Mining Your Assets

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that every system, left to itself, tends toward the state of greatest disorder – eventually arriving at equilibrium with its surroundings.  

In simpler terms, everything not imposed upon by a force of sufficient magnitude to protect/ sustain or improve it tends to degenerate to its most elemental parts or “natural” state within the universe.  From dust we are made [but not without enormous investments of externally-derived energy] and to dust we return.  Iron rusts.   

In a progressive world, we “mine” valuable building materials and other resources from very heterogeneous substrata and “purify” them – i.e., separate them from the surrounding or impinging detritus – for useful application: Iron (oxide) ore is heated with coke to melt the iron, remove the oxygen and separate it from the slag to create metallic iron and steel.  Fortunately, iron is one of the more prevalent elements in the earth.  Rarer elements require more extensive mining and processing. 

I have often marveled at how “degenerate” it is of human-kind to go to all the trouble of mining and purifying elements – an energy-extensive and capital-intensive process – only to toss them away into landfills following their “useful life” … a dead-ending process requiring repeated mining and processing of diminishing sources of raw materials which, again, simply end up in landfills.  [An only slightly extended consideration gives one the notion that someday landfills will become the new mining sites for half-raw materials!  It is notable that during World War II recycling of aluminum and copper was carried out with patriotic fervor.  Today, increasing numbers of communities and corporations have begun aggressive recycling programs which help keep highly processed resources in re-purposeful circulation.]

The point of this communication is that my desk frequently looks like a landfill – a combined victim of derelict engineering and the Second Law.  All sorts of “stuff”, once purified and variably élanogenic*, ends up loosely amalgamated in an increasingly ore-like pile of “unélanogenic slag”.  From this ungainly amalgamation, I have to “mine” the slowly disintegrating “ore” to resurrect useful fragments for – hopefully – purposeful application. 

NOTE: The rationale for compilation of the amalgamation is, of course, “need-to-know” and “just-in-time” processing: There’s no need to “process” any of it until I “need-to-know” whatever is buried there, and, knowing it’s all in one place, I can go to a single source for “just-in-time” processing.  How cool is that?!

Unfortunately, the slag gets deeper and the mining becomes more difficult with time.  

An alternative to the amalgamation strategy is to spread everything a single-layer deep across as many horizontal surfaces as one can find or create.  In this fashion, everything is perennially visible and immediately available.  I’ve also taken this strategy far beyond reasonability. Unfortunately, everything singularly horizontalized is constantly “in the way” of everything else simply by sheer force of omnipresence on the radar.  And a limited surface area is a significant navigational constraint.  Even the “cutting room floor” needs a clear table upon which one may make a clean cut!

So how do we become more strategically “stuff savvy” and keep it all straight? 

I think we can use the “Mining-Enrichment-Recycling” paradigm to help keep things at least categorically “friable” – i.e., not only keeping mineral, animal and vegetable separate but sub-classifying to at least a semi-functional level (e.g., short of extreme unction OCD).

Keep your élanogenic assets refinably mineable and you will have taken the first step toward organizational sanity.  Quartermaster

*elanogenic: provides energizing fodder for the vitality of life … as in élan vital

Counting the Cost

A French astronaut [really!] was recently interviewed on NPR in the wake of findings suggesting that extended tours of duty in space may predispose one to brain damage, including loss of hearing, loss of sight and early dementia. 

The interviewer asked how these new findings might impact the decision of the astronaut to continue preparation for an extended space mission planned for the near future. 

Acknowledging the new findings, the astronaut said that, nonetheless, he would gladly accept the risks, and he had obviously given the question a great deal of consideration.   He explained that the cardiovascular system of earthlings is geared to force blood to the brain against the force of gravity and that space travelers, having no need to overcome such force, experience symptoms of excess pressure in the brain.  But he felt that these are reasonably tolerated and reasonably managed, particularly in well-conditioned astronauts. 

Perhaps more to the point, he indicated there is no guarantee that one would not experience losses of hearing, sight, and dementia with age simply vegetating on terra firma.  And how could one live with oneself – in any case – having missed the incomparable opportunity to have pushed the frontiers of human experience to new heights!

The astronaut’s response underscored the fact that regret is a poor companion, and the cost of NOT doing something – even of high risk – may be greater than the cost of actually doing it.   

Life is going to COST something. 

And a richly fulfilled life is full of sacrifices as well as rewards. 

Count the costs well – both the costs of DOING and the costs of NOT doing. 

In the end, if you’re an astronaut, you do whatever astronauts do – and keep doing until you can’t do any more. 

Take away a person’s reason for living and his soul dies.  Feed the soul today.  Go out and risk something.  Your very life may depend on it!   Quartermaster

Personal Manifesto

Preface
I believe it is important for us, at some point in our existence, to set out and articulate our fundamental guiding principles; to upgrade those principles as we live and learn; and to practice those principles to the best of our ability.  Toward that end, I offer my currently engaged "Personal Manifesto", below, along with an invitation to any others willing to share their respective offerings.  These pronouncements are not necessarily "weighted" by listing in any priority order. 

Prounouncement
I am not into lost causes, losing propositions or meaningless pursuits.

The last person I want to fool – or BE fooled – is myself.

I will not shy from the difficult or even imponderable as long as there is reason to hope that a better day or condition can result from the applied effort. 

I am willing to risk significant investment for substantial gain and am willing to defer gratification toward greater ends, even to a point of sacrifice, where warranted or necessary. 

I believe life needs to be lived with Purpose. 

Definable goals are fine, but Purpose is a much more powerful driving force. 
 
I believe the end game of life – or at least a major piece of the end-game – is to eliminate the largest possible number of things that might – if NOT eliminated – threaten my wellbeing and/or the wellbeing of the world around me. 

I believe life has to add up and one has to keep adding for the duration. 

Each of us who inhabited the earth yesterday should have both learned and contributed something; and today we need to capacitize ourselves to contribute even more tomorrow.  There’s no official sanction for “coasting” or “resting on one’s laurels”. 

I believe in the acceptance and due exercise of personal responsibility. 

I do not believe it advances one’s station in life to wear clothing emblazoned with someone else’s name.

I believe we have many options to define our own Destiny if we will but apply ourselves to our full potential.  Waiving such options and deferring the application relegates us to the dictates of Fate, which is patently ungenerous. 

With regard to time, I believe there is no such thing as “Free Time”.  Time not scheduled is time wasted if not wisely invested.    

With regard to finances, I believe in building equity from time-zero onward.   Investments in equity position and/or sustainability are warranted, even to a point of indebtedness, e.g., for education, “Tooling-Up” (for a business or vocation), long-term housing, reliable transportation, vestments of professional station, etc.  But indebtedness otherwise is a fool’s squandering.

I believe each of us should explore the fullest range of human experience possible within our respective allowances of time and talent.   

I believe it is important to know how to “play” as well as how to generate and regenerate the driving forces of life.  Active pursuit of inspiration and engagement in positively affirming and “enlifening” activities are critical to overall wellbeing and should be liberally pursued and applied – but not to a fault!  The end-result of such pursuit should be increased, not decreased, capacitization. 

I believe in fostering creativity. 

I believe in being flexible and in being open to new possibilities.

I believe in developing translatable skills and aptitudes that can serve multiple purposes. 

I believe in Total Intentional Living. 

I understand that I do not have all the answers, and am committed to adapting and adjusting as necessary, within my ability, to best reflect the extant principles and practicalities of life.   

I adamantly abhor dogmatism for its own sake. 

With regard to social engagement:

The conservative in me wants the profanely poor and the deftly disabled to get off their asses and do something useful to justify the valuable resources and opportunities they’re wasting. 

The liberal in me wants to minister to all those in legitimate need.

The utilitarian in me wants to educate and equip the masses in real-time, real-life requirements and expectations, with leadership – to the grave if necessary – for progressive productive engagement.

The philosopher in me wants to provide enlightenment for all to revision their station in life as on a trajectory UP – not as some Fate-decreed spot in a parking lot – having an ultimate goal of Life- and Self-Mastery.  

I believe a person is “accomplished” when what he most prefers to read, he, himself, has written; when the music he most prefers to hear or perform is music he, himself, has composed; when the tools he finds most useful are tools he, himself, has devised; when the art he prefers to view, he, himself, has created.  

Quartermaster 

Incongruent Behavior

I’m sure there’s a better way to describe it, maybe even in technical terms, but I believe we need to acknowledge that some behavior just doesn’t add up to a whole SUMMNESS, all things considered – and “all OTHER things being equal” … which they definitely are NOT universally.  Here are some examples:

           Teen to his mother: “I need my Social Security number.”
            Mother to teen:  “It’s on your SS card.”
           Teen: “I lost my card.”
            Mother:  “It’s also on that slip of paper I gave you for your back pack.”
            Teen: “I lost that, too.”
            Mother:  “[Sigh] I’ll go dig through some files.”
            Teen:  “You might consider getting more organized!” (Zits: February 20, 2012)

Mountain climbers decide to tackle the highest mountain in mid-winter under the most treacherous conditions and expect rescue teams to be at their beck and call when something goes wrong.

The percentage of “Guilty” pleas entered before the court is infinitesimally small, and the prison system is literally bulging with people who don’t think they did anything wrong.  

But incongruent behavior is rampant throughout civilization at much more subtle levels. 

Folks abuse their bodies with junk food and toxic substances, then expect the healthcare system to bail them out and make them “normal”.  (They have pills for that, don’t they?)

Prima Dona employees want to be declared “special” with all the perks while being assigned less work than anybody else.  (Otherwise known as the “Prince” or “Princess” Mentality.)

NBC TODAY Show listener question/answer session, Wednesday, February 22, 2012:

Question: “How can I reduce my credit score (implication: ‘What ‘magic’ can I tap into so I can borrow more money at cheaper rates)?” 

Answer:  “Pay your bills on time and reduce your credit/debt balances!”  [Duh!]

In an old episode of “Roseanne”, Darlene defends her failing grade on a test with righteous indignation, declaring a flagrant “foul” against the system because her friend forgot to wake her up from sleeping through the previous class! 

Taking full responsibility for ourselves and our own wellbeing is viewed with increasing “optionalism”.  As long as we can conjure a friable excuse or “fall-back” position, as long as we can invoke inalienable “rights” and “entitlements”, and as long as we can get significant (more responsible?) others to bail us out and/or defer to our peculiar personal “proclivities”, we expect the parade to keep moving to the dysphonic din of our own distemperate drumming.  And getting repeatedly “rescued” and “reprieved” perpetuates the problem while increasing the stakes of the inevitable “Defining Moment”.

Incongruent behavior – i.e., behavior inconsistent with our overall potential, our overall goals and our overall wellbeing – is not a sustainable enterprise.    

     “But how can he expect that others should

      Build for him, sow for him, and at his call
      Love him, who for himself will take no heed at all?”
From “Resolution and Independence” by William Wordsworth

What are the options? 
Try “Total Intentional Living”.  Or “Take Something Like a Star” (Robert Frost).  While “ … It asks a little of us here ... It asks of us a certain height … “, it gets us much closer to our most desirable goals with much more certainty, with much higher denomination “passage”, and with many fewer encumbrances.   Quartermaster