Month: December 2016

Posted in Philosophy

Know Your Why; Plan Your How…..

Posted on by simplebender

 

goal-setting2

Know Your Why; Plan Your How…….

We are being inundated by social media, newspaper editorials and comics, radio and tv commercials, coaches, managers, friends, neighbors, and family imploring us to set our New Year’s goals.   There is not passion in goals.  They will leave you unsatisfied if too low, disillusioned if too high, and/or are rendered meaningless and summarily dismissed if too much of your environment changes. Let’s not spend any time on something we’re going dismiss; so, just say NO to goals.  What, no goals?….that’s right;  NO goals.

Rather than goals; know your why and plan your how.  We’ve been taught and browbeat to establish ‘SMART’ goals.  However, nothing in a ‘SMART’ goal is from your soul, no commitment, no understanding of WHY that’s your pursuit, your dream.  Look deep inside and clearly determine why you want to commit to accomplish anything.  Without a clear WHY, you can’t really focus, will miss your mark and fail.

Keep asking yourself why until your motivations and aspirations are clear. Once you articulate WHY, plan your HOW.  Your plan should acknowledge your strengths, weaknesses, fears, and confidences.  Bolster your strengths and focus on your weaknesses.  Include regular opportunities to benchmark your progress.  Strive for constant improvement, ok, maybe that’s your goal; but not your end.  With a WHY and a PLAN there is no end.  There is a cycle Plan-Do-Check, repeat.  You can adjust your plan to account for changing circumstance, as long as it squarely addresses your dream.

Don’t limit yourself by setting goals.  Dig deep; know your why and plan your how and get better and better and better…..

 

#NeverFeartheDream

Posted in Political

Amerihypocrism…

Posted on by simplebender

amerihyp

The outrage, the unbelievable, the unimaginable;  a foreign nation interfering with another’s national elections and governmental process. The audacity of disclosing emails; the horror. Marshall the members of the Senate and the House.  Form special committees, investigate and retaliate… but, but, wait; take a deep breath….
Let’s look at ourselves in this process.  We, the United States, have sponsored, promoted, and engaged in overt and covert regime change actions as a standard practice.  Since the end of WWII Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has been a, not so subtle, influencing tool we’ve employed to spread our version of the truth to destabilize the communist east.  We double downed and added Radio Free China and Radio Free Cuba, along with others as well.  We’ve spied upon and hacked our allies’ networks; as they no doubt have done to ours. We’ve participated in and sponsored ‘justified’ attempts at regime change, which were ‘in our country’s best interest’.  We were there in Chile ’73, Nicaragua ’82-’89, Panama ’89, Haiti ’91, Iraq ’94-’96,  Iran ’03 & ’05, Libya ’11,  and Syria ’05-’16.  
And now we’re incensed over the exposure of emails during our Presidential election.  We should be more incensed over the DNC favoritism and manipulation during the primaries.  More frustrated by the arrogance of candidates who put themselves above the law and common sense for convenience. More disappointed by the pandering and policy statements in private fund-raising and speaking engagements which were found to be in direct conflict with what was being declared publicly. 
Maybe it does matter how we found out about these travesties.  But maybe, just maybe, it matters more that they took place than were disclosed.  Whether it was Assange, Wikileaks, Russia, Putin, or that guy in Jersey, we found our system is not pure and clean.  Something we already knew, Bernie told us, but who listened? 
Before we get too carried away with our outrage let’s take a real hard look in the mirror and reassess our efforts in regime influencing and change.    This year, the choice between a bombastic, insulting chauvinist and an arrogant, deceitful elitist left us to wallow in a cesspool of our own making.  Our system works best with an educated, informed electorate and candidates who are willing to engage in thoughtful policy debate. The principles of our system are strong, but let’s recognize other nation’s will also do ‘what’s in the best interest of their country’ just as we have repeatedly done for ours, and will undoubtedly continue to do.
#NeverFearTheDream
Posted in Current Events, Philosophy

I Know…

Posted on by simplebender
Standing in line at the Post Office the week before Christmas is always fun; it’s the people.  Complete strangers sharing the plague of the queue, weary arms hugging overweight packages, and more than knowimagewilling to engage in conversation to pass the time in line.  It was the guy wearing the unbelievable holiday sweater who caught my eye and then my ear.  He was pontificating, to anyone who would listen, on his  knowledge of domestic and international politics and his disgruntlement with recent cabinet selections.   A demure woman commented about how worldly his knowledge was and that obviously he had traveled extensively.  To her surprise, he told her he had never been outside of the state.
I paused to ponder his acclaimed knowledge.  And then, contemplated my own; and asked myself, ‘what do I really know?’  Not just believe, but know.  I’m reasonably well educated, thanks to my folks (really I’ve not squandered my college education, really…).  I’ve seen a lot.  I’m reasonably well read, or so my library would imply.  I’ve traveled from north of the arctic circle to below the equator and to 4 continents. I’ve heard a lot more than I care to, especially from folks who don’t know.  I’ve been told a lot.  And, I guess I’ve experienced a lot.
 
But, through it all, what do I really know.  What I’ve heard and read can be easily discounted as opinion, except for most of my engineering; some of which is now changing.  Main stream media is biased, slanted, unabashedly opinionated, and cares more about being first than being right.  Social media  is an unreliable, unverifiable, and an interesting  social experiment.  What I’ve seen, is only really good from the perspective I viewed the scene.  What I’ve experienced is influenced by my perspective on the event and my collective experiences in life. 
What I’ve resolved is this;  for all I think I know simply shows me how much I don’t know; and the more I know, the more I know I don’t know…..
There will always be that which I simply believe; but, what I do know; is that I’m not going to believe the guy in the ugly sweater…..
#NeverFearTheDream