Cost of Living

At some point – and earlier is better – we have to “Get Real” about the unalterable “Cost of Living” ... about all the stuff “below the water line” that “floats our boat”.   

Life’s Tough!

The CHALLENGES are formidable,

            the RESPONSIBILITIES are awesome,

            the EXPECTATIONS are out-of-sight, and

            TIME is always too short for what we want and need to do. 

With all of the above hanging over us, the cost of living is not trivial – it’s the COST OF LIVING, PERIOD!  And the cost of living WELL is … , well … , a lot higher than a great many of us are willing to pay at first encounter. 

So we muddle through, ignoring the COL; we moan and we mope about how “put upon” we are and about amorphous things like government over-reach making life so difficult – when government “over-reach” is the only thing keeping many of us from going over the edge!  There wouldn’t be food stamps or interstate highways or police or fire protection or Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security, or libraries or a whole lot else without government and taxes.  It’s part of the cost of living in a civilized nation. 

The cost of living formulation includes doing your homework, getting certified, being accountable, and “paying your dues”.  It means paying the “Entropy Tax” just to stay even (life, like water, tends to run downhill when not damned up or pumped up … iron rusts, dust bunnies accumulate, telomeres shorten, infirmities accrue, and attrition happens.)  There is an “ … OR ELSE … “ clause in the Cost of Living formulation: Exercise, eat right and stay off drugs … OR ELSE … you’re going to pay for it in unmitigated stress, “bad vibes”, poor health and low self-esteem. 

And there’s a “maturation matriculation tax” (You become another day older, and people have a right to expect more – and better; in addition, our wants expand; needs expand; personal expectations expand; and experience, productivity and accountability have to expand, accordingly.)  You want a better job, a promotion, a bigger house, a bigger TV, a better hedge on retirement … ?   Then show me what MORE than you’ve already got or done you’re willing to do to deserve it!   

The Cost of Living only goes one direction – UP. 

UPPING our ability to cover the Cost of Living includes closing GAPS in our combined arsenal of knowledge, skills, achievement, perspective and understanding.  It means finding RELEVANCE and BEING relevant.  It means being OPEN MINDED.  It means being TOLERANT.  Yes, those are integral parts of the cost of living WELL!   

The Inca Indians had a “Cost of Living” tax, called a Mit’a Tax.  This was a societal “service tax” paid by serving time rather than monetary exchange, doing “drudge” and “grunt” work needed to make the Inca empire at large run smoothly.  Rock quarrying to build the great Inca Empire fortresses was probably one of the most onerous and difficult assignments; workers were rotated on and off duty to minimize productivity slumps plus “burn out” and health problems in the workforce.  [Realm of the Incas, Victor W. von Hagen, The New American Library 1957, pp. 75-77]

One of the COL taxes frequently overlooked is our EXECUTIVE FUNCTION TAX – the tax we must pay in time, mental energy and discipline to keep our feet on the ground, our backbone straight, and our heads screwed on; … to become and stay organized; … to keep our priorities straight; … to monitor and manage our financial and physiologic wellbeing; … to review and reaffirm our core values; … to review and realign our core mission and purpose; … to review and reaffirm our alliances and associations; … to monitor and manage our unscheduled time.  It’s the tax we must pay for decision-making, strategic planning and expanding our capacities.  And we need to upgrade our Executive Function wirings and wanderings to accommodate both growth and change. 

If you haven’t recently considered the Cost of Living … indeed, the Cost of Living WELL … maybe it’s time to OWN UP and get with the program!  As imponderable as all of the above may seem, we make life so much harder than it needs to be by trying to opt-out of cost of living assessments.  Here’s some important perspective:

“You only have to do what you can do;

but you have to do that much.” 

Garrison Keillor

The main benefit I’ve noticed in mustering an acute COL awareness is that I have personally quit complaining about menial chores, interruptions, and COL “stuff” that used to be such a burden – because I MADE IT ALL SEEM SO UNNECESSARY!  But who can complain – and who do you complain TO – if all this “stuff” is simply part of the “Cost of Living”!?! 

So here it is, pure and simple: Pay your daily Mit’a and COL taxes, and smile while you’re doing it … because, even though you may not be “putting points on the board”, at least you’re not in as much danger of being penalized or having points taken off.    Just DOIT!  Quartermaster

Like You Mean It

[Reference: “Like You Mean It” Louisville Magazine 12.16, pp. 38-45]

This article took up the challenge of charting a profitable and productive path for personal development in the year 2017.  Outlined suggestions and admonitions follow.  (NOTE: I’ve used the LM categorical listings but re-engineered the summations for more global applications.)

SAVE MONEY

The nature of financial needs changes with time, but the perpetual need to minimize debt and maximize savings never changes.  Setting goals, tracking progress, taking advantage of “deals”, negotiating costs of services, delaying gratification, and living some distance “below your means” across-the-board are strategies to adopt early.  Both small and large sacrifices early in the going can make ENORMIOUS differences over time.  DOIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

BE MINDFUL

Pay attention!  Self-awareness, self-monitoring, and total intentional engagement with the outside world pays dividends.  Knowing your limitations and being able to tap into regenerative resourcefulness will reduce stress, enhance energy and provide better balance.  Meditative cogitation, “enlifening” body movement, and avoidance of toxic insults (such as alcohol, tobacco, both prescription and non-prescription drugs, television, social media, and video games … not to mention abusive situations) will help maintain both an enhanced sense of wellness and a reality of wellbeing.  DOIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

VOLUNTEER

Hundreds of opportunities exist in urban communities to help improve and advance the human condition.  These range from feeding and clothing the poor to visiting and assisting the elderly and disabled to tutoring/mentoring children and assisting in primary and secondary education to assisting with boys and girls clubs, boy scouts, girl scouts, Big Brothers/Big Sisters to coaching or refereeing sports to volunteering in hospitals, daycare and rehabilitation centers.  A plethora of public service agencies depend very heavily on volunteers, including the American Cancer Society, Hospice, Ronald McDonald House, and various shelters.  Experience shows that volunteer work positively affects the volunteer at least as much as it benefits the person(s) supported.  DOIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

EXERCISE

No studies exist to show that exercise worsens the human condition – except when engaged in excess.  Exercise not only helps tone, trim and “temper” the body, but tones, “tunes” and “tempers” the mind, and may even enhance brain integrity.  The main problem with exercise is actually making it happen!  Gimmicks, including Fit Bits, abound, as do fitness clubs offering everything from Jazzercise to Adventure and Survival Training to Pilates to Ninja martial arts.  However, neither willpower, nor shame nor guilt – alone or combined – are a match for hard-core reticence, procrastination and delayed ramification.  [See START below.]  So we have to get help, set boundaries, and engage full, no-excuses EXECUTIVE FUNCTION to make it happen.  Then DOIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

WRITE

You don’t have to write the next great American novel or a bundle of essays for posterity or an earth-shaking blog.  But even informal “journaling” can help crystallize what you believe to be important, and can document the hurdles you have overcome when it’s time to do a “Victory Lap”.  Writing is a means of expression that comes in very handy both on-the-job and in the marketplace.  Being able to express yourself clearly, concisely and compellingly can open doors that are closed to those who can’t.  Writing helps shape and sharpen our thoughts and positions on both personal and world affairs.  Written notes greatly aid preparation and delivery of keynote addresses and any and all negotiations.  Editing written notes should include reflection on how solid or limpid our arguments are.  If nothing else, write down what elements of YOUR life are negotiable and non-negotiable.  Toward this end, I challenge you to put together a Personal Manifesto about what you believe and what your highest aspirations might be.  DOIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

START

Simply getting off the launch pad is one of the biggest inertial challenges.  However, once we actually START something – by whatever means – the “activation energy” required has already been overcome and spontaneous things can start to happen.  “The brain can be very lazy … [its] evolutionary feature is to conserve energy … Procrastination is probably a mixture of effort and fear – or some negative connotation … Humans try to maximize rewards and minimize punishment … [but] the more you procrastinate, the more it gets reinforced that the thing is negative … A lot of times it’s just thought getting in the way of action [we’re “busy”, don’t you know!] … The farther away the gratification, the harder it is to do an activity [like exercise] … if you really dislike doing something [like exercise], try doing something pleasurable at the same time [like listen to music or watch videos of cats] … And when you’re done with the laundry, drink a beer.”  [Brendan Depue]  DOIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

SLEEP

“Power naps” are gaining popularity.  http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/10/health/best-times-nap-work/  University of Louisville professor Brian Monsma is a strong advocate, and goes even further to describe the virtues and mechanics of 10 minute “Flash Naps”.  Sleep recommendations and coaching abound https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=sleep  Without question, rejuvenating sleep is one of the core essentials of personal wellbeing.  Get YOURS.  And DOIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

LEARN

Yes, you can develop your own curriculum at ANY age (how cool is THAT!?!), but it’s gotta be both challenging and meaningful, and you can’t short the value of more formal / structured / guided / mentored / tutored learning experiences.  ASK TO BE MENTORED in areas of your greatest interest or areas where you may have an “achievement gap”.  And TAKE NOTES!  Actual writing (even better than typing into a computer file) helps anchor information and reinforces the learning by forcing you to conceptualize and summarize material in your own words.  DOIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

GET SKILLED

Visit your local library and find out what tremendous skills-exploring and skills-building resources they have.  Do an apprenticeship or internship in an organization you find both challenging and exciting.  And GET CERTIFIED … in SOMETHING!  Visit your local vocational/technical school and see what opportunities they may have available.  If you like growing stuff, visit the local Extension Service Office or horticulture group.  Vocational associations abound.  Visit and/or join one!  DOIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

GET CULTURED

Beauty, truth and inspirational works elevate the human spirit, undergird the nobility of mankind, and engender hope in a sustainable future.  Video games and social media, not so much.  Get a well-rounded exposure to theater, drama, musical theater, art, musical performance; learn to play a musical instrument; join a singing group; read and write some poetry; paint a picture … Study some antiquities – and their historical context – along the way.  [“Antiquities are valuable not because they are old; they are old because they are GOOD!”  Louis Palmer]  Let the “unbridled spirit” within you “free” itself.  And grasp as much of the human spirit and human experience as your time and energy will allow. DOIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

READ

Go “Deep-Mining the Universe”.  Great thinkers and explorers do not publish their greatest works on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.  They carefully and thoughtfully and creatively unravel secrets of the universe to share in as permanent a form as they have available.  It expands your horizons.  And it challenges errant hypotheses, mistaken assumptions, unrealistic expectations and unwarranted entitlements.  It helps grow our understanding of those who are “different”.  Do not shy from challenging works (start with the Cliff Notes if necessary), but grow yourself into understanding how the Greats think, and learn vicariously the lessons they have already learned from hardship.  Thus, negative history won’t have to repeat itself in YOUR life but positive history CAN.  Be BULLISH on reading Great Stuff!  DOIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

“Immerse yourself in Greatness and you will never be bereft in Spirit.”

Quartermaster

Winning II

FLASH NEWS!

Your success is guaranteed! 

In fact, you may already have WON!

Wherever you spend the most time and energy is where you will realize the most success. 

You may become an EXPERT:

–        Eating junk food

–        Playing video games

–        Watching sports

–        Manipulating the SMART PHONE

–        Surfing the WEB / Doing Social Media

–        Or …

»        Doing absolutely nothing

These guys finally figured it out:

Of course, “winning the battle but losing the war” and “winning at all cost” are two of the most sobering roads to infamy. 

The terms by which “Winning” is defined demand fair consideration.   

• ·         Tweens and teens – and more than a few otherwise – frequently define “Winning” as whatever they can “get away with”. 
• ·         One of my former bosses matriculated through an elite academic institution which encouraged predatory “bullying” behavior, with senior staff routinely asking, “Who have you licked lately?” 
• ·         In my non-academic, self-help study of the art of management, I happened across a book entitled, “Black Belt Negotiation”, which armed one for withering take-no-prisoners destruction of a competitor’s or a client’s position.  
• ·         At monthly Executive Committee meetings, one particularly acerbic senior leader would challenge every proposed action, assuming “intellectual high ground privilege”, with arguments extended indefinitely until he “won” … sometimes even changing his position multiple times until “winning” was assured!   

The political races of 2016 were graphic illustrations of the art of “winning at all cost” / “winner take all” / “take no prisoners” strategies, accompanied by fear-mongering, trumped-up moral outrage, character assassinations and standard-issue political promises as bait tactics to seduce voters on the campaign trail, while hiding behind stupefying special interest personal agendas that only became obvious once officials took office.   

In his first five days as a Kentucky state representative, C. Wesley Morgan, a longtime Richmond liquor dealer, filed six bills that he thinks would make life better for the liquor industry.

Morgan … lists himself as a vice president of the Kentucky Association of Beverage Retailers, an industry group that represents the interests of package liquor stores before state government.

When Morgan ran for election last November, seeking to oust Democratic Rep. Rita Smart, he campaigned on a platform of tax reform, fixing the state pension system and fighting crime and addiction.

http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article125692964.html#storylink=cpy

To an apparently diminishing cadre of observers, the “ends” don’t always justify the “means”.  

Finally, winning is not the same as not losing.  You can’t win by choosing not to compete.  In fact, losing can become a significant “slingshot accelerator” toward winning.  You engage, you lose, you learn, you work to improve, you prepare, you over-prepare, you WIN.  You have to risk the possibility of losing if you want to win BIG, but you pick your battleground according to your skills and ambitions, and play it out to the best of your ability … preferably like there was no tomorrow … and you will win something.  (Most of the “competition” is watching cat videos on social media!)

What “prize” is worth investing everything you’ve got – even if you risk not winning the “Brass Ring” or the championship trophy?  Two prizes even more valuable:

Legitimacy

&

Respect

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,

whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;

who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again,

who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions,

and spends himself in a worthy cause;

who, at the best, knows the triumph of high achievement;

and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,

so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls

who know neither victory or defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt

So here we are at the auspicious beginning of 2017.  Let’s gird ourselves to enter the arena, and not be deterred by the dust, sweat, blood and tears of temporary disappointments we may encounter in the pursuit of worthy causes; let us dare greatly, struggle valiantly and find sufficiency in the legitimacy and respect we find in the company of worthy soldiers.  Winners will come to KNOW and accept us into their ranks by the ownership we take in our mission and by the courage and passion we demonstrate in the arena.  Quartermaster   

Resignation

“Our society has resigned itself to suffering.”

Jamie Studts, Behavioral Scientist

[Describing the fatalistic acceptance of a cancer diagnosis as a death sentence]

**************

I’ve had a growing suspicion that, as with a cancer diagnosis, much of our outlook on life and living and career and citizenship – and all the rest – is colored unduly by our “resignations”. 

Sometimes we can get hopelessly and helplessly mired in “things just being as they are”. 

Our church participates in a city-wide “Room In The Inn” program that houses and feeds the homeless on weekends.  I was asked to spend Christmas Eve night with a group of men sheltered by this program.  “Resignation” to the condition of their circumstances is a pervading theme for many of these men … though not for all.  While some view it as permanent, some view it as only temporary and continue to fight their way up and out.

In the larger scheme of things, resignation can be a valuable protective mechanism or one that allows us to move on to more productive things.  For example, I’ve “resigned myself” to the fact that I’ll never compete in the Olympics … never own a muscle car or a motorcycle … travel in space … be 20 again … win an international BHS quartet competition, etc.

[But there’s a whole lot else that is fair game!]

There’s something comforting about “things being as they are”.  We know the territory.  And the expectations are much more manageable when there emerges a certain “pattern” in life. 

Sometimes we don’t feel “worthy” of anything “above our station” … we don’t feel like we “fit in” ... don’t “belong” anywhere else. 

Finally, there’s the inbred cultural/tribal associations and admonitions, tying us to a particular “bent” in life, lest we should deign to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, or attempt to reach too far beyond our groundings ... or beyond others’ grasp or expectations of us.     

In the worst case, resignation is merely an excuse:  “It’s just the way I am, WHO I am, and how I do what I do!” 

RUBBISH!  

BE SOMEBODY!

At this beginning of the New Year, 2017, we might take stock of our “New Year’s Resignations”. 

Resignations you might consider dropping, in addition to any or all of the above, are those that unduly limit your possibilities.  

Don’t just “resolve” to exercise (as so many of us will!), become adamantly “RESIGNED” to the fact that exercise is an indelible part of the COST OF LIVING. 

Your 2017 “resignation list” might include becoming resigned to CHANGE (it’s another integral part of life and the “cost of living”) … to SELF-AWARENESS (giving up prejudices, errant assumptions, unrealistic expectations, and unwarranted entitlements) … to LEGITIMACY (“Fake News” be damned!) … to PERSONAL GROWTH (if you’re not yet dead, you’re not yet “finished”!) … to the pursuit of SELF-MASTERY and SIGNIFICANCE (trivialities be damned!) …

Such resignations can be transformative, but may, themselves, require a “transformation in thinking” and the engagement of “transformational” Executive Function.

At some point, we have to become “resigned” to the fact that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Super Heroes, and deus ex machina rescues don’t exist, that one doesn’t indefinitely get trophies just for showing up, that getting another year older doesn’t qualify one for promotion, that our chances of winning the lottery are one in 175 million, and that “our ship” is not going to come in – we have to swim out to it … through water that is frequently shark infested. 

The good news is that giving up things that don’t count or don’t even exist or can’t possibly be attained is giving up NOTHING OF CONSEQUENCE … except BAGGAGE that otherwise only weighs us down, misdirects our attention and holds us back.  It’s the ultimate SELF-LIBERATION! 

The better news is that we only HAVE to do what we CAN do … and be both patiently dogged and impatiently persistent in that pursuit. 

But the BEST news is that we don’t have to do it all by ourselves.  The “Bandwagon Effect” of dogged persistence harnesses multiple forces of the universe – and establishes and sustains momentum – that can help pave the way toward wherever it is we’re going. 

Let’s get REAL … RESIGN OURSELVES to REALITY and to our TRUEST DESTINY … hike up our shorts, and get the New Year rolling … and may the FORCE be with you!!  Quartermaster