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Money means different things to different people. Some see it as a way of keeping score or measuring success. Others view money as simply a means to an end. In the pursuit of wealth, some have trampled their way to the top. Others seem to have glided there, nearly effortlessly.

In each of these extremes is a greater truth. Wealth magnifies your deeper personality traits. The thoughtful, caring person with access to financial resources will benefit him/herself AND others. But someone who only cares about keeping score will never have enough, regardless of the fortune amassed.

Warren Buffett, the famous investor and billionaire, once said that he intends to leave his children “enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.” He wanted to help his children reach their full potential, but understood that too much money, without corresponding effort, would sap their will to achieve.

Teach Your Kids – Prepare Your Heirs

A child growing up in a wealthy family may be more insulated from money than the child growing up in poverty. But at either end of the spectrum and at all points between, kids need to know how a family’s finances work. They need to understand that money really doesn’t grow on trees. Failing to instill that value young will create heartache when they’re older.

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Tags: Money, Parenting // 7 Comments »

Image courtesy of Alejandro Peters

James M. Higgins, author of 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques: The Handbook of New Ideas for Business,defines creativity as the process of generating something new that has value. Creative ideas run the gamut from new associations of existing ideas, elements, or concepts, to radical breakthroughs which extend the boundaries of human knowledge and create paradigm shifts. That is, you don’t necessarily have to make a quantum leap to be creative; you can begin by finding ways to improve an existing product, or by modifying a process to make it more efficient.

Creativity can mean identifying an untapped market for an existing product, finding a new solution to a problem, finding creative ways to resolve a labor dispute, and so on. In addition, creativity is not the sole domain of the arts—whether it’s painting, theatre, music, architecture, dancing, literature, and so on—but is important in any field, from medicine to business, and from engineering to economics.

Also, creativity applies to all facets of life. You can use creativity to solve daily problems and to think of new ways to deal with everyday challenges; you can use creativity to find novel ways to increase your income and finally build your nest egg, you can find creative ways to get your child to go to bed at night, you can be creative when it comes to finding a way to get your employees to arrive at work on time in the mornings, and so on.

Developing your creativity is one of the best things you can do to lead a more satisfying and fulfilling life. Fortunately, as most creativity experts hold - including Jack Foster, Roger von Oech, Edward de Bono, and others - creativity is a process that can be learned, practiced, and perfected. Below you will find four steps you can follow to be more creative. These steps are roughly modeled after the five step technique set forth in the creativity classic, A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young.
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Tags: Personal Growth // 34 Comments »

Photo by Aussiegal.

Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday - Napoleon Hill (1883-1970) American speaker and motivational writer.

Procrastination is a term that needs no introduction. I’ve lived much of my life battling this bug, and I have come to believe that it grows from a fear of action.

Creative procrastination is a trick our mind plays to defer things we should do now until the future with an abstract goal to banish our desire.

I’ll give you a simple example. I always thought that I love to go on a world tour to meet with people from different walks of life and to learn their culture. But whenever I thought to plan a trip, I would get the opposing thought, “Well, I’d enjoy the world tour when I’m retired and after my daughters finish their college.”

Research has revealed that we use a fraction of our mind in our entire life, leaving much of our potential to achieve in life at the mercy of this magical bug of creative procrastination. I have come to a revelation: if we bring awareness to our thoughts and the way they persuade us to engage or not to engage in the dreams we dream, we can transcend our fear of action.
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Tags: Life, Personal Growth, Productivity // 27 Comments »

So far in my Career Transitions series I have interviewed some of my favorite bloggers - Todd Goldfarb, David Bohl and John Wesley (don’t worry…. there will be more!). Today, however, I want to hear from YOU. That’s right. I am interested to hear your career related stories, frustrations, dreams and successes. Are you bored and frustrated in your current position? Have you found meaningful work? If so, how did you do it?

Please share your career related tips, advice, stories, frustrations, dreams and successes in the comments below.

Book Giveaway

Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations, once wrote that a person who spends his life performing the same repetitive tasks “generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become.” Wow! Now that’s not a pretty picture. Unfortunately, much of our work today consists of those boring, repetitive tasks.

So starts No More Mondays, the new book from Dan Miller (who also wrote 48 Days to the Work You Love). If you believe a responsible person should bury their dreams and passions in exchange for a paycheck, this book may just be the wake up call you need. Dan has some excellent career advice, and I particularly enjoyed the many anecdotes he shares in this book.

If you would like to know more, have a look at the Amazon reviews - it has received very good ratings to date. To be in the running to win a copy (I have 10 to giveaway), just leave a comment below. I’ll announce the recipients on Friday.

Tags: Career // 37 Comments »

Over the past few years, most people I’ve spoken to have become (or already were) environmentally conscious to some degree. What often begins simply as saving money - such as reducing the amount of electricity you use - turns out to have quite a positive impact. If, however, you want to do even more; there are several things you can do. Here are just 7 lifestyle changes which will help the environment.

1. Use the car less. This is perhaps the simplest change in this list - reduce the time you spend behind the wheel. In addition to the environmental benefits of doing this, you’ll probably find that you become slightly fitter; and have more money in your pocket at the end of the week. In short, there’s no downside. How do you do this? Here are a few suggestions :

• for short journeys, walk
• if possible, work from home (at least some of the time)
• create a car pool with workmates
• make use of public transport occasionally
• bike to work

2. Reduce your intake of red meat. Common sources of red meat such as cows and bulls produce an enormous quantity of climate-changing gases such as methane. Now, I’m certainly not suggesting that you should become vegetarian - I enjoy a good steak as much as any other omnivore - simply that a slight reduction can have a dramatic effect. As a bonus, there are a number of well-documented health benefits of a diet containing only a small amount of red meat.

3. Become a ‘green consumer‘. When shopping for any sort of product - anything from groceries to a new television - take a moment to weigh up the options. If there are alternatives, consider which product has the lowest impact on the environment. Things to look out for :

• does the item come in easily-recyclable packaging?
• have the goods been recently produced? Locally?
• is the item energy or water efficient?

By favoring the products which answer ‘yes‘ to these questions, producers and manufacturers will gradually take up ‘green‘ practices in order to remain competitive.
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Tags: Green Living // 15 Comments »