Plan For Retirement At 30

Where do I want to be when I'm sixty?  

I was told once most people plan their vacations better than they plan their lives.  They drone on never thinking about where or what they want to be.  Those that don't have a long-term plan find themselves somewhere else--somewhere they don't want to be.  Yet I heard from a successful business entrepreneur that far thinking is a waste of time.  Isn't there truth in both issues?  People are changing careers because they can't make a living from the original one they chose.  Others are sticking to it no matter what because it's who they are or what they do.

In this case I look to writing and what it taught me.  When I write a scene I'm sketching out the "right now".  But, I'm also thinking about the impact this scene will have later in the novel.  In a novel I can go back and add or change details here, shave off something there but we can't go in the past and change it.  We can make goals but sometimes goals change.  So maybe far-thinking isn't the way to go.  Yet if you don't think into the future you might want to make a time machine just to strangle yourself because you didn't take advantage of that 401K plan.  So maybe goals are important.  

What I do know is that I'm a far-thinker and I've been thinking further into the future.  Asking myself when I'm 99 years of age do I want cremation or a coffin?  Morbid, I know, but from there I back up.  Whose going to help my mom up her horse when the arthritis is so bad she needs a crane to lift her in the saddle?  Whose going to wipe the drool of my dad's face while he's playing on his iPhone not paying attention to the tv that he's in front of?  Whose going to send my nephews to college?  My brother might be dead by then.  Whose going to give my niece the life she's grown accustom to?  Maybe my sense of responsibility is too great but I think about these things. 

And yet they are all "what if's".  These what if circumstances both inspire me and immobilize me as I calculate my salary.  I then I know what my answer is.  It's always been my answer.  I can always count on it when I get overwhelmed.  Want to know what it is?

One thing at a time. 

You might have goals, aspirations and also a life that anchors you down.  You might not be planning everything for the long game but why not have one long term goal to actively work on?  Start retirement plans at thirty.  Write that book.  Invest in a bank note.  Because honestly you can't tell me that successful entrepreneur doesn't have money saved for when he wants to stop working.  

Aim For The Bushes

Inciting Incident: Two Chicago cops high on their own ego's jump twenty stories in pursuit of bank robbers. 

 

I watched "The Other Guys" with Will Ferral and Mark Wahlberg Sunday and am still reeling in disbelief.  (Spoiler alert) It was the scene where Samuel Jackson and Dwayne Johnson's characters bump each others knuckles and The Rock says "Aim for the bushes." and then they jump TWENTY STORIES. (End Spoiler alert)

I'm still thinking, why?  How did they think that was going to turn out fine?  Do men get testosterone poisoning so bad to the point of stupidity?  You bet.  I've seen it.  I guess it is how teenagers get killed--mostly boys by the statistics--but I'm still in a state of displacement trying to understand.  

Okay, yes, it was a movie.  The effects were awesome and it wasn't real, but still I've witnessed and prevented friends (in high school) from playing chicken with trains.  So I understand testosterone poisoning.  The thing is--I believe something like that could happen in real life. 

 

What prevents someone from feeding off their egos and "aiming for the bushes" when you live in a concrete jungle?  Sane friends, and only if you listen to them.  

What that movie really impressed upon me were two things.  First, don't jump off the top of a twenty story building.  Or, don't let your ego blind you.  

Second, there are a lot of zeros on the price tag of the government bailouts given to banks.  Holy moly!  If you watch the credits of the movie it gives you a disturbing visual. 

 

I might never understand the superman complex, but then again, people don't understand how some of us can ride a horse without fear or hesitation. 

Marketing Efforts

As always I'm looking for insight from other industries to help me think out-of-the-box for my future marketing efforts of my book.  This question seems to be the best stated.

 

Q: How do I reach out to new customers?

 

A: Make sure you stay consistent. Consistent efforts will pay off. Though it may seem slow in the beginning, you have to take it one day at a time. Make sure you have an action plan and do something daily to accomplish your overall goal.

Good advice, what's your action plan?

10 Things Bosses Never Tell Employees

I found this article and thought it really was spot on.

10 things bosses never tell employees ~ Jeff Haden

There’s a lot you don’t know about your employees, especially the things your employees will never tell you. There’s also a lot employees don’t know about you. Here are 10 things business owners wish they could say to employees:

1.  I care about whether you like me. I want you to like me. When I come off like a hard-ass who doesn’t care about your opinion of me, it’s an act. My business is an extension of myself. I want you to like it. And me.

2. I don't think I know everything. A few people stepped in, without being asked, and made a huge difference in my professional life. I will always be grateful to them. I don’t offer you advice because I think I’m all knowing or all-powerful. I see something special in you, and I’m repaying the debt I owe to the people who helped me.

3. I think it’s great when you’re having fun. You don’t have to lower your voice and pretend to be working hard when I walk by. I know it’s possible to work hard and have a little fun at the same time. Before I got all serious, I used to work that way.

When you enjoy what you do, it makes me feel a little better about my company and myself. I get to feel like I’ve created something more than just a business.

4. I want to pay you more. I would love to be the employer of choice in the industry or the area.  I can’t, mostly due to financial constraints but partly because the risks I’ve taken require a reasonable reward. If I go out of business tomorrow, you lose your job. That's terrible, I know. But I lose my business, my investment, my credit, my house… sometimes I lose everything. Someday, when you start your business, I promise you’ll understand.

5. I want you to work here forever. Job-hopping may be a fact of business life, but as an owner it’s a fact I hate. I don’t see you as a disposable part. When you leave, it hurts. A part of me feels like I’ve failed. I want to own the kind of business people hope to retire from.

6. Sales don’t appear by magic. I know you despise filling certain types of orders. They’re aggravating, they cause you to fall behind… they’re a pain. You wish we would sell other work. Unfortunately (from your point of view at least) sometimes the orders that take the most time are actually the most profitable.

And even if they aren’t, sometimes those orders are the only thing we can sell. Sometimes I even take terrible work because it's the only way to keep the lights on.

7. I would love to turn you loose. You can't stand to be micromanaged. That's good because I hate micromanaging. But freedom is earned, not given. Show me you can fly on your own and I’ll gladly focus on something or someone else.

In fact, if you feel I’m micromanaging you, step forward. Say, “Jeff, I can tell you don’t quite trust me to handle this well. I understand, so I’m going to prove you can trust me.”

Do it and I'll get off your back and respect you even more.

8. I notice when others don’t pull their weight. I’m not blind. But I won’t discipline those individuals in front of you. No employees, no matter how poorly they perform, loses their right to confidentiality and privacy. And sometimes I won’t discipline them at all, because occasionally more is going on than you know. You wouldn’t realize that, though, because oftentimes…

9. There are things I just can’t tell you. Even though I would love to, and even though you and I have become friends.

10. Ownership is the smorgasbord of insecurity. I worry about sales. I worry about costs. I worry about facilities and employees and vendors and customers and… you name it, I worry about it.

So occasionally I’m snappy. Occasionally I’m distracted. Occasionally I’m tense and irritable and short-tempered. It’s not your fault. I’m just worried. More than anything, I’m worried about whether I can fulfill the trust you placed in me as your employer.

Inside Every Man Is A Giraffe

When I meet a guy and he asks me to a social event or to see me later I start the hymn-and-haw of I have a boyfriend and "I really can't because..." (you know the drill).  But do guys really just have sex on the brain or do they want to be friends with women?  Certainly if I were to accept an invitation on the basis that my boyfriend could come that would be indication enough for me, but when a guy dismisses the boyfriend that's the biggest indicator of young, dumb and full of cum.  I want to meet interesting people--not just men.  I refuse to believe that men are just walking penises ready to rip off their clothes at any moment (not like teenagers anyway).  I've met several men who are past that phase and are looking for real meaning in their lives with friends and true connection.  It's an interesting journey for me to turn 180 degrees from believing men have no feelings at all to knowing they have difficulty expressing themselves--or rather men express themselves more through action rather than vocally like women do. 

 

I've chosen to see men like giraffe's for that reason.  Giraffe's are shy, quiet, stoic, reserved and get offended if you touch them first.  Not that they don't want to be touched but rather they want it on their terms.  I have stood in the presence of a giraffe allowing the tall creature to inspect me without making a move, honored that he'd choose me to search.  Giraffe's see us a peculiarity like a beetle or something that squirms.  Men, like Giraffe's, know intuitively your intentions.  They may not know it consciously, but they know.  Whether they listen to their intuition over their own background noise is the difference between a man and a boy. 

 

I compare men to giraffe's to iterate the thought process women have towards men.  Giraffe's are not horses, still people think how they can ride a giraffe like one.  Giraffe's are shy and reserve, yet people try to put their hands all over them--scaring them and making them back away.  Giraffe's aren't vocal but people don't take the time to try and understand the language giraffe's do speak.  Deep feeling radiate out of their soft eyes, yet people take their own shields for granted not understanding that giraffe's don't have the same protection against emotions as they do. 

 

Men are not the only problem solvers.  Women have the gift of analysis, but I think they need to know when to use it.  Trying to figure out what he meant by what he said isn't always the right application.  Look at his actions and determine if they match his words.  Put more weight on what he does than the words coming out of his mouth.  Pretend he's a giraffe and see how that can help explain his actions.

Valentine's Day

I've seen a lot of the what Valentine's Day is and isn't.  Some people are going around cursing Hallmark.  Others Conroy's and See's Candies.  But, honestly I'm glad for the reminder.  In my busy life I don't always get to spend a night with my honey-bunches-of-oats and say--"damn we've been together for how long?"

That sounded better in my head.


Honestly, I'm glad to be able to have a day to remember who I have that's important to me and celebrate this person witnessing my life as I theirs.  Even if you're not with someone you still have the person in the mirror that you are suppose to be loving unconditionally.  Unconditionally it better be because if I don't, then the inside of my head sucks.  Love thyself first, then take yourself out to a wonderful dinner, candy and maybe even a card! 

The Internet Is Forever Part 2

Recently I've come across this video...
Chris Poole Explains Internet Anonyminity

Chris Poole expresses the downfalls of Facebook and Google's "fast food" one size fits all identity.  Wanting to share while remaining anonymous is increasingly difficult.  While some may think anonymous and dubious go hand in hand think about people's judgement and how that might effect you. 

I'm an advocate of being proud of who I am, admitting my wrongs but I'm also an advocate of moving on.  The web does not let you move on.  The internet is forever.  Everything you post, express and opinionize is on the net 24/7.  Forever.  Even some things you never did are attatched to you and forever there.  

The web doesn't forget, doesn't forgive and only knows who you were then.  The web is a blessing and a curse that way.


Poole is right.  People aren't cardboard cut-out's.  We each are diamonds.  Turn us over and around and you will see different shapes, colors and facets of our being.  People are not flat, they have depth and like all different kinds of things.  And maybe, a computer nerd doesn't want someone to know how he loves to go to plays like "Wicked"--don't worry DW your secrets safe with me (wink, wink).  

So when you see things on the internet, don't forget it's just a facet of you.  But also, don't forget your manners either--we might find out who you are...  

The Internet Is Forever

There are a variety of ways to be creative on the internet.  I love them all!  Link away to the new medium you've found and show me the way to dash color onto the web pages of the soul of humanity!  

That is what the Internet is--a record of humanity.  The amazing thing about the internet is that it has been programmed for self preservation.  When a route is blocked, it finds a way out.  As long as their are servers, the internet will find a way.  And, it does it automatically.  It's already gained it's own primitave survival skills.  Now it's gaining social skills too.  The internet is really a bunch of servers talking to each other.  Think about Google...when you do a search servers clamor to be "heard" and say "I know! I know!"  When you click on their little web page they get the satisfaction of "talking" to you. 

 

Okay, so maybe my perception is way off and I'm humanizing a machine, but didn't people start off as machines guided by instincts?  

And if you don't believe the Internet is forever, then Google your full name.  When I did this I found four of me!  I've got a quadruplet life on the internet!  Apparently, I'm a photographer, a mom, and a writer with a horse.  I'm on goodreads and Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, spoke, and all four of me are good lookin'!  This duplicity got me thinking; if you combined the lives of all four of us, we'd make a pretty powerful internet identity.  

There's nothing we couldn't do! 

Quote

As I said to my G-Pa, I've been a fool and a fanatic because I've never had any doubts.  He replied back, "There is a great difference between being confident and not having doubts. Only those who have a closed mind have no doubts. Anyone who is willing to approach a subject with an open mind is open to doubt their position."

I have to say G-Pa said it better than Bertrand.

The Moon

I love the feel of wind massaging my skin, a fire with it's snake tongues lashing in waves and the stars with no moon to suppress their light.  

Face down, forehead on my arms I let the beams of thousands of years whisper their adventures as they cascade at this rest stop before they go for however long light can reach.  

The fire has always been kind to me even if it is consuming its fuel at a fascinating rate.  If you are what you eat then this fire was made from the trees I cared for, tried to nurse back to health, but eventually became too old or sick to continue on.  They became ripe and rotted until we admitted, finally, that the tree with no leaves in spring would not come back and took it down before it fell onto the house.  

This pyre is half mourning for the friend that provided apricots and shade and half rejoicing for the warmth and the return of a trees elements to grow another.  

The wind is soft and lovingly wraps around my bare form making a coat of warm breath around me and turns like a cat to play with ash and sparks twirling them in a spiral offering them up to the stars as tribute or to add another story to their timeless travel.  

I love this place of wind, fire and starlight; my backyard.