Why We Must Buy New

  “I Want it NEW, and I Want it NOW!”

It’s no secret that shopping is a national obsession.  Spend a day at the mall on the weekend (i.e., when there’s NOT a UK basketball game!) and see the merchandise being hauled out or at the post office to see the number of mail-order catalogs being processed, not to mention e*Bay or Amazon traffic on the WEB.  Holiday time is especially notable as shoppers vie for the latest toy or game … or (sorry, dad) most pathetic looking tie!  Truth be told, it really doesn’t much matter WHAT you take home, as long as it’s SOMETHING and as long as it’s NEW.

Why do we like NEW stuff?
 

Why can’t we be satisfied with REGULAR stuff that’s used a little – that’s even survived the test of time?  The art and passion for “rejuvenatin’” and “fixin’ things up” has long since passed and we don’t even give a first thought about recycling things – unless, perhaps, it’s a 1934 Ford Coupe with a rumble seat.  
 

Part of our fixation with newness is that we’ve become a “been there/done that” culture.  Old news is no news and old stuff has had its day, and, while we were THERE, we’re now HERE, and we’re “movin’ on”.  
 

But the bigger part of the fixation – I contend – is the distance NEWNESS puts us from the “ordinary”, and, more particularly, from anything “used”, from dirt, dust and the “cutting room floor” ... from where the thread, metal and plastic first take shape (not to mention the toxic waste) and from where wear and tear and rust and thermodynamic calamity and disorderliness are finally banished and something emerges that is shiny, new, untouched, “virginal”, unspoiled, pristine and completely segregated from the components used in its construction – not to mention from the condition it will unfailingly assume once pressed into service.  (Unless it’s a “collectable”, of course, whose sole character depends on NEVER getting pressed into service, and which only has to be protected from dust, humidity, and the occasional earthquake tremor or hurricane.)  And note the marketing ploy of exaggerating the immaculate differentiation of a product from all of its surroundings by providing distinctive and contrasting background, color, lighting, textures, etc.  In this context, it becomes much easier to comprehend how a person can have a closet full of clothes and “nothing to wear”.  Everything in the closet blends in, and nothing is sufficiently differentiated to stand out – even in “Designer” mixed company.   
 

Another component of the fixation with NEWNESS is that we’re constantly in search of perfection and renewal and we tend to look for it outwardly.  Like a breath of fresh air, we’ve just GOT to have a new something or other to keep going, else we lapse into an unconscionable depression.  An absence of new stuff is like holding our breath: if the dearth of newness doesn’t end soon, we just might DIE!  
 

Finally, “salvation” is perceived as a state of pristine, unadulterated, pure being, and the closer we get to that state, the more “in” we feel with the heavenly throng.  
 

But the real heroes are the ones in the trenches – the ones digging out the diamonds, separating them from the dross, cutting and shaping and polishing them and placing them in the distinctive settings we so delightfully “discover” on the show room floor. 
 

“Become a “trench rat”: Do the digging and become a ‘processing expert’ to create gems for the marketplace and you will neither want for something worthwhile to do nor for due recompense.”  Quartermaster

 

 

How Much Is Enough?

How Much is Enough?

And according to whom?

Is 40 hours a week “enough” in the work arena for where you’re going, for what you expect out of work and life, and for all the things you’re “entitled to”?  I’ve had some employees for whom 20 hours a week was more than “enough”, considering the productive work they did.  But they continued to put in their 40 hours.  Wow!  Is that dedication or what!?!

Sometimes we determine what “enough” is by counting backwards from what constitutes “too much”.  For some, getting to work on time is too much.  For a considerable number, “too much” is whatever interferes with their indulgences and comfort zone. 

Often we determine what “enough” is by what we perceive got us to where we are.  In fact, what got us where we are was a sizeable apportionment of “forgivable loans”.  Such “loans” are investments society and parents make to assure that we can become independently capable of investing our own education (mostly accrued on their dollar), time and energy toward making wise choices to support ourselves.  But the way things work is that the loans become less “forgivable” with time.  It’s a sobering realization to wake up and find – all of a sudden /\ neversomuch too soon – that we’re completely responsible for our own welfare. 

Sometimes we conjecture that “enough” is what we perceive others are doing [or “getting away with”] … all other things being equal.  But our perceptions can be all wrong and “all other things” are hardly ever equal.  Some people have more talent; some have more skill; some have rich uncles; some are skimping on savings; some are sacrificing substantial amounts of personal time; some are spending an hour-a-day at the gym, bringing work home, reading professional journals and going to bed early instead of watching 6 hours of television; some have a lot of family support; some are in debt over their heads; some are more articulate; some are a better “fit” for certain circumstances; and some are running way ahead of themselves.  More to the point, nobody is going where we’re going – wherever that is … unless it’s going down the tubes to oblivion, and that group has lots of company.   

Finally, how much is “enough” to see our Dreams realized?  For starters, it’s not “enough” simply to stand on the shore waiting for “our ship to come in”.  And it’s not “enough” to persist in some non-descript holding pattern while Lady Luck churns her stuff on our behalf through the lottery, bingo or the slot machines. 

You really want to know what “enough” is?

Enough is when you can’t do any more – as in there is nothing more you coulda done.  Life – as we would like to live it and feel fulfilled – is going to take everything we’ve got.

Now get in there/out there and “churn your best stuff” to make the kind of difference in the world that will be worthy of the distinction of which you are worthy and that is yours for the making!   Quartermaster

What Counts?

For variable periods, we all can “go through the motions” and slough through meeting minimum expectations – just doing enough to prevent us from missing an advance to the next grade or getting fired. 

Unfortunately, it can’t last indefinitely.  In fact, minimal doesn’t really “count”.  There’s “minimal” expectations and there’s “full potential” expectations.  You don’t get extra points – or any points at all – for simply showing up and being “open for business”, being a year older, taking up space, depleting the planet of forage and contributing to landfills. 

What “counts” is what you go “out of your way” to make happen BEYOND minimal expectations.  Minimal expectations are a given.  If you don’t do minimal, there will be Hell to pay somewhere down the road.  That could translate into being “passed over”, fired, divorced, foreclosed, bankrupt, or worse.  And the minimum is generally a significant bit higher than we can reach without stretching. 

The least we can do is apply ourselves to the best of our ability.  That’s where “counting” begins. 

Grades count.  Cs and Ds won’t cut it.  An occasional C or D in a subject you simply “can’t get” might be overlooked if balanced by As and Bs in everything else.  Top grades mean that you have high standards for yourself and are willing and able to meet both those standards and the standards set for you by others – whatever it takes.  Very few of any consequence are interested in hiring or associating with individuals who have low or mediocre standards and can’t or won’t meet the general standards of the marketplace.  Sure, five years after you get the degree, it may not matter what grades you got in high school or college.  But these formative years establish a reference base and ingrain patterns of behavior that fingerprint our “fitness” for matriculation in the world at large for the duration. 

Making ourselves useful – and, at the very least, “sanctionable” – counts.  Our best anchoring – in the home, in the workplace or in any social context – is to be the “GO TO” person for something of value.  Being “entertaining” is cute, and being a “social butterfly” can be fun, and being a “victim” might get you occasional sympathy, but it’s what gets out the door and on the street with competitive customer buy-in that allows us to come back for more.  However, becoming a sine qua non cog in the wheel of progress [see also “Owner-Driver” summation] assures us a place in the Grand Scheme of things and – as an added bonus – creates sine qua non choices.  

Testimonials count.  A glowing recommendation can open more doors than the most carefully crafted résumé. 

At my mother’s memorial service, a still, small voice could be heard echoing in my head saying: “Who will stand and speak on my behalf at this time of reckoning?”  I was surprised and delighted to see how many did stand and speak eloquently on her behalf.  It was a much longer service than we had planned for!

Each of us has “reckonings” that can appear in the most untimely and unlikely of circumstances.  We need to have plowed the ground and tilled the soil and cultivated the harvest of accomplishments and testimonials that will carry us through even the worst of reckonings.  One of my former bosses claimed that the thing one most needs in the marketplace is an expert in the field putting his arm around our shoulder and saying to the world: “This person gets it done and is held in highest esteem!”  Make it so for you. 

“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you.”

Henry Ward Beecher

 

Unscheduled Time

I’ve come to reckon that “Unscheduled Time” is the bane of many fellow pilgrims.  More specifically, unscheduled time combined with the unperturbed moment is a double jeopardy construct.  When we are not “sorely pressed”, we tend to get “wrinkled” … unstrung … unhinged … detached … and undone.

Unscheduled time, combined with the unperturbed moment, is an opportunity to plug more directly in to our truest Destiny. 

However,  during unscheduled/unperturbed time, which we treat without passing thought as “Free Time”, most of us are more prone to UNPLUG ourselves from anything faintly resembling Destiny and, instead, plug into anything and everything as far removed from Destiny as possible.  This condition allows something we call “Fate” to take over our lives, and the results, without exception, aren’t pretty! 

I believe the real problem in dealing with the unperturbed/unscheduled moment is that we don’t have or recognize or cultivate truest Destiny “Plug-Ins” – call them “Apps”, if you like.  We naturally resist structure, discipline and “meaningful” pursuits that require some effort, missing or ignoring completely the “energizing” effect of hitching our wagon to a star and focusing all our attention and energies into a Grand Plan, Purpose or Goal.    

So we’ve got to develop our “Plug-Ins” with care – and on purpose. 

First, start with a Grand Plan.  It doesn’t have to be specific or grandiose.  It can be as simple as: “I want to become the best I can be.”   More specifics might help, such as: “I want to become the best student/salesperson/writer/producer/craftsman I can be.”  But specifics are not necessary in the beginning.

Then make a list of things that relate to that Grand Plan.  This should include skill-building activities, reading/research, tool acquisition (computer, software, tools-of-trade, etc.), connecting with significant others in a particular field of interest, and anything that will enhance “the color of your parachute”.  

Your list is a “Plug-In” master panel.  It is your “GO-TO” Plug-In store specifically designed to take maximum advantage of the unperturbed/unscheduled moment.  Your plug-ins should include stuff you need to do to survive, stuff that will help you stay organized, and stuff you find refreshing/restorative/regenerative.  Importantly, there should be no place on this list for television, videogames, tweeting, texting and twittering.  These activities are akin to drugs that drain life-sustaining oxygen out of our veins.  You might as well do “blood-letting”! 

If you have too much unscheduled/unperturbed time and find yourself gravitating to any of the above diversionary activities, you need to get a Grander Plan.  Your Destiny awaits and Fate will have to move on to more degenerative fields of opportunity.   

One of my personal “Plug-Ins” is exercise.  In fact, I think exercise should be near the top of any Grand Plan Plug-In list.  It increases circulation, clears cobwebs in the brain, energizes the body, increases momentum, brightens the spirit, capacitizes our constitution for exigencies, helps in “Centering Down”, and aerates the soul. 

Be ruthless in planning, “Plugging-In” and purposefully using unscheduled/unperturbed time. 

“Time is God’s way of keeping everything from happening at once.”

Author Unknown

Don’t keep putting off those things on your Destiny’s “Plug-In List” that need to be happening NOW – during the unscheduled/unperturbed moment; it makes’ God’s job a lot easier if we do OUR part on OUR time! 

"The time for taking all measures for a ship's safety is while still able to do so."

Admiral Nimitz, in a letter to the Pacific Fleet, 1945

 



“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

J.R.R. Tolkien “The Fellowship of the Ring”

 

Do the Least You Can Do

Most of us can “get by” without extending ourselves to any great length – and a lot do.  Let’s be candid:  You don’t really HAVE to …

·         Clean up your room

 

      ·         Eat right

·         Get your exercise

·         Brush and floss your teeth

·         Show up on time

·         … and a whole lot else …

… if you’re a NOBODY.  If you’re a “NOBODY”, you can get by doing the least you can do, which is … NOTHING… at least for some duration of time – maybe not so long a time.

However, if you’re a SOMEBODY, the least you can do is shaped by exactly who you are. 

And most of us are multiple “SOMEBODIES”:

·         If you are a student, the least you can do is show up for class, STUDY and do the home work;

·         If you are living under someone else’s roof, the least you can do is respect their authority, play by THEIR rules and help with associated chores;

·         If you are an artist, the least you can do is apply yourself diligently to your craft;

When you go to the grocery store, you are a “Grocery store shopper”.  The least you can do is get everything on your list and put the shopping cart in the shopping cart corral when you’re done.  [But if you are an “Uber Shopper”, you’ll pick up a stray shopping cart that “NOBODY” left stranded and take it in with you.]

When you load the dishwasher, you are a “Dish washer loader”.  The least you can do is load everything so it will get maximum cleaning exposure without ending up with standing water.  [And if you are an “Uber Dishwasher Loader”, you’ll load it so that the person who UNLOADS the contents will be able to do so in the most efficient and least dangerous way.]

When you paint the house, you are a “House Painter”.  The least you can do is clean and prepare the area(s) to be painted, apply the best paint you can afford, and clean up and put away the brushes and tools used in the process.  [If you are an “Uber House Painter”, you’ll apply a second coat and be equally attentive to places people don’t normally see.]  

First, BE SOMEBODY.

Then DO the “least” such a SOMEBODY can do. 

That’s “Total Intentional Living”. 

And, if you want to be someone “Special”, be an UBER SOMEBODY.  The dividends will far outshine the investment over time, and it’s the most certain way to “Beat The System”. 

“Be somebody Special, and do ‘the least you can do’ in that capacity.”   Quartermaster

Crowding the Line

Late in October 2012, we attended a performance of “Moby Dick” executed masterfully by the San Francisco Opera.  While, as a barbershop singing enthusiast, I didn’t particularly enjoy the atonal operatic voicing of the production, the principals gave a phenomenal rendering, and the orchestral interpretation and staging of this profoundly dark and philosophical work were awe-inspiring. 

One thing especially stuck with me – Ahab’s late-in-the-chase lament:

“What is it, what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing is it; what cozening, hidden lord and master, and cruel, remorseless emperor commands me; that against all natural lovings and longings, I so keep pushing, and crowding, and jamming myself on all the time; recklessly making me ready to do what in my own proper, natural heart, I durst not so much as dare?”  

There I was, retired for more than a year attending the opera in San Francisco – 2,000 miles from home in Kentucky, brooding about how to get my new invention plus 40 years worth of motivational resources into mainstream circulation; conjuring plans for patching the concrete driveway before another winter sets in; lamenting the state of my physical conditioning as I watched multitudes of bicyclists (mostly European) tackling the brutal inclines and desolate wastelands around the bay area ... 

Our cat is clearly not impressed by the preoccupation!  Try explaining to a cat why you must haul your carcass out of bed before dawn every morning and work beyond sundown when all you really have to do is open a can of tuna and fill the water dish to make it through the day …

Or try explaining it to the legions of street people omnipresent in San Francisco who were eking out their daily existence pan-handling on almost every street corner and relishing the harvest from neighborhood trash bins ... 

Then the reasons for so much crowding begin to dawn: 

There is not an endless supply of canned tuna in the pantry or clean water for the water dish; and the kitty litter does need to be tended; and safe surroundings, a warm bed and kitty treats and toys don’t simply fall out of the sky; and there’s always tomorrow to think about …

As for the street people, somebody has to provide the streets (and clean the streets) to draw the traffic and earn the money from which handouts are possible … and fill the dumpsters … and provide the public toilets … and pay the taxes … and staff the emergency rooms … and run the busses …

It makes one want to start crowding a little bit more! 

 

Crowd the line on SANITY

… on SOLVENCY
… on SUSTAINABILITY
… on LIFE MASTERY
… on TOTAL INTENTIONAL LIVING
… on DECENCY
… on A FUTURE WORTH LIVING
 

If not you … WHO?

If not now … WHEN?

 
Quartermaster

A Not-So-Fine-Line

           “Religion is the opium of the masses.”  Karl Marx

“In America, it is sport that is the opiate of the masses.”   Russell Baker

The term “opiate” suggests an addictive substance, behavior or engagement – something for which a not-so-fine line between discretion and indiscretion must be crossed, something to which we will default at the drop of a hat, and/or something with or by which we will become completely preoccupied without regard to time or responsibility. 

Pharmaceuticals (morphine, codeine, oxycodone, tobacco, alcohol …) are most familiar as inducing “opioid-like” effects and dependencies.   Different brain receptors may be involved, but the induction of an overall sense of hedonic reward and/or avoidance of discomfort – even at the risk of adverse circumstances – is common.  As noted, Marx and Baker have expanded and further generalized the field of consideration to include religion and sports. 

In the midst of NCAA “March Madness 2012”, those living on State Street in Lexington, KY witnessed the sports version of the opiate in living color – the color of overturned cars and burning couches.  While a momentary “madness” may not, technically, reflect an addiction or dependency – mother would have called it simply “getting carried away” – the tendency to get “carried away” on any account raises a flag of susceptibility to crossing a line. 

Many other “opiates” compete for our engagement, including:  Television, gambling, video games (what’s your clock time on “Angry Birds?”), Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, shopping, politics and comfort foods.  Opiates might also include inclinations toward tilting at sand castles, adoption of “cult” tenets and opinions (how are you voting in November and why?), or cultivation of hostilities (everybody feels more exalted and self-justified when they can identify or conjure a contemptible “enemy”).

The line beyond which one goes “off-road” from truest Destiny to a point of distraction is a pivotal line of demarcation – but often a not-so-fine-line.  It sometimes looks like “the real thing”.

The finest minds, greatest consciences and most disciplined individuals hold themselves to a much tighter and finer line in the general workings of the world.  Most are not Tweeting and Twittering but looking for truth, purpose and whatever workings will provide sustainable/positively-translatable future-directed advancement. 

What is YOUR “opiate”? 

And have you already crossed the not-so-fine line from “familiarity” to “fancy” to “fixation” to “dependency”?

What driving passion is occupying your time, consuming your energy, draining your creativity and taking you down a road away from your truest Destiny?  Are you on leaning on “crutches”?  What about habits?  There are good ones and not-so-good ones.  Pick the good ones.   

Let’s sober up, straighten up, smell the coffee, read the handwriting on the wall, emerge from hibernating in our “Comfort Zone”, get with the program and start “fine lining”.  Reality awaits and LIFE is moving on!  Quartermaster