Perseverence – Never Give Up

January 26, 2012 by 1 Comment

I was inspired by American Top 40 Countdown.  You might have heard of the band Lady Antebellum (Yes, it is a band, not a person).  Nevertheless, there is a lady in the band: Hillary Scott.

Hillary failed twice at American Idol.  Yes, she tried and did not make it past the first-stage auditions.

So she tried again.  And the second time, she also failed to make it past the first-stage auditions.

Don’t worry, Hillary.  You join a n auspicious line of “losers”, including Abraham Lincoln:

  • Started a business – bankrupt.
  • Ran for state legislature – lost.
  • Applied to law school – rejected.
  • Started a business – bankrupt.
  • Ran for state legislature again – won.
  • Engaged when his sweetheart died – heart broken.
  • Had nervous breakdown – bed-ridden for six months.
  • Ran for speaker of the state legislature – lost.
  • Ran for elector – lost.
  • Ran for Congress – lost.
  • Ran for Congress again – won.
  • Ran for re-election to Congress – lost.
  • Sought the job of state land officer – rejected.
  • Ran for Senate of the United States – lost.
  • Sought Vice-Presidential nomination – lost.
  • Ran for U.S. Senate again – lost.
  • Elected president of the United States.

READ ALSO: Define success

And Canada’s John Diefenbaker:

  • Moved to Wakaw to practice law – locals refused to rent him office space.
  • Ran for village council – won.
  • Ran for Parliament – lost.
  • Ran for Parliament again – lost.
  • Ran for provincial legislature – lost.
  • Ran for mayor of Prince Albert – lost.
  • Elected provincial party leader by default (nobody else wanted the job)
  • Ran for Premier – lost and lost his seat.
  • Ran for Parliament – won.
  • Ran for federal party leader – lost.
  • Ran for federal party leader – won.
  • Ran for Prime Minister – and won three consecutive elections.
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Don’t Squander a Balance Transfer

January 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Debt sucks. It’s like a black hole into which is sucked not just your money, but your freedom as well. I would much rather be owed than to owe. When you are beholden to someone, you are at their mercy. They own you.

In the case of credit card debt and credit line debt and other loans, there is a huge financial implication, but the principle is the same as any other debt. You are beholden to the credit card company or loan issuer, and no matter what else you want to do with your money, you better pay them off first.

Being debt-free is one element in increasing happiness, so paying down debt – especially high-interest credit card debt – is a big practical opportunity. But paying down debt is tough, especially when each month the interest is using up so much of the money you would want to use to pay down the debt.

Enter the balance transfer credit cards. This is typically an offer that would read something like this:

Transfer your credit card to us, and for the next six months you will pay no interest.

Or…

Transfer your credit card to our card, and for the next 12 months you will pay just 1.9 percent interest.

This sounds pretty seductive, especially if you are now paying 14 percent or 16 percent or more. Just think of all the things you could do with that extra $300 or $400 or $500 a month that you will save on interest.

STOP!

Don’t think about “all” the things you can do with the money you save on interest. Think about just ONE thing you can do – pay down the debt.

If you are saving $300 per month, that means you have $300 to pay down the debt. At the end of six months, you will have paid off $1800 of debt. Why is this important? Because at the end of six or nine or 12 months, full interest rate will kick in. If you can pay a lot of the debt down while the balance-transfer effect is on, you’ll be much less indebted in the future and you’ll be much better positioned to continue paying down the debt so that you will never be owned by anybody again.

Filed Under: Frugal

Just who are you anyway?

January 24, 2012 by 1 Comment

What do you rely on for your happiness?

Do you make your own happiness? Or do you wait for it to come to you?

Do you create your own future? Or do you rely on tarot readings an fortune tellers?

Do you blaze your own path? Or do you follow people around you?

Do you work alone? Or do you prefer to run with the crowd?

These are not right and wrong answer questions. These are questions about who you are. Knowing who you are is important for making decisions in your life.

No matter how much you might fall in love with somebody because you share interests or because you like how they look or talk or smell, if you want to build a lifetime together, the person had better be compatible at a much more fundamental level.

Your next job might seem like fun because of the subject matter. Or the pay. Or because of location, or the company’s reputation. But if your position is not compatible with your personality, you will neither excel at you job nor enjoy it very much. It is one of the great urban legends that if somebody is a good vice president, they should be promoted to president. It takes a totally different personality to excel at being number one than at being number two.

You don’t have to be psychic to find your ideal place in the world. But you do have to know yourself.

READ ALSO: Define success

READ ALSO: Priorities

 

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Pain Is Our Friend. Really.

January 16, 2012 by 7 Comments

Pain is good. We suffer pain because we don’t understand it. And because it hurts (that explains the “suffer” part).

Pain serves a single, dedicated purpose in our lives; it is a warning. We place our hands on a hot stove and the pain makes us remove our hand before too much damage is done (hopefully). Imagine if we could feel no pain. There are some people who can’t. They often cause damage to themselves, and they have to tip-toe through life to avoid damaging themselves even more.  They simply have no warning system.

When a door squeaks, it is calling out for oil. When your elbow hurts, it is calling out for…a doctor?

Perhaps.  Or perhaps to stop making that movement that hurts so much.

Don’t “suffer” your pain. Embrace it. Love it. Listen to it and follow its advice. It is giving you a valuable warning.

 

 

 

 

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The Sun Always Shines

January 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The sun is the giver of life. And it is always there.

Yes, even on cloudy days. Even when highly overcast, there is sun. That huge ball of fire so unimaginably far away pierces through outer space and even through the clouds.

Ever since setting up our solar power generation, I have been highly focused on the ridiculous lack of sun these past two months – most likely a world record for this time of year.

But the sun has been shining through and we have been generating as much as 40% of solar capacity on overcast days. While this is a minor victory for solar power and a pain in the butt for people looking for excuses to ignore sunscreen warnings about cloudy days, it is of some comfort to anybody who feels like the sun might have abandoned them.

Yes, even on dismal days, there is a sun smiling on you. And if you don’t wiggle your way out of putting on the sunscreen, it’s a happy smile indeed.

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Fable of the Porcupine Family

January 4, 2012 by 6 Comments

It was deep in the midst of January, and the cold was taking its toll on Hidden Valley’s wildlife community.

The Porcupine Family was hunkered down, trying to keep warm by cuddling close to one another. Like this, they were able to cover themselves and protect each other from the cold, much the way penguins do in Antarctica.

Alas, the quills of each porcupine wounded its closest companions. Before long, each of them had had pretty much enough and they decided to distance themselves one from the other.

But cold is cold and freezing is freezing and they slowly began to die – alone and frozen. So the Porcupines had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or succumb to a slow and painful death.

Wisely, they decided to get back together. It was not easy, but they learned to put up with the little wounds caused by such a close relationship with their companions, in order to receive the living warmth that came from the others. It was like this that the Porcupine family was able to survive the cold winter.

Moral of the story: The best relationship is not the one that brings perfect people closer together. It is when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of the others and can admire each other’s endearing qualities and find happiness together.

READ ALSO: OZ: the fantasy or the reality

READ ALSO: The Four Candles

 

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Mow the Lawn?

December 21, 2011 by 4 Comments

JOKE: If your child wants to mow the lawn, you know he is too young to do so.

REALITY: Isn’t the grass always greener on the other side of the fence?  When you can’t do something yet, you long to be able to do it.  As a kid, we long to be able to mow the lawn. As teenagers we can’t wait to leave home, but not long after we seem to gravitate back.  Whatever our neighbor has looks great … until we get one, too, and then we notice another neighbor has something else that looks pretty good.

But we already have all the things we need, and whatever age we are is just the right age for us right now.  It is great to have dreams and to work toward them, but not at the expense of missing what we have now…which quite often are the dreams we once longed for.

JOKE: Someday, all kids who can mow will want to, and all who are too young will be happy to wait.

 

 

* image by Michael Marcus

 READ ALSO: Enough

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Proud to Be a Grinch [humour alert]

December 13, 2011 by 3 Comments

It was my first meeting of “GA”. This is not AA (Alchoholics Anonymous). It is not even AAA (American Automobile Association). It is GA…Grinches Anonymous. This is roughly how the meeting went.

“Please stand up and introduce yourself,” I was urged by the wall-of-brick bouncer blocking the doorway.

“Uh, OK…” I paused to remember how I had seen them say this on TV at AA meetings. “My name is The Happy Guy, and I am a Grinch.”

The room fell silent. People looked at one another uncertain how to react. Finally, a little old lady spoke up, “Isn’t that somewhat of a conflict of interest, sonny?”

It’s true. The Grinch is not generally seen as the most jovial of fellows. And I am called The Happy Guy. Even my website says that: www.TheHappyGuy.com. But I had to face the unhappy truth. I am a Grinch.

Oh sure, I don’t have lots of cute furry, green skin like famous Grinches can afford. And I can’t seem to twist my face into that famous diabolical grin, no matter how hard I try. Not even when I use a plunger, a blow torch and a porcupine – but that’s another story.

“Tell us, please, what makes you a Grinch,” the moderator suggested.

“I just seem to spoil everybody’s Christmas. They ask me what I want for Christmas…and…and…and I draw a blank. I can’t think of anything.”

The room fell silent. Again. People looked at one another uncertain how to react. Again. Finally, Little Old Lady spoke up (again), “You mean I can have your Christmas presents, sonny?”

I know it is probably hard to believe, but when somebody asks me what I want for Christmas, I just can’t think of anything. It’s like asking me to list the international hopscotch tournaments won by the American Samoa team.

At the moment I am being asked, I just don’t want anything. I always seem to have enough. In fact, I always seem to have more than I need. I have over a hundred music CDs, but when was the last time I played most of them. I’ve given away more books than I’ve read, and I’ve read more than I have.

We have a special machine just to make waffles. And one just to make popcorn. Both of them make prize-winning dust bunnies. And we have a machine just to make bread, which we at least use to make pizza dough. We have glasses and bowls that I would never recognize and some clothes in which I would not want to be recognized.

“Why does that make you a Grinch?” the moderator asked.

“I make it difficult for them to give. What I really want is less, not more. What I really need is for somebody to come and take things away.”

The room fell silent. Again. People looked at one another uncertain how to react. Again. Finally, Little Old Lady passed me a notepad, “Mind jotting down your address for me, sonny?”

What would a Grinch want for Christmas?

My wife suggested socks. Got’m.

Shirts? Got’m.

Nail clippers? Got’m.

Pyjamas? Got’m.

Pens? Got’m.

Bookmarks? Gloves? Paper? Flashlights?

Got’m. Got’m. Got’m. Got’m.

Batteries? There’s an idea. Put me down for batteries. You never know when I might get hungry.

Cologne? Here are the bottles from the last two years. One of them is open. No, wait…that’s just a scratch on the lid.

Isn’t there anything I want?

“Why not ask if they have any ideas you could consider?” the moderator suggested.

“You mean, like hiring them as a consultant on how to give things to me?” I asked.

The room fell silent. Again. People looked at one another uncertain how to react. Again. Finally, Little Old Lady spoke, “Just refer them to me. I want lots of things.”

VIEW THIS VIDEO: I’ve got enough

Why would anybody want more stuff to clean, more stuff to break, more stuff to fix, more stuff to store, more stuff to keep track of, more stuff to trip over? I don’t even know where to put last week’s dirty dishes.

If people keep buying gifts when you already are storing more things than you could ever use, sooner or later your house is bound to explode, the way a balloon bursts when you over-fill it. I wondered if my insurance covered that.

“Couldn’t you humor them? Just a little bit?” the moderator asked.

“Actually, I know one thing I want…a chalet in Switzerland and a map of the best hiking trails in the vicinity.”

The room fell silent. Again. People looked at one another uncertain how to react. Again. Finally, Little Old Lady jumped up and declared, “My bags are packed. When do we leave, sonny?”

I don’t think I’ll ask for a GA membership renewal in my stocking this year. But that is probably what I’ll get.

Filed Under: Fun Tagged With: , , , , ,

Enough – [Christmas video]

December 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

This is my favorite Christmas song, by Alberta country artist Remi Boudreau.

I’ve got enough
I’m completely satisfied
I don’t need stuff
Just this thing that’s true and tried
I don’t need the perfect gift to fit me like a glove
I’ve got enough

Even on an average day, I find that we are surrounded with so many messages that tell us that no matter how much we have, no matter how gluttonous we might become, that we could never have enough.  More.  More.  More.  And those messages only seem to grow in abundance as we get closer to Christmas.

Given that we are full-steam into shopping season, this might help us all to keep it real. Watch and listen to the video, and hopefully it will put you in the Christmas spirit.  In THE Christmas spirit.

READ ALSO: Proud to Be a Grinch

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