Take This Job and Love It

A new survey conducted by The Conference Board tells us that Americans hate their jobs more than ever. Is this because jobs are becoming more detestable by the day? I think not. Could it be because more Americans than ever have higher expectations than ever? Probably.

Consider if you will the men and women of yesteryear. No need to go back centuries, only a few decades. What if we surveyed the American population coming out of the Depression? "Sir, are you satisfied with your job here in this noisy factory, fitting doohickies to the same whatzises 500 times a day?" Are you crazy? I get to feed my family. Who gives a damn about satisfaction?

Let's ask that post-WWII lady over there in that huge corporate tower, typing up her bosses memos. "Ma'am. Are you satisfied with your job?" Are you kidding? With the extra money I'm making here I can afford to get my kids some decent clothes. I love this job!

OK, I'm speculating on hypothetical people's hypothetical responses to hypothetical questions. However, the statistics do show that people in the recent past liked their jobs more than people today do, and the trend is most pronounced among the youngest category of workers. No one can doubt that jobs have gotten better, so it must be something about the people that's making the difference, and I contend that it has to do primarily with the unrealistic expectations foisted upon us by the media.

Jobs are no longer about feeding and clothing our families. They are about having the money to buy a $50,000 Lexus, a 70-inch plasma HD TV, and the latest video game console. They are about being pampered at work, having the flexibility to come and go as we please, and the opportunity to work at something that gives us a sense of complete fulfillment.

Among workers under the age of 25, only 39 percent say they are satisfied with their jobs. They have grown up in a time of plenty, when you can get a job if you want a job and the basic necessities are guaranteed, job or no job. Consider that these halcyon days may not be continuous. We may again be forced to endure periods of less than idyllic circumstances. Perhaps the day will come when we will have to take this job and love it.

Are Your Emergency Funds Up to Snuff? Free Excel Calculator!

We all know that we should set aside money for a rainy day. Whether the rainy day comes as a result of illness, a layoff, or even a decision to change careers, it pays to have enough money in the rainy day jar. If you have a good idea how much you need to have salted away, you can start putting aside a set amount that will hopefully make a pile big enough to see you through if and when the emergency arrives. First, this fund should be as liquid as possible so you can get at it if you ever need it. We're talking about an interest bearing savings account or some similar product. Second, you need to figure out how much to set aside. That's where my free Excel emergency fund calculator comes in. Click here to download it gratis. If you like it, tell your friends to come here and get a copy for themselves.

Who Invented Valentine's Day?

Many of us might suspect the greeting card industry of this one. They certainly profit from it, but they didn't invent it. Like many traditions of old, the origins of Valentine's Day are hazy at best. Several ancient saints vie for the honor of being the honoree of the day of love, but the one who is most likely the winner is Saint Valentinius (c. 100 - c. 150) of Alexandria. It seems that Valentinius became associated with romantic love due to his emphasis on the marriage bed as possessing a central place in Christian love.

Valentine's Day makes its next appearance in the Middle Ages, particularly during the period when courtly love was in vogue. In Paris, on February 14, 1400, a High Court of Love was established to deal with contractual disputes about love, betrayals and the abuse of women. It is said that judges were selected by women on the basis of poetry readings.

We have Esther Howland (1828-1904) of Worcester, Massachusetts to thank for the first mass produced Valentine's Day cards in North America. Contratulations and a big thank you to Esther! Various marketing efforts since then have made V Day a very big day for greeting cards, flowers and chocolates. You may be interested to know that in Japan, women are expected to give men candy, chocolates or flowers, and not just men they like, either. In many Japanese offices, women feel obligated to buy gifts for all the men who work there. Wow!

I hope you've learned something. Now, if you still haven't got flowers or chocolate for that special person, head on over to Barry's Best, where you'll find some helpful links. Hurry!

Using Excel's Form Controls

Microsoft Excel is my favorite application in the pantheon of all applications. What does that fact say about my personality? I take comfort in the fact that I am not alone in my strangeness. One of the most useful features available in Excel is the spinner form control. Spinners look like this:


What they do is allow you to change the value of a cell by the increments you specify in the control's properties. For example, say you're starting a business, and you have a certain amount of money in the business account. You know your monthly revenue goals, and you have a good idea of your monthly costs. What you want to know is, when will you start having a net positive inflow? And how does that time-frame change for different cost estimates? When will you run out of money? How much do you have to cut your costs to make sure you don't run out of money?

To solve this problem and answer these questions, you need to create a spinner that will allow you to change your costs and see how each change affects your cashflow. Each time you click the spinner either up or down, the figures that depend on that number change automatically, and a chart that flows from those numbers will adjust to account for the changes. It's really quite nifty.

To learn more about form controls, click here.

What's the Freaking Point?

Although we can’t know this for certain, it seems likely that we are alone in the animal kingdom in this respect: We search for meaning. We want to know why. Perhaps my fish, as they swim up and down their tank, are thinking, “Why am I stuck here in this godforsaken place?” Unlikely, but possible I suppose. More probably it is only we who ask: Why did my puppy die? Why do good things happen to bad people? Why did I lose my job? Why am I here? What is the purpose of my existence? (OK, that was a “what” question, but you get the point.) What is it about human beings that leads to this distinction? Many people would say that it is that we were created by God with this in-built need to find meaning, to find Him. Others, like myself, say that our quest is a function of our consciousness, which arises from the complexity of our brains. Whichever is correct, the search for meaning seems to set us apart.

At the root of our search for meaning may be our innate gift and propensity for pattern-recognition. In my bathroom there is a shower curtain with an abstract conglomeration of various shades and shapes of black and gold. If I make my eyes go out of focus as I look at the shower curtain, I sometimes see the faces of outlandish animals and strange-looking people. When I look more closely, of course, there is nothing there. My visual system has created a pattern out of chaos. Apparently it likes to do that, which is very helpful to me, since it enables me to recognize and differentiate between people very easily, a feat which computers are still unable to do very well without a massive amount of processing power.

This search for patterns in visual terms may extend to the circumstances of our lives. We can easily see the value of this pattern-seeking behavior in evolutionary terms. Jim was eaten by a crocodile yesterday. Why? He went down to the river’s edge to collect water and was suddenly snatched by the unseen predator. Perhaps we need to make certain there aren’t any crocodiles near the shore before we go down there for water. Trying to find a pattern in events enables us to avoid harm and repeat successes.

But sometimes we make up patterns that are not really there, just to make ourselves feel better. Just a few days ago 20 or so people were killed in a severe storm here in Central Florida where I live. The inevitable reporters descended and pointed their cameras and microphones at the survivors. And we heard people claiming that they were spared “for a reason.” One man said that his guardian angel was there that night. We might logically suppose that his dead neighbor’s angel was off duty, or perhaps incompetent. Another women said that God was looking out for her. Again, was God either unconcerned, or angry with her neighbor who was swept away? The meaning or pattern may be illogical when carried through to its logical conclusions, but we cling to them nonetheless, because they calm our fears about the whims of nature. If we offer our sacrifice, perhaps the corn will grow plentiful this year.

Our search for meaning, however, goes beyond this type of practical application. Our bellies can be full and our kin safe, and yet we worry about the meaning or our lives. We want to know the point of everything. Somehow, having a certainty of meaning and purpose gives us an emotional satiation. Not everyone concerns himself or herself with such existential matters, of course. Many people are completely satisfied by their daily struggle to find food, clothing, shelter, sex, status and diversion. But many of us seem to need more.

When I was 17 and just starting out in college, I remember attending a dance in the basement of my dorm. I was standing there alone, not knowing anyone, and feeling a diffuse sense of emptiness. I don’t remember ever forming a clear thought like, “There must be more to life than this,” but the feeling was there. Looking back on it now, I want to say to my earlier self, “Yes, there is more. You just need a bit of patience to find it. One day you’ll have lots of friends here. One day you’ll have a career. One day you’ll have a community to serve. One day you’ll have a family, a wife, kids, maybe even grandkids. You’ll love them and provide for them, and they will love you back. That’ll be enough.” For me, it is enough.

(This article is featured on the Carnival of Improvement!)

Detoxing From Church

*This is not an anti-church, anti-Christian article as the title might suggest.

Here is a very interesting take on the McDonaldization of the American evangelical church, turning it into a conveniently prepackaged consumer product. Thanks to Jason Zahariades and The Off Ramp.

In the Americanized church, the organization is designed to turn life and faith into a simple prepackaged consumer product. This is what John Drane calls the “McDonaldization of the Church.”

• I need to worship. So I go to my local church, which, if it’s cutting-edge, has a worship pastor on staff that prepares an inspiring "worship experience" for me on a weekly basis. One local church I know advertises its worship services on its marquee, "We worship five times, three ways, one God." (Hello! Is it me or does that just sound wrong?)
• I also need to fellowship with my fellow Christians. So I go to my local church to attend a programmed version of community that provides a surface-level contact with people around some form of activity at my convenience. If I need more fellowship, I go to a small group, usually focused on the dynamic personality of the small group leader or on the subject matter I feel I need to better my life. But again, this is at my convenience and fairly optional if my schedule becomes too demanding.
• I need discipleship and Christian growth. So I go to my local church to attend Sunday services, Bible studies and small groups where someone opens the Bible and tells me what it says and how it should apply to my life. I also have the option of learning "practical" topics such as how to be a good spouse, parent, employee, leader, steward, etc.
• I need to serve. So I go to my local church and participate in a program where I use my time and skills in a fairly convenient manner to help others. For the most part, it’s fairly safe. And if I'm a volunteer, my participation is completely based on my schedule.
• I need to be engaged in mission. So I go to my local church to connect to their evangelistic ministry and their missions program. Every so often I might volunteer to hand out sodas or serve coffee in a convenient and semi-relational form of "reaching people" for Christ. I might also give money to local missionaries the church supports and maybe participate in a weekend mission trip.
• I need a children's program to educate my kids. So I go to my local church to place my children in the care of Sunday school teachers and youth pastors who will provide the spiritual and moral foundation for their Christian growth via an age-relevant program.
• I need purpose for my life. So I go to my local church, hoping to find a leader with a vision big enough to inspire me. Then I sacrifice my time, energy, and money to become involved in the leader’s vision so I can build something big for God with him. New programs. New buildings. New projects. New groups. New services. New converts. New church plants. New missions. More and more and more vision to give my life a reason to exist.

To make matters worse, as a pastor on staff, all of my relationships and ministries are mediated through my title and position in the organization. An unhealthy symbiotic relationship occurs between myself and the organization as my life and faith becomes synonymous with the success of the organization. If we, as leaders, can design an organization that satisfies the consumer needs of a couple hundred people... well, then we must be doing something right in God's kingdom. And the more people we reach, then the better we are. So I preach, lead worship, administrate, counsel, teach, organize, recruit, train, write, and do practically everything as a “pastor” of an organization. Eventually my identity becomes distorted by what I do for the church. What’s worse, my role and effectiveness as a staff pastor are intimately connected to my own formation and personal development. This continues to blur the line between my personal life and faith and my abilities as a leader of an organization.

Click here for the entire article.

Ten Self-Help Buzzwords and Buzz-phrases that I Despise

Wouldn’t you know it, I began thinking about today’s post with the intention of writing an article that would be helpful to my readers, and instead I have ended up with a list of things I despise about the self-improvement “industry.” I will tell you up front that I have a strong antipathy towards people who make a living by selling their so-called “secrets” to other people, which is what much of the self-help industry is about. For example, when I decided to try the life of a Realtor on for size, the remoras came slithering out from inside their dark little holes to try to latch onto me. What did they want? They wanted me to give them money so that they could help me make money. I know I’m a cynical person, but come on. The come-ons started coming in, from the self-appointed experts in the field. They would give me their money-making “secrets” if I would fork over my money. Hey, guess what. That’s their money-making secret…taking money from saps like me! If they really had such powerful secrets, why would they need money from me? And why would they tell anyone else what they were? I have no problem with people who offer a genuine service at a reasonable price. It’s the people with the secrets for sale that would give me heartburn if I let them get to me. So, how am I different? In three ways, which I shall now share with you.

First, I don’t have any secrets to sell to you. The people who have the real secrets aren’t telling or selling.

Second, if I pass on helpful tips, I’m not charging you anything for them. You can make a donation if you choose to do so, and you can click on my ads if you see one you are interested in. But visiting this site and making use of anything I offer is free of charge.

Third, I will always try like the dickens to give you solid content rather than insipid, meaningless jargon. Which leads me to my list of…

Ten Self-Help Buzzwords and Buzz-phrases that I Despise

1. Nurture
2. Positive
3. Goals
4. Self-Esteem
5. Journaling
6. Journey
7. Personal Mission Statement
8. Win-Win
9. 7 Habits (of anybody)
10. The Purpose Driven (anything)

If you have some others to share, feel free to leave a comment.

My Name is Barry, and I am a Technophile

What is it about technology, specifically computer technology, that so bewitches me? My first experience with a computer was incredibly frustrating (it was an IBM running DOS), since I hadn't the slightest idea how to do anything with it, but it was also, somewhat mysteriously, enchanting. (You may be wondering what could possibly have gotten me started down this idiotic road of reminiscence. I happen to be waiting, at this very moment, for the installation of the final shipping version of Office 2007 Ultimate to finish, almost like a soon-to-be father waiting for the birth of his first child. It's sick! The progress bar is moving so slowly that I'm not sure if it is moving at all. So I started thinking about my pathological doe-eyed enthrallment with computers. So now you know.)

Anyway, without meaning to be sexist in any way, I have observed that men are generally more in love with computers than are women. Do you find it so? Not all men, certainly, but men seem to enjoy the company of a computer more than that of other humans, whereas women treat computers as if they were an annoying chore and a completely intolerable waste of valuable human-to-human time.

If these observations are indicative of a real phenomenon, and not just a stupid generalization on my part, then the question is begged: Why? What is it in our circuitry that makes us prey to the siren call of other circuitry?

If you have an answer, please share it! I'd really like to know. I'm sorry that I have to go now, but my installation/baby needs my attention.

If You Can...

If you can start the day without caffeine;
If you can get going without pep pills;
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains;
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles;
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it;
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time;
If you can forgive a friend's lack of consideration;
If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when, through no fault of your own, something goes wrong;
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment;
If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him;
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend;
If you can face the world without lies and deceit;
If you can conquer tension without medical help;
If you can relax without liquor;
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs;
If you can honestly say that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed or color, religion or politics; then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog.

(Found this on jimgeary.com. Thought it might brighten your day.)

If you've found this article helpful, please consider dropping a bill or two into the hat. The Price of Rice! and I could use your support in order to put out more articles like this one. Thanks!

Break Free from the Power of Guilt

**Disclaimer: This article is not intended to substitute for the advice of a qualified physician.**

What are emotions?

I read once that emotions are nothing more than the circulation of various chemicals in the bloodstream. Whether the emotion is anger, fear, sexual excitement, affection, or guilt, some gland or other has been instructed to dump various potions into your bloodstream, and these complex cocktails, in their turn, affect different organs in their own special ways. Fear, among many other things, may cause a constriction in the anal sphincter, for example. Anger may cause the heart to pump more furiously, pun intended. Sexual arousal may cause the palms to become sweaty and the muscles of the throat to tighten so that you speak in a high-pitched squeal, rather than your usual smooth baritone. The article I read suggested that anger should be allowed just two circuits around the bloodstream, and no more.

Emotions can be controlled to a degree.

We all know that ending an emotion is difficult to accomplish. But it is not impossible if you know how. In fact, in many cases, emotions are initiated (and maintained) by the thought processes of the brain. When you look at a photo of that special person, affection may result. But if, as you gaze adoringly at the photo of your loved one, a hungry, 12-foot alligator should enter your peripheral vision, I can guarantee that your feelings of affection will instantly be swapped for bowel-loosening terror. How did that happen? It is simple enough, really. Your thoughts were taken up by something more pressing. So it is possible, therefore, to control, to a large extent, the emotions you feel, by controlling the thoughts you think.

Emotions often depend on our thoughts.

This ability to control our emotions by controlling our thoughts becomes especially useful when emotions are harmful to ourselves and others. The ability to feel emotion is generally a wonderful thing; but it can become less than wonderful when the emotions control us and bring about injury.

The power of guilt.

One particular emotion that can do us harm is the one called guilt. There is no question that guilt is sometimes helpful. When we have hurt another person, guilt should move us to reconcile and perhaps make recompense. On the other hand, guilt can be used by others to manipulate us into doing things that we would not do otherwise and which are either foolish or injurious. (To see a master manipulator in action, you can watch Marie doing her thing on Everybody Loves Raymond.) Guilt can rob us of sleep, of happiness, of energy, of confidence, of life. Therefore, it is important to know when it is being used by others to manipulate us, and when its control over us has become pathological.

Being manipulated by guilt.

How often are people manipulated via the use of guilt? Every minute of every day. A guy you only met a couple of months ago tells you he needs money to buy a new set of rims for his car, and that if you really loved him you’d help. So you spring for the rims to the tune of several hundred dollars, while the slacker spends most of his time playing on his Xbox. A preacher tells you that if you don’t tithe to his church, you are making God mad, meanwhile his Lexus is parked outside a few spaces away from your Corolla. A charity sends you a request for a donation along with some return-address stickers, the implication being that you’d be a selfish jerk for using the stickers and not sending a donation. A spouse keeps reminding you of an infraction you committed in the past in order to get you to do what they want you to do today. All of these are examples of manipulation through guilt. The next time you feel the tug of guilt prodding you to do something, or not do something, stop and ask yourself if what you are contemplating is wise, or if you are perhaps being manipulated.

Being controlled by guilt.

The other harmful type of guilt is the kind that takes over your life and steals your joy and self-confidence. There may be something in your past that you continue to feel guilty about, even decades later. Ask yourself, is there anything useful that can come out of me continuing to feel guilty about this? If the answer is no, then you might need to work on breaking the cycle of bringing that event to mind over and over again. Maybe your guilt is something you are using as a means of punishing yourself for some perceived failure in your past. You want to make up for it somehow, but there doesn’t seem to be any avenue for making amends. Maybe someone has died and you can’t reconcile with them. Understanding that your feelings of guilt have no useful outlet doesn’t seem to help. One suggestion in these circumstances is to find a way to make indirect amends. You might write a letter, or perform some act of kindness. Even though these actions cannot directly affect the specific person you feel you wronged, they can be enormously helpful for you to feel that you have put the thing to rest.

However you may be affected by the power of guilt, you should know that it is possible to break free from its debilitating or otherwise harmful effects.

(This article has been featured on the Carnival of Improvement!)

If you've found this article helpful, please consider dropping a bill or two into the hat. The Price of Rice! and I could use your support in order to put out more articles like this one. Thanks!

10 Quick & Easy Ways to Save Money

Who doesn't care about saving money? People who don't have any. For the rest of us, it pays to do a bit of spring cleaning on our spending habits every once in a while. One of the most pernicious myths about saving money is the idea that cutting small expenditures won't make much of a difference. These little outflows add up quickly and make a substantial impact on our finances over time. Here's a list of 10 ways you can save money without breaking a sweat.

1. Stop buying designer coffee. It's fine for special occasions, but stopping at Starbucks every day on your way to the office can take a big bite out of your wallet. Either make yourself a nice travel mug of coffee at home, or get it free at work.
2. Stop using the ATM at the 7-Eleven. Many people don't give a moment's thought to using that oh-so-convenient ATM and paying a couple of bucks for the privilege. Think about it...you take out $20 and pay $2 in ATM charges. That's 10% of your money you're giving away! Plan ahead and use your own bank's ATM. You'll save a bundle.
3. Get regular instead of premium gasoline. The fancy-sounding names for that high-octane fuel really don't make your car any happier.
4. Don't waste money on lottery tickets. Another name for them is a tax on the poor. Sadly, the people who can least afford them are the ones who buy them. If you saved that money and put it into an interest-bearing account you'll for sure win.
5. Cut back on your cable package. Do you ever watch all those extra channels?
6. Cut back on your cell phone minutes. Call up your mobile provider and ask for an analysis of your minute usage. You may find that you can easily get by with a cheaper package.
7. Do not go over your minutes on your cell phone! You'll actually save money by paying for more minutes. (Better yet, cut back on the talking altogether.)
   
8. Get rid of your landline. If you and your family members all use cell phones, consider ditching your landline.
9. Take lunch to work rather than buying it. You'll not only save money, you'll save on your health too.
10. Stay away from free trial offers. They're all designed in hopes that you'll forget to cancel in time and end up paying for the service.
    

If only a few of these apply to you, you might find that they make a big difference in your wallet.

*This article has been featured in the Carnival of Improvement!

If you've found this article helpful, please consider dropping a bill or two into the hat. The Price of Rice! and I could use your support in order to put out more articles like this one. Thanks!

PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!" border="0" type="image">

Make Time for Rest & Reflection

Today is Sunday. What do you do on Sunday? Many of you might go to church today. Some of you went to church or temple yesterday. Many of you have to go to work on Sunday. Many of you might do none of these things; instead, you might sleep in, get outside for some fresh air, go out to eat, watch sports, do the crossword puzzle.

The Judeo-Christian tradition holds that the Sabbath (some say it's Sunday, others claim it's Saturday) should be a day of rest and worship. I won't take the religious approach in this article since for all intents and purposes I am not a believer in a supernatural being, but there does seem to be a great deal of validity to the idea that human beings fare much better, both physiologically and psychologically, when we set aside for ourselves a day of rest and reflection; rest for the body and reflection for the mind. In the religious traditions I mentioned earlier, working on the day of rest is forbidden. We don't need to be religious, however, to enforce such an edict upon ourselves, if we see the value of such an island of time set aside to exclude all work.

An alarming number of adults in our society wake up feeling tired every day of their lives. They find themselves dragging themselves to work, with no energy and no enthusiasm. Is this how life is meant to be lived? Is this the natural order of things? Maybe not. Perhaps one potent answer to this common problem is, in fact, a day of rest and reflection.

It has long been known to researchers that the human brain operates on both conscious and unconscious levels, and that it requires diversion from work in order to function effectively. We have all been in the situation where we are completely bereft of any creativity or freshness, sitting with a blank stare, like fungus on a piece of decaying deadfall. I have sometimes combed the Internet for hours, hoping in vain for an idea to shoot out of my screen and into my head. What is the cure for that kind of mental vacancy? It is not to keep working at the same problem. Often it is to get my mind completely off that track and let it amuse itself for awhile. Only then can the dead batteries recharge so that I can return to the same insoluble problem to find that is not nearly so insoluble after all. In fact, my subconscious has solved it while my conscious mind has been enjoying some form of interesting diversion.

So how valuable can an entire day of diversion be? It can be enormously valuable, I have found. In a similar way that ten minutes of inconsequential play every hour or two can help me in the short term, so can a day of rest and reflection every seven help me in the longer term. Listen to a conversation with Dr. Fred Hardinge, who holds a Doctorate in preventive care:

FRED: Fatigue is a significant problem in our society today. A recent survey showed that two-thirds of Americans say they are very tired most of the time.

SHAWN: Two out of three of us are saying we're always tired.

FRED: That's correct.

SHAWN: Well, I have to admit that I probably fall into that two-thirds. I probably wake up tired much more often than I should. As a matter of fact, I've just finished a long itinerary, I am dragging myself around all the time, and the thing I'm curious about is, what does that do to us? If two-thirds of us are tired all the time, and we have jobs that place really high demands on us, what is it actually doing to us? Does it affect us?

FRED: It absolutely does, Shawn. A tired person is slower, they are less efficient, and they make more mistakes.

SHAWN: OK.

FRED: And a lot of research in recent years has demonstrated some of the reasons as to why that actually may be the case. We have observed for many years that tired people's performance slips. Tired soldiers don't make good soldiers, tired nurses make more mistakes, and tired doctors have more accidents on the way home. They, too, may make a few more mistakes even in their care of patients, although that's a difficult thing to prove sometimes. More and more research is looking at this kind of thing. However, probably the most fascinating kind of research to me has looked at why brain function seems to slow down.

SHAWN: Right. Now, I can understand-people make mistakes when they're tired. I say things I don't mean when I'm tired, I put this file in the wrong folder and so on, when I'm tired. But the thing I wonder about is, why? Why does fatigue do that to my mind, doctor? Because I'll share with you, I think of it as a computer. It ought to just work no matter how tired I am. I just plug it into an energy source and let it run. Why am I making mistakes when I'm tired? What is actually going on?

FRED: A series of studies have recently been done at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research over the last 10 years. And they have taken healthy subjects who are fully rested and, using modern technology that is non-invasive, looked at certain aspects of the function of the brain.

These individuals were tested when they had been fully rested, and then were awakened at six in the morning. Brain scans were done. They then were kept awake, but they weren't asked to do any difficult problem solving, simply remaining awake-a day at the beach twiddling one's thumbs.

SHAWN: OK, so they are not engaged in high thought processes, it's just day-to-day existence.

FRED: Very relaxed. Then on the same day, 16 hours after waking, the same tests were done, and when they compared the results, they found that the front part of the brain lost blood supply compared to when they were rested and first awakened.

SHAWN: So we don't have fuel going the to front part of the brain when we're tired?

FRED: Not as much.

SHAWN: So what does that do to us? I mean, why is the front part of the brain-you'll have to forgive my ignorance-but what does that front part of the brain do for us? What actually takes place there, and why is this affecting us?

FRED: The front part of the brain carries out the most important functions of the mind. It is where we make our decisions. And successful living is dependent upon good decisions.

SHAWN: Now, are we talking about the decision of which pair of socks to wear this morning, or are we talking about big or moral decisions?

FRED: It involves every decision, from the so-called small ones to the biggest one. And this research has demonstrated, given us a reason to understand, why the front part of the brain is so important to this decision-making process. There are what are known as the high-order mental functions-and there are five of them. The first is discrimination or discernment. It is the ability to recognize that there are choices we can make. And when you get up in the morning, a simple example is that you discern in your drawer between the white socks and the dark socks.

SHAWN: Yeah, you know, I always make the wrong decision. That's what my wife tells me.

FRED: That's why I ask my wife-and if it goes with it or not.

SHAWN: That's the discrimination or discernment.

FRED: There are no decisions to be made if there are no options.

SHAWN: OK.

FRED: I can't think of anything in life, any circumstance, that has no options at all. So, we make discernments all the time. We are exercising that. But when we're tired, we don't discern as well.

SHAWN: That can be dangerous when it gets into the moral realm, obviously.

FRED: Absolutely.

SHAWN: What are some of the higher mental order?

FRED: The net high-order mental function is judgment. That's where we evaluate those options that we have discerned.

SHAWN: Very good.

FRED: And we draw upon past experience, knowledge, etc., to choose which one is the best for the current set of circumstances. The next high-order mental function is initiative.

Initiative is the ability to start doing something now that we have decided we need to do. There are many times in life when we know what we should do, but we don't act on it.

SHAWN: That does happen all the time.

FRED: And when we're tired, discernment, judgment and initiative wane and we are not as effective in our decision-making. But it goes even further than that. Our ability to problem solve is a high-order mental function. And what happens when we're tired is we may look at the options and choose one that we think is the very best, based upon our judgment, but in reality, our field of vision has been narrowed, and we have missed the very best one. And that's because problem-solving requires the ability to look at all the possible options.

SHAWN: Now, that makes good sense to me. The other day I was exceptionally tired and somebody approached me and said, "What do you think about this? Should we do A, B or C?" And I looked at it, and you know something? I had only slept a few nights out of the previous week, and I couldn't make a decision. I looked at all the options and I said, "I don't know." I couldn't evaluate them; I couldn't do anything with them.

FRED: And E or F may not have even been within your vision, so to speak.

SHAWN: Absolutely.

FRED: And F might have been the very best one under those circumstances.

SHAWN: Right.

FRED: That is what happens when we're tired. The last high-order mental function is forethought, and this has much to do with efficiency. Forethought is the ability to begin doing something now that will save us time in the future. Tired people are not very efficient. It takes them longer to do the same things that they could have done when they were rested.

SHAWN: Now, that seems to make sense. In light of everything you have shared with me, we don't have the ability to make judgments in this state, we don't have the ability-our initiative is weakened, all of these areas are weakened. And so when you look at a task when you're tired, you can't always make the right decision to do it the best way or the most efficient way.

FRED: That is exactly what happens when we're tired.



SHAWN: Right. I think you have just described most people reading this script today. We have all lived with this, and we live with it much more than we ought to.

FRED: You have probably heard of Yo-Yo Ma, the world-famous cellist.

SHAWN: Absolutely-a favorite of mine.

FRED: He gave a concert in Carnegie Hall in New York City a few years ago, and following the concert, he got in a taxi to go to his hotel. He put his cello in the trunk of the taxi. When he got to the hotel, he paid the cabbie, he went into the hotel, went to his room, and then realized that his cello was left in the trunk.

SHAWN: Oh, my.

FRED: Now, he would not normally have done that. But in an interview with a newspaper reporter, he said, "I was so tired that I simply forgot it."

SHAWN: Now, I'm no Yo-Yo Ma, but the other day I left my camera on the airplane for the same reason. I was actually at the luggage carousel and mentally I was thinking, "I usually have three bags. Something's missing." And it took me 20 minutes or so until I realized my camera was still on that plane and it was leaving!

FRED: There is another area of the brain, Shawn, that is also affected by fatigue. It's called the thalamus, and it has many important functions, but relative to our decision-making, it passes all of the sensory information to the higher levels of the mind.

SHAWN: OK, so this is like a relay-switch from my sense of touch, taste, feel, hearing?

FRED: Exactly. And when we are tired, the funnel gets smaller, if you will. In other words, the same amount of information is coming in from the senses, but the funnel fills up because it's smaller, and some data is lost. When we make decisions on only partial information, that is when we tend to make catastrophic decisions. This is what happened with the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

You might think it ironic that I'm writing this article (working, in other words) on a Sunday. Well, I'm not perfect, but I'm working on it.

If you've found this article helpful, please consider dropping abill or two into the hat. The Price of Rice! and I could use your support in order to put out more articles like this one. Thanks!

Protect Yourself with Written Contracts and Receipts

Whether you are a business owner or just a regular Joe or Jen, when it comes to business dealings, you owe it to yourself to put them all in writing. Oral contracts (many people use the term “verbal” when they mean “oral,” but the term “verbal” includes anything that uses words) are enforceable in court in most instances (real estate transactions are a notable exception), but they are notoriously difficult to prove, often coming down to a “he said, she said” type of situation.

Most people choose not to put things in writing, either because it seems like too much trouble, or because they “trust” the other person. Both of these reasons are quite foolish. Many disputes are not the result of bad intent on either side, but rather are due to an honest difference of opinion as to the terms of the agreement. Having the terms spelled out clearly in writing will usually clear up these misunderstandings. Further, we should keep in mind that “trusting” people in business dealings, even close family members, can prove to be an unwise decision, since people will usually act in self interest when it comes to business.

Some tips to keep in mind when putting an agreement in writing:

• Make two originals, one for each party, both signed and dated by all parties. If there is a dispute, you should both be able to produce an original.
• Sign the agreement in blue ink. This makes it easy to see that you have an original and not a copy (although it’s not that difficult nowadays to make a color copy!).
• Write in plain English. Don’t try to make it fancy by trying to speak in lawyer-like language. “The party of the first part” and such legal-speak should be left out.
• Don’t amend a written agreement orally. It will not hold up in court. A written agreement can only be amended in writing.
• When money changes hands, always use written receipts or pay in a form that can be proven, such as check, money order or credit card. Paying in cash, with no receipt to prove payment, is the height of folly and can come back to haunt you if the other party disputes your payment.
• Always, always, always read contracts carefully before signing!

**Disclaimer: No part of this article should be construed as a substitute for professional legal advice. On legal matters you should always consult a professional attorney.**

If you've found this article helpful, please consider dropping abill or two into the hat. The Price of Rice! and I could use your support in order to put out more articles like this one. Thanks!

Do We Need God in Order to be Good? (A Response)

(SpacemanSpiff, who, I am proud to say, happens to be my oldest child, has kindly agreed to write a guest post for my blog. This is an eloquent response to my posts on the subject, Do We Need God in order to be Good. Thanks Spaceman! I love you!)

Yes "religion" taken as the actions of religious people (which is certainly a fair way to take it) has been used as a justification for evil as often as for good.

My answer to this question though requires connecting a number of conclusions that I don't think you've heard before. So I'll try to summarize as best I can. If you like this you can post it as a guest article. Anyway, here goes.

First, while I agree that religion has often been used to justify evil at least as often as it has been used to for good, I do think the language we're using is very interesting. Where did we learn to use language like good and evil?

Can there be any content to the ideas of good and evil other than "that which I like" and "that which I don't like"? Without some sort of religion, I'm fairly certain it can't. Yet I think you and I both want to be able to mean something more than that. So the very fact that we are asking why religious people so often do evil things already seems to concede that something like religion is a given, since there is some good and evil larger than both us and those religious people.

Second, that religious people do so much evil doesn't prove that religion does no good. Only that it isn't a panacea, and that people will use anything they can find for the ends they had. Would you say that science has more often been used for good than evil? I'd be willing to take that debate any day of the week. But of course I wouldn't then make the claim that science is false or evil or a negative force in history. What people use science for only shows their own nature, not the nature of science.

Third, if my understanding of Christianity is correct, then there is plenty of evidence to support the idea of "general revelation." If God reveals himself in nature, and if man is made in God's image, it is no surprise then that we might find men everywhere doing good without "religion" and people with "religion" doing evil. Christianity allows me to say "God is working over there in those people, though they may not know His name" and "All who call themselves Christians run the risk of doing so falsely and using Christianity as another tool for evil." Ultimately, Christianity teaches that God is progressive, and nothing else, least of all religion. Thus wherever we see good happening, we say "Praise God!"

A view of science or democracy as uniquely progressive, or a view of religion as uniquely or inherently regressive is much less forgiving and flexible, and as far as I can tell, doesn't hold up under scrutiny. There are too many examples of religious understanding causing people to do good and noble things and too many examples of science, capitalism, democracy, and what-have-you being used in evil ways for those to hold up.

Get Your Life Back (Part Five)

Once again, your goal is to increase your effectiveness and efficiency at work by eliminating, as much as possible, time and effort that bring about little or no productivity. One of the most inefficient endeavors in existence, and one that most people don’t consider, is focusing on tasks that you are not good at.

Many people mistakenly strive to achieve a balanced portfolio of strengths. They want to be well rounded, to eliminate their weaknesses. If they’re very good at crunching numbers, they focus on learning a new language. If they’re good at inspiring and leading people, they invest great gobs of time into developing their skills at designing spreadsheets. You’ve heard the phrase, Jack of all trades, master of none. This well describes the usual outcome of that sort of undertaking.

The art of using leverage is one of the most powerful techniques in the universe. Archimedes is famously known to have said, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” In the context of this article, using leverage means making use of your strengths, as a fulcrum, to achieve things that would normally be impossible.

Let me give you an example. Why do people run for the office of President of the U.S. when they and everyone else knows that they have no chance of winning? They do it in order to gain name recognition and a degree of celebrity. Why? To feed their needy egos? No, they do it in order to use their celebrity later on as leverage to sell books and command very lucrative speaking fees and become rich lobbyists. So ask yourself this: Am I leveraging my strengths to accomplish more than I ever thought possible, or am I kicking at the goads of my weaknesses in a vain attempt to transform them into strengths?

In an earlier article I wrote about following your bliss, or doing what you love. What I’m advising here is that you do what you are good at, which, in many cases is what you love. A very happy coincidence when it happens, and it frequently does.

If you've found this article helpful, please consider dropping abill or two into the hat. The Price of Rice! and I could use your support in order to put out more articles like this one. Thanks!

Get Your Life Back (Part Four)

Your goal, as we’ve stated, is to be able to leave work at a reasonable hour without your employer feeling that you haven’t done enough. To accomplish this Herculean task, you must help your employer to feel the opposite, that you consistently get the job done and do it well. That’s a reputation that will go a long way towards reclaiming your life.

When I was in high school, I cultivated such a reputation with my teachers, at least with most of them. They weren’t concerned about an absence here or there, or a tardy once in a while, because they thought of me as a diligent student. In the same way, when your employer or supervisor thinks of you as dependable, resourceful and motivated, he or she will not begrudge you time for your family or yourself.

One of the most effective ways to cultivate this kind of reputation, with a relatively small investment of time and effort, is to master the art of follow-up.

Let’s say you’re given an assignment. Keep your boss up to date on your progress. Let him or her know when you’ve completed it. If you’ve got customers or clients, do the same thing. Let them know what’s happening. You’ll keep them happy, and you’ll cut way down on the calls and emails you’ll get from them wanting to know what’s going on, especially the ones that come in at night or on weekends. I hate those. Put yourself in their shoes. Don’t you hate it when you have to hunt down information from people to find out the status of something you’ve delegated to them? Don’t you appreciate it when they keep you informed before you even have to think about it? Sure you do. Do the same for your boss and your customers and they will never worry about what you’re up to when you’re not around.

And one related tip: Teach those who work for you to do the same for you!

If you've found this article helpful, please consider dropping abill or two into the hat. The Price of Rice! and I could use your support in order to put out more articles like this one. Thanks!

Get Your Life Back (Part Three)

Businesses understand the point of diminishing returns. They exist to maximize profits. They have to know at what point the making of one more widget not only adds nothing to their bottom line, it actually takes away from it. That last widget will net them zero profit because the amount they will get from selling it equals the amount it costs them to make it. That’s where they stop. But this principle applies to many aspects of your working life as well. If you learn to use it, you will have gone a long way towards reclaiming your life.

Remember, the goal we are discussing here is to get more done at work in less time, so you can give more time to your loved ones and your own needs without making your employer feel cheated. This tip involves learning to recognize that point at which more time at a certain task will not bring more or better results. That’s the time to put a full stop to it and mark it done, or at least done for now.

Now, if you are the type of person who likes to cut corners and take shortcuts and generally do a substandard job on a regular basis, this tip will not help you. This tip is for the obsessive perfectionist. It’s for the person who won’t leave well enough alone, who pours unprofitable time into a project or task simply trying to make it perfect.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Will my continued efforts make things significantly better?
2. Will my continued efforts make a difference to anyone?

If the answer to these questions is no, it’s time to put a period to it. As Timmy admonished George Costanza, “From now on, when you take a chip, just take one dip and end it!” Let me give you a couple of examples.

I was working on a project late one night. I had gotten a lot done, but I wasn’t finished. I was close to the end, it was within sight. There’s a part of me that just wants to get it done, get it off the radar screen, so I was tempted to keep plugging away. But I realized that, even though I might finish it that night, from that point on I was too tired to make it any good. It wouldn’t be up to snuff. I decided that I’d reached the point of diminishing returns (PODR). More time that night would not be efficient. I knew that there was a more efficient use of my time at that moment. So I went to bed and fell asleep. It was, indeed, a very effective sleep. The next morning I finished up in 10 minutes and did a great job of it.

When I write, I know that I can always make it better. Every time I go over what I’ve written, I can spot something I could say more graphically, or more pithily, or more artfully, or more…you get the idea. I’m not talking about errors in grammar or stupid typos; those should be completely eradicated if possible. However, I know that, at some point, the improvement I might achieve would not be worth the time it would take to achieve it. I’ve arrived at the PODR.

If you learn to know when you’ve reached that point, and if you can muster the discipline to call it quits right there, you will be able to do excellent work in less time.

If you've found this article helpful, please consider dropping abill or two into the hat. The Price of Rice! and I could use your support in order to put out more articles like this one. Thanks!

Get Your Life Back (Part Two)

(I learned this tip from Stuart R. Levine.) Consider how much time is wasted by over-explaining. When someone is going over a project they want you to handle, sometimes they continue explaining it long past the point when you understood. (In a large meeting, you’re more or less stuck listening to them drone on. You may not be able to just stand up and walk out, but you can work on something else while they’re repeating themselves ad infinitum. When I was a preacher I came up with some of my best sermons while listening to another preacher make his point for the fifteenth time.) But when you’re one-on-one, you can simply say, “I got it.” This lets them know that you understand and that there’s no need to continue. In the same way, when someone says that to you, take the hint and move on. Some people really enjoy the sound of their own voice, and others are insecure either about their ability to explain or your ability to comprehend. In either case, you can save a great deal of time by letting them know you understand and are ready to go to it.

If you've found this article helpful, please consider dropping abill or two into the hat. The Price of Rice! and I could use your support in order to put out more articles like this one. Thanks!

Get Your Life Back

I live in Florida. As it turns out a significant portion of my State is what’s known as “reclaimed land.” That means, apparently, that some kind of water, either sea, lake or swamp, at some time, came and took our land. Just stole it, right out from under us. Well, we weren’t having any of that. So we went in with our heavy machinery and low-wage labor and flat took it back. We reclaimed what was rightfully ours! No, that’s not what happened. It would be more accurate to call it “claimed” land. In fact, if the global warming folks turn out to be right, that water is going to come and reclaim it from us. And it will take back more than what we took from it. Teach us to mess with the oceans.

Our lives can be like that. We wage a constant battle against external (and sometimes internal) forces that are trying to claim whole sections of our lives. We feel besieged, under assault, claustrophobic. We no longer have control of our lives, and everybody wants more of us. Our employer isn’t happy with our efforts; our families feel cheated; we feel cheated. Not a pretty picture.

In the fight over our time, the two combatants are usually family and work. Neither one will cede and inch, or a second. And so we often make the mistake of seeing our choice as giving more time to one or the other, which obviously can never please both because it’s a zero sum game: giving more to one takes away from the other. Then what’s the answer? The answer is not some complex magic formula for dividing 24 hours to make everyone happy. The answer is being more effective with the time you do have.

So I want to give you a few tips on being more effective with the time you put in at work, so you can get everything done well in a shorter amount of time. A recent survey showed that people who work in offices get distracted from what they’re doing every 11 minutes on average. The Productivity Institute estimates that 20 percent of the workday is spent on “crucial” or “important” things, and 80 percent is spent on things that have “little” or “no value.” There are countless ways that your time at work can be frittered away on things that keep you from what you really need to get done. If you can identify what these time-stealers are, and learn how to eliminate, or at least severely curtail them, you can begin to reclaim your life.

If you’re feeling the pressure to get things done at work, it’s unlikely that you are the chatterbox, but you are probably the target of one or more of them. If you added up the actual time you spend, on average, every day, in social interactions with coworkers, what do you think would be the grand total? Do you think you could use that time to get more done? Do you want to reclaim it? The trick is to find a friendly, inoffensive way to cut these conversations short, or better yet, keep the chatte