Positivity And Energy

Have you ever seen an energetic depressed person? No? That's because it's easier to have a positive outlook on life when we have energy than when we don't. When we're tired, the negative thoughts are harder to push aside and it's therefor important for us to eat right, exercise and get plenty of sleep in order for us to have enough strength to push negativity away.

Lets Be More Like Elephants?

I was wondering why humans were the only known mammals who developed intelligence since we don't have the biggest brain - Elephants do. It turns out that elephants are more intelligent than I had given them credit for and are also altruistic animals. I came across this from Wikipedia that shows their, sometimes, good side.

"Elephants are thought to be highly altruistic animals that even aid other species, including humans, in distress. In India, an elephant was helping locals lift logs by following a truck and placing the logs in pre-dug holes upon instruction from the mahout (elephant trainer). At a certain hole, the elephant refused to lower the log. The mahout came to investigate the hold-up and noticed a dog sleeping in the hole. The elephant only lowered the log when the dog was gone. When an elephant is hurt, other elephants (even if they are unrelated) aid them.

Cynthia Moss has often seen elephants going out of their way to avoid hurting or killing a human, even when it was difficult for them (such as having to walk backwards to avoid a person). Joyce Poole documented an encounter told to her by Colin Francombe on Kuki Gallman's Laikipia Ranch. A ranch herder was out on his own with camels when he came across a family of elephants. The matriarch charged at him and knocked him over with her trunk, breaking one of his legs. In the evening, when he did not return, a search party was sent in a truck to find him. When the party discovered him, he was being guarded by an elephant. The animal charged the truck, so they shot over her and scared her away. The herdsman later told them that when he could not stand up, the elephant used her trunk to lift him under the shade of a tree. She guarded him for the day and would gently touch him with her trunk."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_cognition

If the above is true then elephants do have a degree of intelligence in them but why hasn't it developed like ours? Some scientist believe that the brain has to a certain size in order for it to develop to the degree of intelligence we have. It's an interesting thought for sure but one that doesn't quite satisfy me...

Buy Experiences Not Things

It is better to buy experiences than to buy things. The experiences we have is what help shape the person we are and things like electronics, furniture, clothes (...) don't have the same emotional impact as climbing a mountain or going to watch a hockey at the arena.
It is more exciting to talk to a friend about our water park adventure than it is to talk about our latest gadget we bought. The excitement of that new gadget will eventually die out but not the excitement we felt during our adventures.

It's what we go through that defines who we are, not what we buy. So if you're one of those who can't decide between going to Hawaii or a new T.V. set - go to Hawaii! You will grow from the experience and remember it for the rest of your life!

The Most Powerful Thought I Ever Read

“Today we come across an individual who behaves like an automaton, who does not know or understand himself, and the only person that he knows is the person that he is supposed to be, whose meaningless chatter has replaced communicative speech, whose synthetic smile has replace genuine laughter, and whose sense of dull despair has taken the place of genuine pain. Two statements may be said concerning this individual. One is that he suffers from defects of spontaneity and individuality, which may seem to be incurable. At the same time it may be said of him he does not differ essentially from the millions of the rest of us who walk upon this earth.” -Erich Fromm

The above is the most powerful statement I ever read. I Have worked in the corporate world for almost a decade now and I had first row seats to what Erich Fromm is describing here. People have become but machines to "do" without much thinking.
It's a constant fight not to fall into this trap and to be just another mindless drone.

Keep reading, keep being different!

Be Mindful of Your Association

“We are the average of the five people we spend the most time with.” –Jim Rohn

Income, the way we think, how we live ... etc is, in most cases, very similar to that of our 5 closest friends. Therefor we want to change our life situation, changing some of our associations would be a great place to start. It is important for us to find and rub shoulders with people who have the result that we want so that we, too, can have those results.

In other words, if we want to be financially free; we'll have a better chance of making it by associating with someone who has achieved this than someone who hasn't.

Be mindful of your associations - they're part responsible for the results in your life.

*This post can also be found on Men 2.0

The Culture Maker

The culture of an organization is determined by the person who makes the decisions. If you tell people what to do, instead of teaching them how to think, and then complain about the culture, look yourself in the mirror and chances are you'll see the negative side of the culture in you.

Stop putting people in a box, by making all the decision for them, and then asking of them to think outside of it.

The Rob Ford Situation

This is not a post regarding the tumor situation Ford is going through right now but rather to show why he shouldn't of been a politician in the first place.

Many have said that Rob Ford was a good politician but one can't judge this without looking at the personal life. It is not okay for a politician to break the rules. After all, if the leaders break the rules, how can we expect the people to follow them?

If you're a good politician but you cheat on your spouse, steal or do other activities then please resign and get help/punish like the common folk.

Why We Tend To Eat More When We're Tired

Food is energy and when we're tired the body thinks it needs more of it in order to gain energy back hence why we have a tendency to be hungrier when we're sleepy. Sleeping is a crucial part in the fat burning process so don't forget to get some sleep!

A House Is A Liability

You "own" a house? It's a liability not an investment. A mortgage is paying the bank for the right to maintain a house that's not ours until we pay off that debt.

But the value of my house goes up every year! While that's true in most cases (remember the recession in 2008?), the interest rate on your mortgage, the maintenance you have to do on the house (lawn, paint, snow removal, misc fixing), the taxes are all eating part of that money. You'll be lucky if you break even when you decide to sell it.

Obviously owning a house is better than staying in an apartment but it's not as good of a deal as what the bank is telling us unless we can own it upfront. The best thing anyone can do is to payoff their mortgage as soon as possible so that the interest rate is no longer against you.

Suit Up

If you're a guy, dress to impress the ladies not the other guys. Go for class rather than the high school look. Remember that running shoes are for running.

If you want to feel like a million bucks - dress like a million bucks (note that they're are ways to dress that will not cost you a million bucks).

People Are Not Things

“Stimulated by his increasing technical capacity, man has concentrated all his energies on the production and consumption of things. In this process he continually experiences himself as a thing, manipulating machines and being manipulated by them. There is a clear, present danger that man may forget he is a man. For these reasons, it is most important today to continually reassess the traditions of thought about the nature of man.”
–P.29 of “Living Issues in Philosophy – Sixth Edition” by Harold H. Titus// Marilyn S. Smith

I've been working in the IT field for almost a decade now and some companies out there think that people are numbers rather than... well people. It is to nobody's surprise that those who feel like numbers don't really like working for their company and are usually found at the bottom of the productivity list.

How can we make people feel like people? There's often a disconnect between upper management and the employees at the bottom of the ladder. To close the gap would help make everyone feel valued.

Childhood Friendship

There's nothing quite like childhood friendships. I recently got in contact with people I haven't seen since high school and it was like we never left. There was no walls, no pretending to be something I was not. Just good old me with good old buds (pretty much family).

We'll make friends throughout our lives but true friendship is rare. The friends we make at work aren't really your friends since most will sell us out given the opportunity due to everyone fighting to get up "the ladder". We'll make friends with your hobbies but most will only be our friend for as we do the hobby.

We should always take care of all of our friends but there's nobody else like childhood friends.

Partial Business Ownership

There are ways to own part of a business through purchasing stocks. However, many business owners prefer to remain in the private sector so they can keep 100% of the profits (there's always the risk of loosing as well obviously).

Many companies will ask of their employees to "treat the business like it's your own" but how can one do so if doesn't actually own it? If you want employees to treat it like it's their business then give them the option to own part of it by selling stocks to them.

Every Phone Wants To Be An Apple Iphone

The phone market as grown stale. The Apple Iphone was the first of the genre and every other company have tried to mimic it ever since it first came out. They all are using Apple's original designs but with irrelevant twists, innovation wise, like "Bigger screens", "Better Specs" or gimmicks like "shake the phone to bring the photo app" - YAWN!

Every phone company is competing against the Apple Iphone - Even Apple. They're the only company out there that creates products in a direction that I want to go in. They don't have the biggest screens or best specs but they do have the type of innovation that makes sense. They haven't implemented anything just for the sake of getting more people to buy their phones.

I'm not an Apple fan just for the sake of being one; I'm an Apple fan because they're the only ones who, I feel, put thinking behind their products. They don't release a phone every 3 months with irrelevant changes. They only have one, per year, and they do it right.

It's About How Much We Can Keep!

If we're broke at 30k - we'll be broke at 100k. Mike Tyson made 400 million in his boxing career and declared bankruptcy in 2003! It's not how much money you make but how much money you can keep. Discipline is what is required to keep money in our pockets.

Wealth is how long you can go without an income and not loosing your current lifestyle. Some of us could probably not finish the week while others could last months/years.

Just Read!

I don't always read a book to memorize every details of it. Sometimes, it's just about creating sparks inside the brain.

To read about various subject is what facilitates the creative process. Ideas are often just a combination of other ideas.

So we don't need to memorize everything that we read - Just Read!

Think Success!

Whether you say you're good or bad at something - you're right. How you think about something is the indicator of how successful you'll be at it. René Descartes once said "I think, therefore I am" which can apply to this as well.

I remember when I played soccer. I wasn't really good at it nor did I think I was. Some of my friends took the game seriously and it showed in their thinking and actions. They knew they were good and they put a lot of effort in it.

When we practice for something, we not only develop the body, we also develop the mind. We're telling ourselves that we're a winner; we worked too hard not to be!

Think success and you will succeed! Think failure and you will fail. It's that simple.

Your Attitude Says A Lot About You

While walking downtown the other day, I came across a shocking scene. A man was shouting at a homeless woman who had ask for some money.

His angriness towards this person said a lot of thing about who he was. Angry, bitter, alone - could all be heard from his voice. He was in no better place, mentally, than the person he was shouting at. I had no problem picturing him there either.

You will get the most out of life from being kind to others. Be kind to those you meet regardless of their situations. Your attitude says a lot about who you are. How would you like to be treated if the situation was reversed?

The Social Based Decisions of Teens

Most decisions made by teens are done for the purpose of being socially accepted. Pride/Ego or "how things look on the outside" is important to them in order to climb the social ladder present in their environment.

It's an environment that we've all been part of at one point or another. I was a teen once and I did my fair share of social based decisions. What I want to know is how this environment came to be?

When did "tattoos"/"don't do schoolwork" or do illegal things become "cool" among teens? What happened to self-respect, satisfaction for hard work and good behavior?

Character IS Destiny

"Destiny does not consist in what we feel we should like to do; rather it is recognized in its clear features in the consciousness that we must do what we do not feel like doing." -Ortega y Gasset

The definition of character is doing the right thing. Therefor, like Heraclitus said, "Character is destiny."

"Anyone desiring a noble destiny must first develop a noble character." -Orrin Woodward

*This post can also be found on Men 2.0

All I Want is To Be Happy - And That's Selfish

Feelings are personal. Therefore, to say "all I want from life is happiness" is a selfish goal. A life of servanthood is what we should thrive for.

In this country, it's okay for us to pursue happiness but not only can't it not be pursued directly, generations of this has created a society of mediocre thinking plague with an entitlement mentality.

We're not entitled to our happiness but we are free to work for it.