Intensive versus Extensive

Some people rely on their skills in order to achieve a better life, others rely on their network. A strong marketable skill can truly be the difference between winning and losing, between having a job and being unemployed, between being in business and filling for bankruptcy. Sometimes in life there comes a time when you have to start all over, reinvent yourself and bury your past in yesterday’s obituary. Scan the market day in and day out, find out what people are willing to pay top dollar for and go acquire that skill. From white collar to blue collar, it’s about finding out what people want and giving it to them.
Nevertheless, a man must stay connected or suffer the consequences of living on an island. A network that runs wide and deep is a backbone for any serious professional, business, or even human for that matter. People say it’s all about who you know. I tell you it’s all about who you know and what you know. Who you know puts you on, what you know determine how long you stay.
Be intensive in the skills you choose with ultimate dexterity and be extensive in your network by knowing the “right people”…

Life cycles … Life filters

Belmont, Preakness, Kentucky Derby are all very prestigious races for any thoroughbred  horse that is strong enough and fast enough to win all three. We have not had a Triple Crown horse since 1978. The jockey, trainer and owner all play a very important role in the life cycle of a horse. Affirmed was the last known Triple Crown winner. He was euthanized and buried whole in 2001, which is the ultimate honor for a racehorse.

You are a racehorse. It is vital to understand how your training, employer and behavior will affect the different stages of your life cycle.  Birth, school, career, marriage, kids … death, life is over.  A person says life is short. Life is never short. Life is long, long enough for you to live with the decisions you make.

Life filters…

Some horses at the end of their life cycle are shipped overseas where the slaughtering of horses is legal. They will eventually become dog food for your Chihuahua or high priced meat in fancy restaurants.

The way a story ends has a lot to do with the way it begins. The mental and emotional filters you go through on a day-to-day basis will eventually shape who you are, the way you live and how you die…

Organic versus Synthetic

Compare the feeling you get when you are surrounded by loves ones, when you are deeply in love or when you are doing something you utterly enjoy, to the feeling you get when you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The first one is organic, the second one is synthetic. Synthetic feelings can be bought and recreated many times over but they come at a cost, which is your health. High fructose corn syrup is a synthetic sugar that tricks your body into thinking that it should release insulin. Over time, if you keep drinking sodas even diet or zero calorie sodas, your body takes a toll and leaves you with fresh needles to regulate your sugar level.
Synthetic fat is even worst, since your body has not clue how to digest it.
You are what you eat. So eat well, eat healthy. Choose the joy of healthy organic food over that of synthetic dangerous victuals.

Job Security ... Yea right !

A good friend just told me, you know Paul; I have been working for this company for 10 years. Two weeks after I got my commemorative plaque, they fired me, no severance pay, no nothing.
This makes me wonder
Do you aim for job security or job employability?

Job security is a fancy dream people buy into after being with a company for a while. Job employability is working on expanding and fine-tuning your marketable skills. Job security is yesterday’s pipe dream. Job employability is today’s early nightmare. The good news is you get to pick your poison. You can work hard, extra hard and hope they do not offshore your position overseas, outsource you for someone who can do it better, faster and cheaper or you can increase your expertise and take the highest bid…
Next time you are sitting on a toilet seat, ask yourself two simple questions.
1- Am I replaceable?
2- Am I indispensable?
The answer will tell you what should be your next move.
P.S. Oh, we are sorry but XYZ no longer works for the company…