’ve had our share of fights along the way, but we’re in a much more solid relationship these days because we learned how to talk about money, and how to align our financial goals.” – via Zen Habits

28. Saving your health can help you save your wealth. – “How many motorcyclists, bicyclists, skateboarders, etc. do see foolishly blazing around without wearing any form of protective body gear? It’s your life. A quality bicycle helmet will cost you $40 and 2 seconds of your time to put it on before you ride. If you don’t wear one and end up crashing and cracking your head open, it could cost you thousands of dollars in medical bills and take months, if not years, for your body to fully recover.” – via Marc and Angel Hack Life

Your health is your life, and your wealth represents the fruits of your labor. I assume you don’t want to be wasteful with either of them. Here’s how to save both at the same time:

So many people spend their health gaining wealth,
and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health.
- A.J. Reb Materi

1.Reduce Your Consumption of Drugs – That includes alcohol, cigarettes, over the counter, prescription and otherwise. Drugs are a huge financial drain, and in most cases, unhealthy for the human body. A significant portion of the global population abuses the crap out of them on a daily basis, legally and illegally.

2.Learn to Cook and Prepare Healthy Food – People who eat every meal out tend to have lighter wallets and heavier rear ends. With the exception of pricey, upscale dining establishments, you’ll find that most restaurants use lower-grade ingredients and employ sketchy sanitary practices that fall well below the standards you embrace in your own kitchen. So when you eat out, you’re either spending more cash or eating low-grade product. Regardless, you lose. The ability to cook and prepare healthy meals is a vital skill everyone should know how to do.

3.Brown Bag the Leftovers for Lunch – Always cook enough at dinnertime so you can enjoy lunchtime leftovers the following day. Leftovers are faster, easier, cheaper and healthier than anything you’ll find at the local fast food eatery.

4.Avoid Overpriced, Unproven Supplements – Most people assume that FDA approved nutritional supplements are proven products. Wrong! Do you really think the FDA has enough resources to precisely verify every new dietary supplement proposed to hit the market? I assure you, they don’t and there is no feasible way they ever will. Remember, the FDA concentrates its efforts on drugs, not supplements. Under the active Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act, producers of dietary supplements do not have to verify that their product is effective, safe or at all healthy prior to placing it on store shelves. Sometimes someone has to become dreadfully ill from a dietary supplement before it even becomes a “blip” on the FDA’s radar.

5.Drink Filtered Tap Water – I’ve said it before, people go to work and trade priceless hours of their lives for dollars and then waste the dollars buying something that’s already free. A Brita water filter is an inexpensive investment that makes free tap water as healthy and pure as the bottled water for sale at the local supermarket. Since a penny saved is a penny earned, you’ll be making money every time you take a sip. Also, substituting beverages like soda for filtered tap water is another healthy way to save.

6.Stop Driving Like a Maniac – The faster you accelerate your vehicle, the more gas you will burn. People who are heavy on the pedal use up to 37% more gas during every mile of city driving. At $4 a gallon, that’s a lot of wasted money. Also, the faster you drive, the less time you have to react to hazardous road conditions. Bottom line: Drive responsibly at or below the speed limit.

7.Brew Your Own Coffee – Is coffee perfectly healthy for you? It’s hard to say for sure. There is a good deal of medical research to validate both sides of the argument (see here and here). However, one point remains certain: millions of people across the globe drink coffee every single morning. Many of them wasting significant amounts of money on fatty, sugar and cream packed coffee beverages from Starbucks-style coffeehouses. So the real question is: How do you make the coffee drinking habit healthier and less expensive? The answer is simple. Brew your own coffee. If you like, add a dash of low fat milk and a single packet of sugar. It’s quick, fairly healthy and way cheaper than Starbucks. We have a Cuisinart Two-to-Go Coffeemaker and absolutely love it.

8.Wear Helmets and Protective Body Gear – How many motorcyclists, bicyclists, skateboarders, etc. do see foolishly blazing around without wearing any form of protective body gear? It’s your life. A quality bicycle helmet will cost you $40 and 2 seconds of your time to put it on before you ride. If you don’t wear one and end up crashing and cracking your head open, it could cost you thousands of dollars in medical bills and take months, if not years, for your body to fully recover.

9.Stay In and Hang Out – Your home is your haven. It’s the safest, most comfortable environment to relax and socialize in. It also happens to be a far cheaper alternative to the local bars, pubs and clubs. You can save money on gas and entertainment costs while avoiding a lungful of secondhand smoke. So login to eBay, sell some stuff you don’t use, buy yourself a Wii and invite over a few of your favorite people. Don’t forget to crank-up the tunes.

10.Buy Healthy, Generic Brand Food – When it comes to the bare essentials on your grocery list, generic brands can provide the same food quality at a significantly reduced cost. U.S. food manufacturers are forced to follow a set of standards which basically guarantees the quality of the food they produce. Many large-scale grocery chains purchase name brand products directly from the manufacturer and simply slap their own generic brand label on the packaging. You should always compare the generic brand’s list of ingredients to a name brand product just to make sure everything matches up. (more…)

Is it possible to work less and still impress your boss, wife, husband and friends? In other words, is it possible to do less and accomplish more? Everyone seeks the answer to this question. We all want to generate the greatest noticeable impact with the least amount of effort, as quick as possible. It’s the way of the modern knowledge worker. We strive to work smarter, not harder.

The answer to the question is: YES! With the right combination of skills, tactics and tools, you can work less and still impress. It requires thinking outside of the box… and then implementing strategies that directly increase the visibility, impact and “wow-factor” of your labors.

The list below is not comprehensive, but leads in the right direction, providing six basic strategies geared for increasing your impressiveness without increasing your workload.

1.Learn Skills Few People Know – Find a niche function (or two) that’s currently in high demand and master it. If very few people can perform this needed function, your effective value to others will skyrocket into the stratosphere. You will become the “go to guy”. Even if it’s only a temporary gig, you will be able to make a significant impact in a short timeframe. And if you play your cards right, you will find yourself doing less actual work and getting 10 times more credit for your efforts.

2.Provide Value from Within a Black Box – Mystery is a huge proponent of impressiveness. In order to achieve the ultimate level of impressiveness your efforts must make someone think, “Wow! How does he/she do that?” They can easily see your inputs and your results, but aren’t 100% sure how you got from point A to point B. In other words, you have to provide (or innovate) tangible value without disclosing the specifics of the mastery. This is similar to my point on learning a rare skill, but instead relies more on emotional curiosity and less on the end result. Human beings are curious creatures. If you can give them something they want while simultaneously stimulating their curiosity, you will always be more impressive than the guy who cranks out the most widgets.

3.Focus More on Less – A jack of all trades may do very well in life, but supreme impressiveness is achieved via specialization. Elite expertise attracts attention much faster than a run of the mill juggling act. This is because gradual increases in skill level have an exponential effect on the public opinion of overall impressiveness. Think in terms of Karate: A black belt seems far more impressive than a brown belt. But does a brown belt really seem any more impressive than a red belt? The bottom line: Society elevates experts high onto a pedestal. Hard work matters, but not if scattered in diverse directions. Focus on mastering your trade.

4.Only Use Quality Tools – Trying to cut through a thick piece of fresh lumber with an old, dull handsaw would be a pretty foolish endeavor. You would have to work extremely hard to make the even the slightest impact. This principle applies to everything in life. Don’t let inefficiency defeat you. If the tools in your toolbox don’t fit the requirements of the job, find someone who has the right tools and barter with them, hire them, invite them into the process. Possessing the right tools (and skills) can easily shrink a mountainous task into a molehill.

5.Always Under-Sell to Over-Deliver – The crooked salesman constantly over-sells the capabilities of his product. He sets the bar so high that the product ends up falling short of his client’s expectations. If you want to boost your impressiveness, do the exact opposite. Slightly under-sell your capabilities (or product, service, deadline, etc.) so that you’re always able to over-deliver. It will seem to others like you’re habitually going above and beyond the call of duty.

6.Follow the 80/20 Rule – The 80/20 rule states that 80% of your results come from just 20% of your efforts. If you can identify and focus on the 20% that matters most, you can be more productive (and impressive) without increasing your workload. Try to automate or delegate the less productive 80% whenever possible. When random emails and phone calls start pushing you off course, remind yourself of the 80/20 rule and make an immediate course correction. If an emergency arises and you absolutely need to eliminate something from your schedule, make sure it’s not part of the vital 20%.

The Sour Side of Sugar


The Tana River Delta, one of Kenya’s last coastal wildernesses, is the floodplain ecosystem of the mighty Tana, a river born on the slopes of Mt Kenya that finishes its 1014km journey in East Africa’s Indian Ocean. Its complex wetlands comprise a mixture of salt, fresh and brackish lakes and tributaries; riverine forest, woodland and bushland; mangroves (including Kenya’s only population of Heritiera littoralis and the threatened Xylocarpus granatum and Bruguiera gymnorrhiza); and extensive grasslands. This great diversity of intact habitats combined with its vast expanse has made the Delta an internationally important site for bird conservation (22 species of international importance have been recorded and it is a critical foraging and breeding ground for thousands of resident and migratory water birds – earlier this year 15000 water birds of 69 species were counted on one day alone); a vital breeding, spawning and nursery ground for fish; and the home for a significant number of wildlife (including the rare East African coastal subspecies of Topi, Damaliscus lunatus topi, elephant, crocodile and hippo).

Although few other places on earth can claim to have elephants swim across mangrove channels and witness lions roaming the beaches it has received no formal protection and the Delta is currently facing destruction by a major (not-so sweet) sugarcane project, which is threatening over 33 000 ha of wetland. The environmental and social implications are significant, as the plantations will stretch into the heart of the wetlands transforming the Delta’s diversity into an ecological desert. According to Colin Jackson, the director of A Rocha Kenya, a conservation organization committed to the sustainable use and conservation of endangered habitats and species, major questions still need to be addressed concerning effluent pollution released from the sugar factory and the containment of sewage and rubbish generated by the large influx of workers from outside the area. The local Orma pastoralists, who have used these wetlands as grazing areas for their livestock for generations, are opposed to the project and elsewhere in Kenya sugarcane has proven to bring far more poverty than relief.

Your true potential is enhanced by the sum of all the people who like you, and thus would go out of their way to assist you in a time of need. Unfortunately, there is no quick-fix guide for becoming extremely likeable. Likeability is tied deeply into some of your most stubborn, long-standing habits and behaviors. As with conquering any major personal change, it takes time and practice.

Here’s what you should practice:

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster. Your life will never be the same again.
- Og Mandino

1.Be Attentive to Others and Never Stop Listening – Self-centered people are usually unlikable. When you’re involved in a conversation, it’s important to focus more on the other person and less on yourself. If you genuinely concern yourself with others and listen to them closely, you’ll make scores of friends with little effort. Remember, everybody loves a good listener.

2.Complement People Who Deserve It – Go out of your way to personally acknowledge and complement the people who have gone out of their way to shine. Everybody likes to hear that their efforts are appreciated.

3.Make Yourself Available and Approachable – If people cannot get a hold of you, or have trouble approaching you, they will forget about you. Your general availability and accessibility to others is extremely important to them. Always maintain a positive, tolerant attitude and keep an open line of communication to those around you.

4.Speak Clearly so People Can Understand You – Most people have a very low tolerance for dealing with people they can’t understand. Mystery does not fuel strong relationships and likeability.

5.Never Try to Be Someone You’re Not – All people have the subconscious ability to detect bullshit. Even academy award winning actors slip up every now and then. Fake people are not likeable. Ask yourself this: If you don’t like who you really are, why the heck should I like you?

6.Address People by Their Name – People love the sight and sound of their own name, so make sure you learn to remember names. Use them respectfully in both oral and written communication.

7.Mirror the Person You’re Conversing With – You can mirror someone by imitating their body language, gestures, movements and facial expressions during a one on one conversation. The other person will unconsciously pickup on the familiarity of your mirrored actions, which will provide them with an added sense of comfort as they speak with you. The more comfortable you make them feel, the more they will enjoy being around you.

8.Always Ask to Help… and Help When Asked – Everyone appreciates the gift of free assistance and those who supply it. Highly likeable people always spare time for others, regardless of how busy their own schedules are. Remember, helping people get what they want is the #1 key to getting what you want.

9.Never Get Caught Lying – Everybody stretches the truth at times, but everyone hates a liar. Ironic, isn’t it? Regardless, understand that your credibility and likeability will get crushed if you are caught telling a lie.

10.Say “Please” and “Thank You” – These 2 simple phrases make demands sound like requests and inject a friendly tone into serious conversations. It can mean the difference between sounding rude and sounding genuinely grateful.

11.Use Positive Language (Body and Verbal) – You can use positive language skills to exhibit yourself as a helpful, constructive person rather than a destructive, disinterested one. Positive body language involves the act of maintaining eye contact while speaking, using hand gestures to accentuate important points, leaning in closer while someone else is speaking, smiling, and mirroring the person you’re involved in a conversation with. Positive verbal language concentrates on what can be done, suggests helpful choices and alternatives, and sounds accommodating and encouraging rather than one-dimensionally bureaucratic.

12.Smile – Everyone likes the sight of a genuine smile. Think about how you feel when a complete stranger looks into your eyes and smiles. Suddenly she doesn’t seem like a stranger anymore, does she? Instead she seems warm and friendly, someone you wouldn’t mind being around for a little while longer.

13.Keep Unqualified Opinions to Yourself – If you don’t have all the facts, or you’re uneducated on the topic of discussion, it’s in your best interest to spend your time listening. Unqualified opinions just make a person sound foolishly arrogant.

14.Provide Tangible Value – Don’t just follow in the footsteps of everyone else. Figure out which pieces of the puzzle are missing and put them in place. When you add tangible value, you increase your own value in the eyes of others.

15.Respect Elders, Respect Minors, Respect Everyone – There are no boundaries or classes that define a group of people that deserve to be respected. Treat everyone with the same level of respect you would give to your grandfather and the same level of patience you would have with your baby brother. People will notice your kindness.

16.Make Frequent Eye Contact… but Don’t Stare – There’s little doubt that eye contact is one of the most captivating forms of personal communication. When executed properly, eye contact injects closeness into human interaction, which leads to likeability. The key is to make frequent eye contact without gawking. If you fail to make eye contact you will be seen as insincere and untrustworthy. Likewise, an overbearing stare can make you appear arrogant and egotistical.

17.Don’t Over-Promise… Instead, Over-Deliver – Some people habitually make promises they are just barely able to fulfill. They promise perfection and deliver mediocrity. Sure, they do deliver something. But it’s not inline with the original expectations, so all it does is drive negative press. If you want people to like you, forget about making promises and simply over-deliver on everything you do.

18.Standup for Your Beliefs Without Promoting Them – Yes, it is possible to stand up for your beliefs without foisting them down someone else’s throat. Discuss your personal beliefs when someone asks about them, but don’t spawn offensive attacks of propaganda on unsuspecting victims. Stand firm by your values and always keep an open mind to new information.

19.Make a Firm Handshake – There is a considerable correlation between the characteristics of a firm handshake (strength, duration, eye contact, etc.) and a positive first impression.

20.Keep Your Hands Away from Your Face – Putting your hands on your face during a conversation tells the other person that you’re either bored, negatively judging them, or trying to hide something.

21.Dress Clean – “Clothes and manners do not make the man; but, when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance.” Henry Ward said that, and he knew exactly what he was talking about. People will always judge a book by its cover. While a stylish dress code is not absolutely necessary, it can drastically alter another person’s perception of you.

Laziness can ferociously creep up on us at work even when we’re consciously committed to getting things done. It’s a byproduct those evil shiny objects passing through our periphery just begging for attention. We try to fight them off, but sometimes it’s an arduous battle we can’t seem to win. After all, being lazy is what our unconscious minds would rather being doing anyways.

Not all is lost though. With the help of a few black belt techniques, laziness can be conquered. You just have to game your mind before your mind falls victim to the lazy game. Here’s how…

Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.
- Anne Frank

1.Fully Understand the True Consequences of Being Lazy – If you are habitually lazy on the job there’s a good chance that you’re not fulfilling all of your responsibilities. If you’re not fulfilling your responsibilities then you’re not doing your job, and thus, you’re not worth paying. It’s only a matter on time before your superiors notice this and eliminate the dead weight. There’s a pretty good article on About.com entitled “How To Get Fired.” Take a quit look at this article and ask yourself, “How many of these points pertain to laziness?” Similarly, if a self-employed person gets lazy, you can be fairly certain they will not be self-employed for long.

2.Never Lose Sight of the Whole Elephant – I’ve heard people use the phrase “take one bite of the elephant at a time” more times than I can count. It is true, breaking up a large project into a series of smaller, bite-sized milestones is a smart way to hone your concentration and keep yourself motivated in the short-term. However, it is never wise to completely lose sight of the whole elephant (the big picture). After all, the whole elephant is the only reason you started working in the first place. At some point you want to get promoted, land that full-size contract deal and have the opportunity to get ahead of the pack. Those are big picture goals, goals that motivate long-term drive. You must always remain cognizant of the fact that a bit of laziness now on a few small tasks may snowball into a lengthy stretch of missed opportunities in the future when the judge compares your performance to that of your peers.

3.Don’t Stop Doing… Start the Next Related Task – Once you stop, laziness kicks in and it’s hard to get going again. The key is to complete a task and then immediately jump to the next related task. I consider a related task to be any task with a similar type required mental thinking. Your mind can transition seamlessly between related tasks because your efforts on the previously completed tasks have already geared your mind for the type of work required in all the subsequent tasks. The sooner you forge ahead, the more confident you will feel going into it and the more productive you will be.

4.Do Work for You Too – Far too often I see competent, hardworking people only doing work for someone else, usually their employer. When the workload is extremely light (or the day comes to and end), they get lazy and do less instead of transitioning their attention to accomplishing something for themselves. If all you’re hard work is spent growing someone else’s business and all your free time is spent being lazy, you will never grow a business of your own. Avoid laziness by spending your down time working for you. The more you accomplish for yourself, the more motivated you will be in all walks of your work life.

5.Setup Physical Barriers Against Distractions – Distractions lead to laziness, and unfortunately, distractions are friggin’ everywhere! If you’re like me, you love to check your favorite blogs and reddit.com 50 times a day. How do I conquer the urge? I setup a physical distraction barrier by unplugging my internet connection while I’m working. If you’re like my wife, Angel, you are prone to spending too much of your “work at home” time watching Lifetime movies. How do I conquer her urge for her? I hide the dang remote! ;-) In all seriousness, sometimes you must setup physical barriers between yourself and the distractions that attempt to overpower your conscious will to work.

6.Actually Schedule In Late Afternoon Goof-Off Time – One of the most effective anti-laziness tricks I’ve implemented actually involves scheduling in goof-off time each afternoon at 4PM. By doing so, I have slowly eliminated my spontaneous urges to check my favorite blogs and news sites because I now know I have a scheduled time to do so. This may seem odd, or even somewhat counterproductive, but it has actually skyrocketed my early morning through mid-afternoon productivity levels. So even though I’ve committed to being lazy in the late afternoon, the entire early part of my day (when my mind freshest) is spent in the zone without the physiological urge to slack off and succumb to laziness.

7.Coach Yourself Out Loud… Inch by Inch – This is another one that sounds strange (literally), but truly is an effective self-motivation method. Break the task you’re currently working on into a few smaller, logical steps and then coach yourself through them out loud. “You have to get this done! This step is so easy! Let’s do it right now!” When you complete a step, congratulate yourself on a job well done. “That was great work! You’re on fire! We’re going to be finished with this in no time!” I find that coaching myself out loud through each step actually makes me more cognizant of my forward progress, thus motivating me to work even harder on the next small step. Success is just a game of inches. Every small inch of forward progress is a grand accomplishment, because at some point you will be able to add up all those inches. When you do, you will find yourself in the end zone… Touchdown!

8.Take Mentally and Physically Active Reward Breaks – Taking a short, productive break in between every solid hour of work is something I strongly recommend, but only if you spend your short breaks doing something that actively stimulates your mind and body. Inactive activities promote laziness and mid-day fatigue. Take a quick stroll around the office, get up and talk to someone you enjoy speaking with, or crank-up your iPod and listen to a song that motivates you. Whatever you do, stay active and alert.

9.Refuel Your Mind and Body with Premium Everyday – You are what you eat! If you eat like crap, you will feel like crap. If you feel like crap, you will produce crappy work. Don’t sell yourself short of your full potential. Refuel your mind and body with premium, healthy food and 8 hours of sleep each night. Most unhealthy eaters who don’t receive enough sleep are unsurprisingly lethargic in every waking hour of their existence.

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word,
a listening ear, and honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring,
all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
– Leo F. Buscaglia


A smile is so simple, yet so powerful. Some noticeable effects of externalizing your internal joy are:

• People will be attracted to you - I don’t mean sexually (well, maybe that too), but people will feel drawn to your energy. When you smile more, you will carry an aura and poise that will draw people to you. People will look forward to being around you, knowing only that they feel great around you. People on the street, at work, your friends etc. We all like and want to be around happy and cheerful people, right?

• Optimistic - You’ll feel more positive about yourself and the world.

• Happiness & Joy - A smile is an expression of happiness and joy in you. Like an upward spiral, a smile will boost the happiness you feel.

• Healthy - A smile can affect your internal state, which can have physiological impact on your physical and mental health.

• Approachable - A smile is so welcoming and will make people feel more at ease.

• Making Other People Happy - A smile has the power to make other people feel good about themselves. It’s heart-warming and has the power to cheer up others instantly.

• Smiles Are Contagious - Others can quickly and easily catch it and will experience the above ‘side effects’.