Re-Create Your Day Job

Work is an interesting and conflicted pursuit for many of us.  It is not uncommon to hear folks boast their detest for their job and the mindless minions who serve as their bosses.  Though at once, the fear of layoffs or workforce attrition causes these same souls to quake in their boots. “My job drains the ever loving life out of me, but I’d die without it”, seems to be the un-uttered mantra...

Happy Recession Anniversary

  A couple weeks ago I read an interesting article in Smart Money entitled Lessons from the Crash.  While the specifics of the story were geared towards those given to single stock investing, it was more the premise that caught my imagination. The set up was the top 5 lessons investors have learned over the past 12 months, the spiritual if not literal anniversary of the downturn. So that got me to...

Default Settings

  I recently attended a benefits presentation hosted by my employer.  It seems that we are changing HR/payroll outsourcers and as part of the transition we were engaging the annual selections process earlier than is typical.  We are also using this transition as a convenient time to alter our overall benefits package. In fairness, I still consider myself new, and I’m pleased with the package but...

Consumptive Footprint

  I remember a day in the late 90′s.  More precisely, I remember a particular episode of self talk back in the summer of 1998.  At the time I was living in St. Louis and was only a couple short years out of grad school.  I don’t know exactly what prompted this specific contemplation but it was about money.  It was often about money in those days.  I was learning about money but in...

The Virtue of Toil

  “Business or toil is merely utilitarian. It is necessary, but does not enrich or ennoble a human life.” -Aristotle A friend recently sent me this quote and it sparked an interesting email exchange as we each set ideological camps on varying sides of the discussion. My good friend Greg espouses the quote as motivation to seek balance and purpose outside of work.  In that way, he treats...

Thinking is Unnatural

  Recently, while listening to a David Allen podcast, I was struck by a simple and profound statement. “Thinking is an unnatural act” At first blush it is easy to recoil from this statement in sheer disbelief.  But when you actually start to think about it, it starts to make sense. Slow drivers in the left lane Absorbed shoppers blocking the grocery store isles with their carts Rampant...