More Income Doesn't Always Build More Wealth

When it comes to your financial health, income is the least important factor. There are millionaires who are miserably in debt!

The Hope of More Money
Assuming I'm normal and that you're normal, I suspect that you (as I once did) assume that the best solution to money problems is more money. That is, if you find yourself struggling to make ends meet, then earning an extra thousand dollars would make all the difference in the world. Sometimes what can help us get through the day is the hope that a life of ease and pleasure is only one lottery ticket, rich uncle or lawsuit victory away.

A Parade Of Poor Decisions
I spent a year and a half as a consumer credit counselor, and during that time I discovered something that I had never fully appreciated before: your financial health isn't even remotely related to your income! I met with over 1,000 families, but learned after only three days on the job that there is no "type" of person who has insurmountable credit card debt, especially not in terms of income. Some earned less than I did and were doing quite well -- their biggest problem was trying to figure out how to tighten their budget to put even more savings aside. Such clients, at any income level, were rare indeed.

I also met several people that earned many multiples of my own income -- one client's annual "bonus" was actually more than my annual salary! But all of that money didn't solve his money problems. It's a logical impossibility -- financial health is built by wise spending, not by extraordinary income.

Working The Other Half Of The Equation
Unfortunately, people get so hung up on the income side of the equation that they begin to feel helpless and hopeless. After all, how much influence do most people really have over their income over the coming week?

But you have far more control over your financial health than you might think.

Financial health is really just a matter of continuing to build savings over time. If you have more money in savings at the end of the month than you had at the beginning of the month, you just got richer. It really is that simple. You just have to look at the other half of the equation.

When you focus on increasing your income, your control over your financial health begins sometime in the future. Your have to wait until you get that raise, get a new job or become famous. But when you focus on your spending, you have immediate control over your financial health beginning today.

Watch Your Spending To See More Savings
The best way to reduce your spending is to start tracking it. When people actually sit down and see how much they are spending, they are horrified. I once bought a couple bottles of pop every day on my way to work. But when I eventually sat down to analyze my spending and saw that I was spending over $40 a month on pop, I don't need to tell you that I began to improve my financial health right then and there.

When you analyze your spending with the understanding that every dollar you don't spend is making you richer, you naturally begin to make wise financial decisions. So, are you going to end this month richer or poorer?

Also At Babblermouth:
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Financial Freedom Series 2 -- The Value of Values
Financial Freedom Series 3 -- Money

From My Bookshelf:


This classic book shows, through a series of parables, how to dig out of seemingly impossible debt while at the same time becoming very wealthy. It is a small book, densely packed with financial wisdom.

Poker: It's Not About The Money

The more I play it, the more I become convinced that Poker is the finest card game on the table. It has an unfortunate stigma because of its ties with gambling (which can be devastating when abused), but that stigma us undeserved. Poker is a remarkable game that perfectly blends both skill and chance, and can be thoroughly enjoyed without even one penny exchanging hands.

It's Not About Money

I of course cannot ignore that one of the biggest draws of poker is the high-stakes poker that you can watch on TV. Anytime hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even millions of dollars change hands within the span of only a few minutes, you have yourself a pretty exciting spectacle.

While the prospect of winning money through some well-played gaming is certainly enticing, my experience has proven that the game can be very engaging without even one penny changing hands. In fact, I've never played poker for money. I prefer it that way. By focusing only on winning the game and not on winning the money, I am able to play my best and learn from my mistakes, while avoiding having to actually pay for my mistakes.

The Mark of a Good Game

I am a game-playing fool. Whether it's video games, board games, parlor games or mind games, you can talk me into playing anything once. And if it's a great game, I risk becoming obsessed with it!

So, what makes a game great? I think it is best defined as the perfect mix of simplicity, challenge and luck. Poker scores high on every measure.

Simplicity

Let's face it. If a game has too many rules, you eventually find yourself spending more time thinking about the rules than about playing the game. Go Fish, for instance, is remarkably easy to explain to somebody (which is why it's such a popular children's game). Many collectible card games such as Magic The Gathering or the now defunct Star Wars game produced by Decipher, however, tend to dilute what are initially simple rules with the introduction of new expansion sets that either update the rules or present new exceptions.

The most difficult part of learning to play Poker is understanding the ranks of hands. That process is dealt with simply by providing newcomers with a list of the relative values. Betting is easy enough to understand, too: when it's your turn, you match the previous bid (if there is one) or increase the bid. It's not Go Fish or 52-Card Pick-up, but Poker is easily learned in only a few minutes.

Challenge
Learning to play it well, however, is another story. In poker, you learn quickly that even though you understand the rules, there are still volumes of information about the game that you have yet to learn! To play well, you need to develop a number of skills that challenge you to amass the fullest strength of your powers of concentration. Slip up at all and you'll lose to somebody else that's paying better attention to details.

It surprises people to learn that poker is very much a game of skill. Things like understanding probability, remembering what cards have been played, discovering the other player's betting styles and being careful not to keep your own playing style a secret can certainly keep you on your toes!

For me, the allure of poker is that in the end, the actual value of your hand doesn't matter. If you aren't playing well, you could win $10 with four aces, and lose $1000 in the next round to somebody that only has a pair of kings!

Luck
But what would poker be without the element of luck? I would argue that luck is that part of the game that keeps people coming back to it. Luck gives a weaker player the hope that he can still win, while at the same time keeping even the most experienced players humbled.

To understand the importance of luck, consider chess. Chess involves no luck whatsoever (unless you count those times when your opponent doesn't recognize that he can checkmate you in two moves). Assuming that both players know the rules of chess, it becomes only a game of strategy versus strategy. If you are playing a significantly better player, you have no chance of winning. And if you've played a significantly better player, you will know what I mean!

With poker, however, it's quite easy to have a scenario where a clumsy player has been playing recklessly throughout the game. A better player then gets it in his head to teach the careless player a lesson and ropes him into betting more and more until finally he's "all-in". But when the cards are turned over, the reckless player takes it all!

The Perfect Mix
So, there you have it. Poker is the perfect card game because it's a perfect blending of simplicity, challenge and luck. And most importantly, you don't even need to risk any real money to enjoy the game (you do, however, have to really want to win).

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Jaywalking: So What?

I have a confession to make. The "Jaywalking" segment on NBC's The Tonight Show used to really worry me. Watching and listening to the ignorance demonstrated by the people in those segments used to actually create physical pain in me and a very real fear about the future of America.

But now I'm not so concerned.

Unapologetic Ignorance
For those of you who might not be familiar with Jaywalking, the premise is simple: Jay Leno interviews random people on the street, asking them simple questions like "can you name three American presidents?" Invariably, he finds clueless people who, rather than admitting that they can't name three American presidents, announce with total sincerity "Martin Sheen, Ben Franklin and Winston Churchill."

What horrified me about Jaywalking was not that the people seemed ignorant, but that they didn't even have enough sense to be ashamed or embarrassed by that fact.

A Need To Know Basis
I've lightened up since then, beginning with asking a very important question: "So what?"

So what if you don't know who any of America's presidents were? So what if you don't know what countries border America? So what if you can't point to America on the globe?

Frankly, in the scope of all those things that truly matter, those things don't matter.

In life, there are things you need to know, and there are things you don't need to know. I was no longer annoyed by what I once saw as unapologetic ignorance, because what shame is there in not knowing something you don't need to know?

The Circle Of Influence
What, then, qualifies as something you need to know? The answer is simple. By focusing on those things that are within your circle of influence, you discover those things that you absolutely, positively must know (and must know well)! Anything else falls into the category of good to know, nice to know, and may-never-need-too-know.

I was introduced to the circle of influence by Stephen Covey's book, "The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People." The idea is that there are things you can influence and there are things that you either can't influence or have very little power to influence. As much as we may want world peace, most of us have very little power to influence that. Peace within our own homes, however, is very much within our circle of influence.

In the same sense, knowing a lot about something you will never experience or use has very little practical value. There is nothing wrong with knowing a little or even a lot about things outside of your circle of influence, but if it comes at the cost of knowledge about things you should be focusing much more attention to, then it becomes a problem.

Truly Shameless Ignorance
As you can see now, my frustration with the ignorance of people featured on Jaywalking was misplaced.

Truly shameless ignorance is to be ignorant of those things that do matter. The things within your circle of influence certainly matter the most, for they belong to that part of your world that suffers the most noticeably as a direct result of your action or inaction.

If I were to conduct an experiment Jaywalking-style, it might go something like this:

(I pull aside some random guy on the street)
Babblermouth: Excuse me, can I ask you a few questions? It'll be painless, just a little social experiment...
Guy: (Glances at his watch) Sure, but I only have about five minutes.
Babblermouth: Great, I'll keep it fast. The first question is, do you have any children?
Guy: Yes, a boy and a girl.
Babblermouth: Ok, thanks. Are they in school?
Guy: Yes, our oldest is in 3rd grade, and youngest just started kindergarten this year.
Babblermouth: And what are their favorite subjects in school?
Guy: (Winces, then chuckles uncomfortably) I, uh...I guess I don't know.
Babblermouth: That's ok. Are you married?
Guy: I sure am, for fifteen years now.
Babblermouth: Congratulations. Where does your wife want to go for your next vacation?
Guy: Oh, man. (Tries hard to think before finally shrugging his shoulders) I don't know.
Babblermouth: No problem, one last question. What are the major goals you're trying to accomplish in the next 5 years?
Guy: (After a long, uncomfortable silence) I'm sorry, I really need to get going or I'll be late for work.
Babblermouth: Well, thanks for your time...somehow, this wasn't as funny as when Jay does it!

I don't know about you, but I find something terribly sad about this kind of ignorance.

Are you shamelessly ignorant when it comes to your circle of influence? Have you neglected it for too long, or taken it for granted? If so, take a moment right now to increase your knowledge where it really matters. Talk to the ones you love, and be amazed at how much there is to learn about them. It will be the best thing you've ever done for yourself -- and for the people in your circle.


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Write Less To Write Best

The days of the classic writers are gone. It is no longer acceptable to use 10 adjectives to describe every noun, as Dickens or Melville once did. (But can you blame them? If I were paid by the word, I'd describe the heck out of everything, too.)

More Is Not Better
The goal of writing is to convey a message. People -- especially people on the internet -- are becoming increasingly impatient, so you must convey your message quickly and clearly. And that means using as few words as possible and the best words possible.

As an example, look to your own reading habits. How often do you linger on a web page if all you see is a dense block of text? How much introduction do you tolerate before you demand substance? In the modern age of writing, the rule is clear: don't use 50 words to say what 10 words can.

You can improve your writing immensely by improving your use of description and by eliminating pointless introductory or qualifying phrases.

Fewer (and Better) Details
Your use of detail has a powerful impact on your writing. A writer quickly learns that all words are not equal -- some words are worth five to ten words!

For instance, if I were to send you an invitation to "a party at my house", how much would you know about the party? You'd know only that it exists, right?

But what if I sent you an invitation to "a kegger at my house"? Here I've used the same number of words, but I've communicated a lot more information! You can now make a lot of assumptions about the party. You would expect, for instance, a raucous party filled with booming music and obnoxious revelry. Around midnight, somebody's likely to be dancing on the end table, and the police will be escorting the minors out of the house by 3 A.M. (As an aside, you'd also figure I was joking, since I hate such parties and certainly wouldn't want the responsibility of hosting one.)

In this case, "kegger" is worth several words. By packing specificity into individual words, your writing becomes crisp and interesting without appearing overly descriptive.

Say It Boldly
Timid writing also threatens your message. Too often, needless introductory phrases or qualifiers weaken the message or destroy its clarity.

Consider this sentence: It may surprise you to know it, but I'm able to fly around the room by flapping my arms like a bird.

What purpose does the introductory phrase "It may surprise you to know it" serve? Does it convey any useful information? No! Of course it would surprise you to know it -- flying around the room by flapping your arms just isn't normal. The reader doesn't have to be told that it's surprising, because the statement is surprising in and of itself.

Qualifiers are also dangerous to your message. Consider the sentence, "I normally think that most people are usually pretty nice at times." What's the message in that sentence? Who could know? A bolder statement would be "I think people are generally nice." Bolder still would be "Most people are nice."

If your message is important enough to share with others, it's important enough to share boldly. After all, who would share your opinion if even you are ashamed of it?

The Proper Time and Place
Before you turn to something you've previously written and decimate the word count, remember that there is a proper time and place for details. At all times, you must keep the overall message in mind. Anything you can do to share that message with your reader, do it. But be aware of those things that may get in the way of sharing that message, such as clumsy phrasing or being timid about your message.

In his book, On Writing, Stephen King tells of the best writing advice he received, which I will paraphrase as: trim your first draft by ten percent.

This is fantastic advice. By condensing what you've written, you force out that weak writing that dilutes your message's potency. It also gives you persmission to trust that most of what you've written is actually usable.

As you can see, you are not on the hunt for a smaller word count for its own sake -- you are on the hunt for a smaller word count for the message's sake. By using the message as your guide, you ensure that your writing stays interesting and informative, even while concise.

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The Other Side Of Quitting

As I said in last week's article, any real change in our habits requires a change within ourselves. Quitting smoking, then, isn't about smoking -- it's about ourselves.

The Trouble With Negative Goals
Your ability to visualize the completion of a goal has a powerful effect on your ability to actually succeed at that goal. The theory is that if you can picture something in your mind with great clarity, you are already more than halfway there. It's like the difference between driving to Seattle with a map in your hand and a red line drawn on the roads you will be using versus simply hopping in the car, driving west and hoping for the best.

But what about negative goals? What about those goals where the aim is to not do something, like not wasting money, not eating too much or not smoking?

Negative goals create a unique problem, because they cannot be visualized. Negation is too abstract to visualize. We are engineered to imagine what is and what can be, not what isn't and cannot be. We can imagine light, but what about the absence of light? When we imagine the absence of light, are we not really visualizing darkness? When we visualize a person who is not kind, don't we really just see somebody who is mean?

How then are you to succeed in your goal to quit smoking, if it is impossible to visualize not smoking?

Visualizing Negative Goals
Because of the nature of negative goals, the necessity to change who we are becomes even more evident. In every case, our goal is not actually what we want to give up or end (the negative goal), but is actually what we want to receive or gain as the result of success (a positive goal). We don't want to lose, we want to gain.

This is a subtle difference, but a profound one. A negative goal, in essence, is merely a reflection of the true goal. When we seek to lose weight (a negative goal), we are actually trying to increase our health or improve our appearance (positive goals). When we seek to avoid slouching in business meetings, we are actually trying to improve our professional image and poise.

The Reflection of "Not Smoking"
So, what about smoking? When we seek to quit smoking, we are actually looking to improve our health. I would not have believed it when I was going through the process, but I now know it is surely true. The easiest way to observe this is this: when you visualize healthy living, smoking (among other things) never enters the picture!

As you can imagine, the whole process becomes easier once the negative goal of quitting smoking transforms into its true goal of creating a healthy lifestyle. You then have an easily visualized picture of what "not smoking" looks like: being healthy.

The Road Ahead
In my previous article, I showed how to crack the psychological desire to smoke. That first method, believe me, is effective in and of itself. However, you will notice that it does not do anything to address the true goal of quitting smoking: the goal to develop healthy habits. Because of this, if you do not seek to develop positive habits to replace your negative one, you will find a dull anxiety gnawing at you...and it feels a lot like cravings for a cigarette!

Most people smoke as a means of combating stress. Now that your healthy lifestyle does not include smoking, what will you do? If you do not make plans to build a healthy alternative into your lifestyle, you will surely fall into an unhealthy one!

Visualizing A Positive Future
How do you set the foundation for a brighter, healthier future? The process is much like the one you used to shatter your desire to smoke. But the emotional process is the exact opposite from before, because you will feel fantastic by the end.

This time, though, you will build your own future. As you are visualizing a happier, healthier you, consider these questions:

• In what healthy way will you now handle stress?
• How will your loved ones benefit from your healthy lifestyle?
• How will your energy levels change, and what activities will you now be able to do?
• How will taking an interest in your health impact your self-esteem?
• You've given up smoking...what have you gained?

By the time you are done with this exercise, you will feel like you haven't smoked in ten years, and would never consider doing so again.

Enjoy the new you.

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The Easy Way To Quit Smoking (Without Patches or Gimmicks)

Forget patches, hypnotists and insulting public service announcements. Quitting smoking could be easier than you think. It was for me...

Why Most Methods Don't Work
First of all, let's not kid ourselves. Quitting smoking is obviously not easy, as evidenced by the sheer number of smokers who have quit smoking, only to return to it within days, months or even years.

But the problem isn't that the smoking habit is insurmountable. The problem is that many of the methods for quitting smoking are inadequate. Indeed, all unsuccessful methods share one thing in common: they attempt to change the smoking, and not the smoker!

A Hard Fact About The Easy Way
Albert Einstein once said, The problems that exist in the world cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them. The problem of overcoming smoking is no different. You will be a different person after quitting than you were when you were a smoker.

This is perhaps the most difficult part about quitting smoking, and is the reason behind many failed attempts. You see, smoking is not only a habit, it is an identity. When you tell people that you are a smoker, you aren't merely describing a habit -- you're describing an image! Quitting smoking, then, denies you access to that image. And smoking is an image that, for some people, is too precious to give up.

A Mental Game
Because of this, quitting smoking is very much a mental game, far more than it is a physical one.

Not a physical problem, you might ask? What about cravings, or the agony of withdrawal? Here again, the mind reigns supreme; how can the body ache for what the mind does not crave?

Now, I'm not speaking merely about philosophy or theory. I'm talking about a technique that my own experience proves. I quit cold-turkey, and suffered no withdrawal and no cravings. In fact, I have not even had the slightest interest in smoking ever since.

Such a remarkable turnaround is possible only after the mental game has been won. Once the mental game is won, the physical need to smoke is crushed.

Winning The Mental Game
So, how is the mental game won? It is won through the use of emotive visualization, peering into a dark and hopeless future and seizing the power to change it now.

This method is based on the pleasure/pain principle made popular by Anthony Robbins. The idea is to attach the utmost pain to smoking, and to recognize the pleasure that awaits you in a smoke-free life.

By winning the mental game, withdrawal symptoms simply do not occur. Once you have associated enough pain with the smoking habit, the only time you feel sick is when you think about smoking!

Ultimate Pain
Smokers, contrary to what public service commercials seem to suggest, are not stupid. They know that smoking isn't healthy. But smokers associate enough pleasure with smoking that, psychologically, it simply isn't worth quitting. Employing the ultimate pain principle, however, tips those scales dramatically!

The first step is to build a powerful image in your mind of exactly how painful smoking can and will be to you. Don't skimp on the details, and be sure to be brutally honest. Take the approach of "anything bad that can happen, will happen".

Here's an example of what I visualized:

I imagine that I'm looking in a mirror. This isn't a regular mirror, though. Instead of looking at myself, I am looking at myself 30 years from now. And what I see is ghastly! I am shriveled and frail. I am sitting in a wheelchair and must carry an oxygen tank with me. I can't speak at a normal volume, for any effort to speak brings about a wicked coughing spasm, which then makes it difficult to breathe -- and my regular breathing is labored as it is! I feel an emptyness as I think of the things that I shall never do, like traveling. Not only can I not go to distant lands, but even going to the local grocery store is a herculean effort. I ache with sympathy for the being I see in the mirror, my soul yearns to offer comfort or help. Then, my future self looks at me right in the eye and asks,full of anger -- full of hatred -- why did you do this to me?

If you do this right, you will never smoke again! I say the process is easy, but emotionally it can actually be quite draining. You are essentially subjecting yourself to a lifetime of pain in a very short period of time. But it is certainly worth it!

As I mentioned earlier, permanently quitting smoking literally changes who you are. In my next article, I will show you how to manage the transition from being a smoker to being a non-smoker.

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You've Come A Long Way, Baby!

Well, another New Year's Day has come and gone. You've probably been reflecting on your life a lot lately, if only because this is the time that many other people choose to do exactly that! But where have those thoughts taken you?

A Brighter Future From A Darker Past
When people are planning a brighter future, they often find themselves looking at a dark past. Why do you want to get a new job? Isn't it because your current job just isn't satisfying you any more and the work is now longer worth the money they pay you? Why do you want to lose weight? Isn't it because you've looked in the mirror and were disgusted by what you've found? Why do you want to quit smoking? Isn't it because you've become shocked and humbled by your lack of self-control and have begun to notice some frightening health problems?

Since so many of our goals are predicated on a dark past, setting goals can be very discouraging. But this discouragement is unavoidable. You cannot set a path in a direction you want to go until you understand why you don't want to be where you are.

Half The Motivation
The question is, how do you motivate yourself to move in that new direction? Certainly the need to leave those negative emotions behind you can provide a lot of energy to fuel your march toward a new you. But the nudge of a negative past only provides half of the motivation you will need to accomplish your goal.

This, I believe, lies at the heart of all failed New Year's resolutions. How can you step into a brighter future with confidence if you have seen yourself only as a failed specimen? The answer is that it cannot be done. The negative energy of the past is not enough to create a new you. You must also discover your glorious past.

A Chance Discovery
I am frequently drawn to journaling. I don't journal consistently, but about every six months I feel the urge to write down my assessment of who I am, what I'm doing and what I want.

One day, after writing a very negative and frustrated entry in my journal, I happened to flip back and read an entry from nearly 5 years before.

As it turned out, that was also a frustrated and desperate entry. But I was shocked to find that every single problem that I complained about in that entry had been resolved over the next 5 years!

I laughed when I read that I feared I would never be able to quit smoking, because I knew that I did eventually quit -- and easily at that! I was ashamed to be a college dropout and believed that the opportunity had passed me by forever, but I returned to college only a year after I wrote that and eventually graduated. I was frustrated with my career, but I finally found exactly the kind of job I was looking for.

That journal entry was liberating!

Finding a Shining Past
By realizing how easily I had overcome things that at one time seemed insurmountable to me, I found that my confidence grew by a factor of ten! Instantly, I found the things that I had just finished complaining about in my journal's newest entry were no longer a burden. I knew I could overcome obstacles, even if they seemed impossible to me, because I had already done it in the past.

If you are having trouble finding the motivation to succeed at your resolutions this year, do yourself a favor. Take a moment right now and search for your bright, shining past. Yes, there are things about the past that you do not like.

But force yourself also to recognize that you have already come a long way. You will find moments in your history that show you at your best, able to confidently face great challenges and overcome them with ease.

And that bright, shining past will give you the power to build the brighter future you seek.

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Peering Into The Manger

As I write this post, Christmas is rapidly drawing to a close. I had a great Christmas this year, and I hope that you have as well (if you celebrate Christmas, that is). And I have a question for you as another Christmas ends:

Who did you see in the manger?

A Baby In The Manger
Each year, we are drawn to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the one who would grow to become our savior by reconciling the sins of man with a holy God. When we read the Gospel accounts of the nativity story, many of us see a beautiful baby boy, dreamily sleeping as shepherds and wise men graciously visit him with gifts and reverence.

And if on Christmas you see a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger, then I would humbly ask you to look deeper into the manger to discover the full wonder of the Christmas story.

God Almighty In The Manger
All too often, we see the baby in the manger and forget that there is more to the story -- the baby Jesus is also God! For me, this is what makes the story of Christmas indescribably marvelous.

In our daily lives, we constantly seek to improve our skills and increase our learning so that we may steadily improve our station. We seek ever to improve our influence and our importance among our fellows. We strive to know more, have more and to be more.

But imagine having created the entire universe and all that exists within it. Imagine having ultimate power and perfect knowledge. God had it all, and yet lowered himself to the smallest possible position of humanity so that he might elevate us.

This is the miracle of Christmas: that God chose to come from Heaven to Earth, placing himself among us as a baby so that we may one day leap from Earth to Heaven.

The Christmas Spirit
Our need must truly be great if a supremely powerful being must take such a surprising and humbling action to broker a reconciliation to him!

Often, we don't realize the depth of our need. Often, we don't recognize sin's poinsonous influence in ourselves. In a world where people daily carry out atrocities against each other, like a serial killer that coolly slays his victims solely for the joy of watching them die at his hands, it can be pretty easy for us to look at ourselves and think that we are basically good people.

But if we are honest with ourselves, we can readily see that we fail each day to abide by God's precepts. He asks for us to merely put our trust in Him and to treat each other with loving kindness. Yet we find that we often fail to do so or miss opportunities where we could have done so, despite our honest desire to do good.

And yet, despite our great failings, God has already done the work required to reconcile us to him and view us as holy and blameless, beginning with his work on Christmas day.

How then should we respond to the miracle of Christmas? I believe the most appropriate response is, in gratitude to God for his extraordinary love, to reach out to each other with loving kindness and to renew our trust in God -- for he has shown himself worthy, time and time again.


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Impossibility Is An Impossibility

If somebody were to claim that he could turn lead into gold through the power of concentrated thought, what would you think about that claim? You'd think it was impossible, right?

Then you would be wrong!

A Matter Of Semantics

Lest you should think that this article is about startling advances in the field of alchemy, allow me to explain: it's a matter of semantics.

It is certainly improbable that lead can be turned to gold at all, much less with only the power of thought. It could also accurately be called unlikely, impractical or unrealistic.

Impossibility, however, is difficult to make a case for. For a thing to be impossible, it must not be able to happen, by anyone or anything, at any time, under any circumstances. To confidently declare a thing to be impossible is to assume way too much about the quantity and quality of what we know.

Standards of Knowledge

Claims regarding possibility and impossibility carry with them implicit demands for knowledge. To say a thing is possible, for instance, asks for a very broad range of knowledge. The standard is only can such a thing happen, ever? If it has happened even once, it is then known to be possible. The circumstances that made it possible may not be fully understood, but it happened. It may not even be known if it will ever happen again, or when. All that is known about a thing that is possible is that it could happen again. The degree of understanding required to define possibility is very small indeed.

Compare that to a thing that is imminent. To correctly declare an event to be imminent requires a wealth of knowledge about the factors and circumstances that typically lead to such an occurrence. You have to know so much about an event that you can readily understand the patterns that lead to it -- indeed, to understand it well enough to know that there are patterns involved.

To say that a thing is uncommon also implies some degree of knowledge about the event. To say it is uncommon implies that it does in fact happen, and that you've seen it happen often enough to understand its frequency of occurrence. Implicitly, it means that such a thing actually happens quite often -- just not as often as other more likely outcomes under similar circumstances.

But impossibility is a breed unto itself. Impossibility demands that a thing will not occur under any circumstances and at any time. Therefore, to accurately claim that a thing is impossible implicitly demands total knowledge -- certainty of impossibility demands omniscience!

In essence, impossibility is an impossibility. If we are intellectually honest with ourselves, we're forced to admit that we don't know enough about what we know to know what we don't know enough about.

Mistaken Impossibility

Often, when we say that a thing is impossible, what we actually mean is that it is difficult to achieve or that it has not been achieved in the past.

But take note! A thing that has never happened, even after a large number of attempts, does not qualify as a thing that is impossible. All that we can be certain of is that we have not yet discovered the conditions that would make such a thing possible.

If we were to mistake what seems to be impossible for what truly is impossible, we would put a permanent end to innovation and advancements in all fields of thought and scientific advancement. If people allowed themselves to stop at what seemed impossible, we would not have airplanes, wireless handheld computers or genetically engineered wheat, to name only a few examples.

Impossibility and Sensibility

But even in a world where impossibility is uncertain, there must also be sensibility. For instance, it wouldn't be sensible to doggedly continue to attempt something, taking your encouragement solely from the prospect that nothing is impossible. Although things may not technically be impossible, they can still be practically impossible.

Consider the case of alchemy. Many people in history have wasted many efforts attempting to turn lead (or other elements) into gold. The track record shows that such a thing is extraordinarily difficult to accomplish. We could continue to fight that fight, armed with the comfortable fact that we do not fully understand quantum mechanics. Indeed, as we continue to learn more about what makes atoms what they are, we may well discover some day that alchemy is ridiculously easy!

But making it happen requires a LOT more knowledge than we currently have. And therefore, it would not be practical to pursue.

An Intelligent Approach to Impossibility

If you want to make the impossible happen, here is a rule of thumb: take it a step at a time.

For instance, if you wish to build a teleportation device, you wouldn't just go to the local surplus store and start putting something together with the expectation that you will get there by trial and error. You need to take it a step at a time!

The first step is to determine not whether a teleporter is possible, but to determine under what conditions a teleporter could be possible. Then, determine what events might create such conditions. Are there things that could be done (by a teleporter, for instance) that could manipulate those factors? Continue working along those lines by nailing down how it could be possible instead of whether or not it is. As the idea becomes more concrete and better understood, then you are ready to approach its particulars.

As you can see, much of the initial investment in such an endeavor is only time and thought. If you put considerable thought into the matter, and you feel that you are no closer to a solution, then you have discovered only that it is beyond your understanding at the time (and not that it is impossible).

Impossibility is Liberating

There's something particularly liberating about the malleable nature of impossibility. Too often, we limit ourselves by claiming that things are "impossible" for us -- even if they are quite simple things! We can feel trapped in a dead-end job and despair that it is "impossible" to get a better job. We can become disheartened after several lousy dates and begin to believe that it is "impossible" to find a person that we belong with. We can look at an overwhelming amount of debt and worry that it would be "impossible" to ever catch up.

But take heart. A sense of impossibility is only an indication that you've given up too soon. It says that you haven't explored all of the avenues yet. Impossibility is a call for greater creativity and for new ways to approach a problem. Remember, impossibility is best tackled when you start with the assumption that it IS possible, and then determine what conditions would make it possible.

It becomes possible to pay off a sizable debt, for instance, when you ask for a much deserved raise, sell your house and apply the proceeds to your debt, live in an apartment or with family while you get back on track, stop eating fast food for lunch, and so on.

It becomes possible to find a better job when you get clear with yourself about the things you don't like about your current job and the things that a new job would have to do to be better. It becomes possible when you define what work you want to do, and then tell everybody you know what you are looking for.

It becomes possible to find the love of your life when you are clear about what kind of a person that would be and brainstorm the kinds of places where a person like that can be found.

Impossibility is only a problem that either hasn't been properly defined or a search for a solution that has not been exhaustive. So, what are the areas in your life where you have allowed the "impossible" to hold you back?

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Writing A Novel Is Impossible, Then Easy, Then Challenging

As any of my faithful readers may have noticed, my blogging dropped off the face of the Earth toward the end of November. My apologies. I was participating in National Novel Writing Month, an endeavor I highly recommend to anybody.

NaNoWriMo
National Novel Writing Month (affectionately called NaNoWriMo) is a contest of sorts -- its participants are challenged to write 50,000 word's worth of a novel between November 1 and November 30. That's a pace of about 5 pages a day!

The novels don't need to be finished products, or even be good. They only need to exist at the end of the month. There are no prizes for winning. In fact, there isn't even technically a winner.

I've done NaNoWriMo for three years now, and finished two of them. One of the many things I have learned in the process is that NaNoWriMo is a wonderful metaphor for any of life's challenges. NaNoWriMo, like life, is a challenge against yourself. For when you set out to do big things, you are often your biggest obstacle.

In NaNoWriMo, as with any major task, you move through three distinct stages on your way toward your goal: Impossibility, simplicity and challenge.

An impossible challenge
At first glance, a major goal can seem almost impossible. In fact, the subtle fear that its accomplishment may not even be possible is often a good indicator that you are embarking on something significant.

This feeling of impossibility is an important measuring stick, for the value of an action is often relative. Going to the grocery store to pick up some shampoo, for instance, is not normally a significant action. But, if you have spent the past fifteen years struggling with intense agoraphobia, it may well be a life-changing experience.

Remember also that the key here is for a project to seem ALMOST impossible. That can be a fine line, but you will know when you've struck that balance. A balanced goal is characterized by a calm, confident sense from the heart that the project can be done, even though it may seem too big for you on the surface.

An easy challenge
Next, you become surprised by just how easy the project turns out to be. This is the most empowering part of the whole journey, and practically guarantees your eventual success. Sadly, this is the stage that quitters never get to. This is unfortunate, because it is so easy to reach.

We are all familiar with the old maxim that a journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step. In NaNoWriMo, the truth of this leaps into view. If you focused solely on the immense workload that stands ahead of you, you would never dare to begin. But a funny thing happens when you instead focus on a single day's workload. Writing 5 pages, though challenging, is easily done. And when you've written those 5 easy pages, you don't feel like you've done a mere day's worth of work, but actually feel that the entire project's success is within your grasp.

And the real fun happens when you've made it about 25% of the way toward your goal. Those first days of work, in addition to being surprisingly easy, also help to set the tracks for the remainder of the work. You don't realize it at the time, but your early work actually simplifies the work that lies ahead.

In NaNoWriMo, this is clearly evident. In the beginning, you aren't necessarily sure who your characters are, much less what they are or will be doing. But eventually, things in the novel being to take place as a natural result of the things that have transpired in its earlier pages. Soon, it becomes incredibly easy to write a novel -- it practically writes itself! But you will never experience the thrill of being carried off by your goal if you do not take those first steps.

A worthy challenge
Eventually, even the thrill of the surprising ease of your work dies away. And finally, the project becomes a worthy challenge. Though the work may be relatively easy, there is still a lot of it to be done. The question is no longer one of whether or not the goal can be accomplished but whether you are committed to doing the work that needs to be done to get there. You are now locked into a battle of self-discipline.

In NaNoWriMo, there are many reasons to write a novel in such a short period of time. But not all of those reasons will lead to success. If you merely wanted to "try something new", for instance, writing the first 20 pages might be new enough. After that point, it can be very difficult to finish. But if your interest is to train yourself in self-discipline, completing the novel becomes absolutely necessary. What self-discipline have you learned if you quit before the task is done?

The novel gets done only when you diligently sit down at the keyboard (or take pen in hand) day after day, for as long as it takes, until the job is done. That is the ultimate challenge of NaNoWriMo.

Discipline is the key discipline
In every major undertaking, there is a time when the fun disappears. There is a time when the task is no longer easy. There is a time when the reasons no longer seem reasonable. It is at those critical moments when the only thing that stands between you and your goal is the ability to put one more day's work into it despite all of your feelings to the contrary.

Discipline is the one skill that carries you through to the accomplishment of your goal. Discipline is what gives you the courage to keep going, even when you don't feel like it. And you know that your work is not in vain, for nothing compares to the euphoria of accomplishing a major goal.

So, what major goals do you want to accomplish? Do you have the discipline that it takes to accomplish it? The only way to know is to get started -- and to keep going.

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Collective Wisdom Ain't

Collective wisdom is no kind of wisdom. A look at the major breakthroughs in thought throughout history shows that defying collective wisdom often leads to the purest creative solutions to the questions that are pondered. The history of science and technology particularly is a progression of one case study after another that shows how new advancements rely on stepping outside of what is at the time considered by many people to be an obvious fact.

Consider the case of Ptolemy. He developed a beautifully detailed and well reasoned model of the universe in which the Earth stood at the center. To account for the motion of the heavenly bodies, Ptolemy reasoned that they sat upon fixed spheres which rotated around the Earth. Since he realized that stars, planets and comets all seemed to have different trajectories, he reasoned that there were in fact several of these spheres.

The most important thing about Ptolemy's model is that it worked. He had the evidence in front of him and constructed a model based on that evidence. Because Ptolemy's model explained things so well, it became widely accepted. This model, along with the remarkably detailed records that he kept regarding the motion of the stars and planets, proved to be useful for navigation and astronomy for centuries to follow.

Although people periodically hypothesized that the Earth might actually be orbiting the Sun, Ptolemy's model remained the commonly accepted view of the cosmos for fourteen centuries! It was not until Copernicus arrived on the scene that a heliocentric theory gained traction. Prior to that time, people were largely complacent to accept the collective wisdom of others.

Let's face it: we all have a tendency to be lazy thinkers. That in and of itself is not a bad thing. Lazy thinking helps us get through the day. At some point, you can button your shirt in the morning without any deliberate thought. And imagine what the world would be like if everybody had to discover everything by themselves, without relying on the knowledge and wisdom of others. Fortunately, we don't have to understand how computers work, we just have to know how to use them. We don't have to know the entire written works of physics and astronomy to enjoy watching the sun set. We can use the wisdom of our predecessors to leapfrog to our own discoveries.

But when we become too complacent about our thinking, we run the risk of preventing further progress and prevent increasing the quality of our knowledge. When we accept assumptions as fact solely because everybody agrees with the idea, we have something that is cause for suspicion.

This is not to suggest that all collective wisdom is wrong. Sometimes things are widely accepted as true because they actually are. People would generally agree that leaping off of a cliff is detrimental to your health. Most people agree that you should not eat rat poison. It would certainly not be wise to defy conventional thinking and leap off of a cliff or to feast on a box of rat poison "just to double check".

The key is to ensure that you are always thinking. Challenge your assumptions. When you accept something as true, accept it because you have thought about it and found it to be true -- not merely because somebody told you that "everybody knows" it is true.

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This Sentence Has Over 100 Errors

One of the classic arguments against the reliability of scripture is that there are tens of thousands of errors in the texts. You see, there are many ancient copies of the books of the New Testament. However, there are several errors among them, and many copies don't completely match any of the other copies. Some are spelling errors, others are syntax errors. Some are paraphrases rather than direct copies. And so, the argument goes, there is no way to know what the original scripture is supposed to be. Such an overwhelming number of errors, as some assert, casts suspicion over what exactly constitutes the true teaching of the religion -- or indeed the very legitimacy of such a religion.

Sounds convincing, doesn't it?

Well, don't throw your Bible away just yet. Here we have a situation where the facts as they are presented are technically accurate -- there are indeed many discrepancies among the thousands of New Testament texts that exist. However, the conclusion presented (that there is no way to reliably know what the original text says) is false!

Perhaps a little experiment will demonstrate just how important accuracy among several transcriptions matters with regard to understanding what the original source says?

I will write a single sentence incorrectly 100 times. No sentence will match any other sentence, and no sentence will completely match the correct sentence. In fact, I will not write the correct sentence even once. My challenge to you is this: read each of the sentences and see if you can honestly claim it is "impossible" to know what the correct sentence is. Hint: It won't require 100 sentences...you will likely determine the correct sentence after only the first few lines!

1. When looking for the truth, look carefully.


2. Wen searching for the truth, look carefully.


3. When searching for truth, look carefully.


4. When searching for the truth, look closely.


5. When searching for the the truth, look carefully.


6. When surching for the truth, look carefully.


7. When searching for a truth, look carefully.


8. When searching for the facts, look carefully.


9. When searching for the truth, watch carefully.


10. When for searching the truth, look carefully.


11. Look carefully when searching for the truth.


12. When searching for teh truth, look carefully.


13. When searching for the truth, watch carefully.


14. When searching for the truth, investigate carefully.


15. When seeking the truth, look carefully.


16. When you are searching for the truth, look carefully.


17. When searching for the trueth, look carefully.


18. When searching for the truth, look intently.


19. When searching for the truth, luke carefully.


20. When searching for the truth, look carelessly.


21. When searching out the truth, look carefully.


22. Whoever searches for the truth looks carefully.


23. When searching for the truth, please look carefully.


24. When searching for the truth, look carefuly.


25. When "searching" for the truth, look carefully.


26. When searching for fact, look carefully.


27. When searching for the truth, look with care.


28. When investigating the truth, look carefully.


29. When researching the truth, look carefully.


30. When searching for the trooth, look carefully.


31. When searching for the truth, investigate carefully.


32. When searching for the truth, research carefully.


33. Look carefully to find the truth.


34. When searching for the reality, look carefully.


35. When searching for the truth, look karefully.


36. When searching for the truth, look carefully


37. When sEarching for the truth, look carefully.


38. Women searching for the truth, look carefully.


39. When something for the truth, look carefully.


40. When searching fo the truth, look carefully.


41. When searching for truth, look carefully.


42. When for the truth, look carefully.


43. Searching for the truth, look carefully.


44. When searching for the, look carefully.


45. When searching for the truth, carefully.


46. When searching for the truth, look.


47. Whe searching for the truth, look carefully.


48. When searchin for the truth, look carefully.


49. When searching for th truth, look carefully.


50. When searching for the trut, look carefully.


51. When searching for the truth, loo carefully.


52. When searching for the truth, look carefull.


53. When searching for the truth, look diligently.


54. When searching for the truth, look patiently.


55. When searching for the truth, look fervently.


56. When searching for the truth, observe carefully.


57. When searching for the truth, scrutinize carefully.


58. When searching for the truth, look carefully.


59. When when searching for the truth, look carefully.


60. When searching searching for the truth, look carefully.


61. When searching for for the truth, look carefully.


62. When searching for the truth truth, look carefully.


63. When searching for the truth, look look carefully.


64. When searching for the truth, look carefully carefully.


65. Whon searching for the truth, look carefully.


66. When soarching for the truth, look carefully.


67. When searching for tho truth, look carefully.


68. When searching for the truth, look carofully.


69. When searching for the truth, look carefully.


70. When searching for the truth: look carefully.


71. When searching for the truth? look carefully.


72. When searching for the truth (look carefully).


73. Who's searching for the truth, look carefully.


74. Where searching for the truth, look carefully.


75. This sentence is totally in left field!


76. When searching for the fish, look carefully.


77. When searching for the truth, look lively.


78. When searching from the truth, look carefully.


79. When searching for the truth, look care


80. When searching for the honesty, look carefully.


81. For when searching the truth, look carefully.


82. When the searching for truth, look carefully.


83. Are you still reading this?!


84. When searching for the proof, look carefully.


85. W.en searching for the truth, look carefully.


86. When sea.ching for the truth, look carefully.


87. When searching fo. the truth, look carefully.


88. When searching for .he truth, look carefully.


89. When searching for the tru.h, look carefully.


90. When searching for the truth, lo.k carefully.


91. When searching for the truth, look ca.efully.


92. Wehn searching for the truth, look carefully.


93. When snihcraeg for the truth, look carefully.


94. When searching for the tturh, look carefully.


95. When searching for the truth, look clluferay.


96. When hiding the truth, look carefully.


97. When searching for the lie, look carefully.


98. When searching for the truth, close your eyes.


99. When reaching for the truth, look carefully.


100. when searching for the truth, look carefully.

Surprising, isn't it? How many lines did you read before the correct form of the sentence became obvious? As you can see in this demonstration, it would have been almost impossible to determine with any degree of certainty what the actual sentence is meant to be if there were only two or three of these sentences. But when there are a hundred, it becomes an elementary exercise to discern the real meaning. In the case of the texts of the New Testament, there are several hundred copies of parts of the New Testament, and thousands of copies of other parts!

The conclusion, then, as you can clearly see, is this: in light of the sheer number of copies of the New Testament that are available, the errors amongst them can be seen at worst as a trivial nuisance -- and utterly incapable of clouding their true message.

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A Mentor For The Hopelessly Introverted

You are only moments away from discovering the most intuitive teacher you will ever have access to...

A mentor can be a valuable resource for when you need to adjust your attitude, view your life from a different perspective or reflect on surprising new insights. Turning to a person that you respect and that has the wisdom to help you grow is a vital component to your continued success. If you are an introvert like me, however, you may have found that it's quite difficult to find valuable mentors in your life, if only because you don't meet many people.

Fortunately, your most effective mentor may not even be a person!

A number of years ago, I picked up an intriguing technique from Peter McWilliams's book, "Life 101." The only prerequisite is that you need to be comfortable with meditation. Once you have reached a state of relaxed concentration, then the fun begins!

Every student needs a school, so your first task is to visualize a place where you can go to relax and to learn. One of the best techniques is to imagine you are walking down a long hallway, and you come to a door. As you put your hand to the doorknob, you realize that you will soon open the door to your perfect place for mental relaxation and refreshment -- a personal sanctuary. Then, open the door and let your mental sanctuary appear.

This is a matter of discovery rather than construction, so it shouldn't feel forced. What you find should come as no surprise, for it is such a natural and obvious reflection of yourself. It is not an "aha" moment so much as it is an "oh...of course" moment.

Your classroom/sanctuary need not be indoors. While some people might imagine a cozy study in an old Victorian home, others might imagine an isolated spot on the beach. Some people might imagine a combination of interior and exterior locations. My perfect place is a clearing in a birch forest with a babbling brook trickling through it. There is a simple wooden bridge over the brook that leads to a modest cabin. The cabin itself is a single room, barren of all furniture and decoration. It is bright, clean, and quiet. Ah, I feel relaxed just thinking about it.

Now that you've found your classroom, you need a teacher. That is an easy process, for you find your teacher the same way you found your classroom. When you are ready to meet your new mentor, imagine a doorway across the room from you. If your classroom is an exterior location, you can still imagine a door a few feet in front of you...after all, we're working in the realm of imagination. You see the doorknob turn, and are struck by the realization that your perfect mentor is about to come into the room. Then, watch the door open and allow your mentor to appear.

As with your classroom, this is a discovery instead of a creation. It will again be anti-climatic because it suits you so perfectly and obviously. But, even though you may not be surprised by your mentor, your mentor may very well be surprising. Your mentor may be somebody you know, or your mentor might not even be a person at all! It's quite possible for an owl to fly through the door, if that's what represents your perfect mentor.

And now, with your mentor at hand, you can begin your learning. What should you ask your mentor? He (or she, or it) is open to any question you have, but is such an amazing resource that you'll find you don't want to waste petty questions on him. You will find that, in a state of relaxed awareness, the right questions come easily. As always, it is best not to "sweat the small stuff." How you work with your mentor will grow and adjust just as you will.

Your greatest challenge may be adjusting to your mentor's style of responses. Mine rarely gives me direct answers, but instead asks thought-provoking questions that get to the heart of the matter. Or, in especially obscure moments, my mentor directs me somewhere else for answers. In response to the question how can I become more successful, my mentor replied, consider the leaves of the trees, or the water in the stream. Upon considering the water, I realized that if a river stops moving, it becomes stagnant and putrefied. I was getting lazy when a healthy, vibrant life is one of action. Considering the leaves reminded me that actions alone are insignificant. A leaf by itself withers and blows away, but it is full of life when connected to the tree. Any action is more effective when it is part of something larger. Having active goals, then, helps maximize the value of all of your actions.

Earth-shaking? Hardly. These insights are not special. Obviously, success is the result of action. Of course goals help you to achieve more. But the value of this exercise is that it reminds you of the exact things you need to be reminded of right when you need to be reminded of them.

In retrospect, my mentor has always provided the best possible responses to all of my questions. After all, great mentors don't teach you new things. Great mentors challenge you to apply what you already know.

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Fools Have Answers, Intellectuals Have The Questions

Young children are the masters of questions. And for good reason - they have had very little experience in the world, and are doing the best they can to catch up. They realize that they don't know it all, and they ask questions in order to learn more about the world around them.

And now, here's a question for you to consider: at what point did you stop questioning like a child?

Sadly, many of us no longer have the capacity to ask questions like children. The causes are many. Some of us may feel self conscious about asking questions because we don't want people to know that we don't know something. Some of us may have grown weary of questioning because we have found that answers only lead to more questions. Others of us have given up on questioning for its apparent futility - not everything can be known. And others among us, albeit subconsciously, actually feel that we know all there is to know.

When looking back on the great creative geniuses of history, however, we find that they all share a common love of questioning. The status-quo is never good enough and their curiosity, like that of a child, was unquenchable.

By contrast, many famously bad predictions were delivered very matter-of-factly. They were spoken with the force of one who had ultimate knowledge, but in the course of time would be proved extraordinarily false.

Allow me to propose a notion that could rekindle your child-like need to question.

Consider the possibility that questions are not merely a search for answers. Questions do not exist only to increase our understanding, but to open a much larger door to the future. Questions, when used effectively, activate the ability for possibility thinking. This function of questioning has led to every great technological and sociological advancement in the world's history.

Possibility thinking begins with replacing the classic fact-finding children's question of why with the more powerful question, what if:

• What if nations were ruled by their citizens?


• What if people could fly?


• What if people all over the world could communicate with each other easily?


• What if we could mimic the sun's power to provide electricity?


• What if we could build an elevator into space?

"What if" lies at the heart of all progress. If you look around you, you will find that the people with the most influence and the most success are the ones that ask the best questions.

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7 Habits of Highly Effective People...In Haiku

Haiku, as you may know, is a Japanese poetry form that traditionally is only three lines long. The first line has five syllables, the second has seven and the third line has five. This form leads to incredibly terse statements that, remarkably, still deliver the message. In a recent presentation I gave at work on Stephen Covey's classic book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", I summarized each of the seven habits as a haiku. Here's what I came up with...

1. Be Proactive

Be responsible:
Don’t blame you and don’t blame “them”.
Action is the key.

2. Begin With The End In Mind
Select your goal first,
Then your path is determined.
Now, take your first step!

3. Put First Things First
Prioritize it:
Do first what is important,
Then do all the rest.

4. Think Win/Win
This is what I want:
We both get what we both want.
(That is the best way.)

5. Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood
Listen intently,
Never, never, ever speak.
Then, speak a little.

6. Synergize
I am only one.
One is also all you are.
But combined, we’re three!

7. Sharpen The Saw
Busy, busy, oh!
Stop, relax and be refreshed.
That’s how you’ll improve.

I hope you enjoyed those, they were fun to write! I also learned more about each of these concepts in the process of trying to find 17 syllables that would best explain them. And so, the moral of the story is this: to understand a thing better, put it under a different light.

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If War Isn't The Answer, Perhaps You Misunderstood The Question

When the American embassy in Kenya was attacked, Muslim terrorists posed a question to our nation. When the U.S.S. Cole was bombed, Muslim terrorists posed a question to our nation. When Muslim terrorists destroyed the lives of thousands of Americans by flying passenger jets into the Word Trade Center towers, they posed the same question to our nation: can the "great Satan" of the West, America, be destroyed?

America has made its answer, and continues to answer by way of the "war on terrorism". Naturally, there are some who protest, saying war is not the answer. Such a sentiment is completely understandable. War truly is Hell, and only a pure psychotic would gleefully and joyfully wage war. I, for one, fervently wish that war would never be necessary. Sadly, however, there are circumstances when war must be fought. And I believe the threat of terrorism represents one such circumstance.

Since war is so distasteful, it obviously must be used as a last resort. But to say that war isn't the answer implicitly means that other options are not only available but also viable. Sadly, in the case of the war on terrorism, this is not the case. Consider the following alternatives:

Ignore the threat. This actually has been our approach in the past. It is the perfect reaction to threats in most cases, because often they are only that -- threats. When those threats turn to action, however, they can no longer be ignored. Terrorism against America has continued for years upon years. The attacks of 9/11 show that, if anything, terroristic action is escalating. Clearly, ignoring the threat will not make it go away. Ignoring terrorism is no longer a viable option.

Diplomacy. This is the alternative that everybody would prefer. In civil disagreements, merely sitting down and talking things over can usually resolve the conflict. Unfortunately, terroristic threats do not constitute a civil disagreement. In addition to requiring a degree of civil respect between parties, the success of diplomacy depends on the goals of the negotiating parties. Sadly, the stated goal of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda is the destruction of America and the death of its people. Perhaps such statements are merely hyperbole, but their actions certainly seem to confirm their absolute commitment to the stated goal. Assuming that Americans value their lives (I know I do), diplomacy with terrorist groups is doomed to fail because the outcome is unacceptable. When one party wishes only for the destruction of the other party, no negotiation can succeed. Diplomacy, therefore, is not a viable option.

Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. This method is strictly defensive. Rather than fighting a war, we can focus our efforts on reducing the impact of future attacks and in noticing warning signs in the hope of preventing such attacks. I believe a sports analogy works well here. After all, you have two groups in opposition, each with goals they wish to accomplish and each hoping to emerge victorious. With that in mind, ask yourself if a team that plays only defense has any chance of winning? Defense is important, but it doesn't win the game. If our only approach to terrorism is to play defense, we will eventually be defeated. An effective defense only postpones that defeat. Defense is a vital component of the war on terrorism, but is not a viable response in and of itself.

Sadly, begrudgingly and resolutely wage war. The last option, and the only viable option under the circumstances, is to actively fight against the threat of terrorism. Make no mistake, it is an ugly choice. Lives will be lost. We have already lost fathers, brothers and sons in the war. We have already lost mothers, sisters and daughters in the war. But we know that their sacrifice has helped to protect the lives of the people they love. They know that their selflessness will offer better protection than ignoring terrorism will, better than negotiating with terrorists will and better than preparing for the next terrorist attack will.

Even as the most viable option, the war on terrorism has its problems. It would be naive to think otherwise. Like victory, for instance. Logically, the war against terrorism must continue as long as terrorists live. It's reasonable to expect that terrorists will always exist, so then victory is impossible, correct? Well, not so fast.

Our war is against the threat of terrorism. It is not a pollyannish quest to eliminate terrorists, but to inhibit their power to destroy. As the investigation of the 9/11 attacks shows, large-scale terrorism (the kind we are concerned about) is not easy. It takes enormous preparation and coordination. By actively fighting terrorists, they now must use their time protecting their own lives (which dramatically reduces the amount of time they can spend plotting the destruction of innocent lives elsewhere).

The war on terror is not a war of vengeance. We have left many, many terrorist attacks unanswered in the past. The attacks of 9/11 were not the reason for the war -- they were the last straw. It was the final event that showed to us, once and for all, that peace not only isn't the answer, it's not even an option. Terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda hate us not for what we've done, but for who we are. The war on terror, therefore, is a war to protect our countrymen both here and abroad from those who mean to do them harm.

The question has been posed. And, as distasteful as it may be, war is the only answer that responds, plainly and firmly, "NO!"

Also At Babblermouth:
Where Have All The Parents Gone?
Fun With Truisms
Financial Freedom Series 2 -- The Value of Values

A Map That's "Good Enough"

I have a map on my wall from about the 17th century (a replica, that is), and here's what I love about it: it was a perfectly useful map in its time, even though it wasn't 100% accurate. I like to keep that in mind when I feel my perfectionism creeping in.

Perfectionism can be a dreadful disease. Although it may not officially kill anybody, it prevents them from living. Life is action -- and perfectionism, when it reaches extremes, prevents people from taking action for fear of not performing perfectly.

Perfection seems like a worthy goal, but this lofty ideal is also its downfall. Unfortunately, perfection, in any field and in all capacities, is not possible. Excellence is possible. Virtuosity is possible. But perfection? Not in this lifetime! Perfectionists fail even before they begin because they are dedicated to accomplishing a goal that cannot be done.

So, what's a perfectionist to do? Well, there are 3 things that may help:

1. Remember the imperfect map. Ancient maps needed only to get a sailor from one port to another without ramming into the shore. They didn't need to be accurate by inches but by miles. After all, the sailors could look for themselves once they knew they were getting close. When you do something, remember that you are doing it for a specific purpose. As long as the purpose is fulfilled, mission accomplished. Anything beyond that is nice, but unnecessary. Make sure you aren't letting details bog you down that, when looked at from a mission viewpoint, don't actually impact the project.


2. Love to improvise. Nothing goes according to plan, even with the best plans. Be prepared to make adjustments along the way. So, since you'll be making changes along the way, why not just get started now? The world's greatest masterpieces (some of which come very close to perfection) were not created in a single attempt. Paintings and sculptures are created by "roughing-in" the basic form and then fine-tuning it a little bit at a time. Remember, it's the final product that matters, not the middle product or the fledgeling product. All (near) perfect projects start as absolutely imperfect projects.


3. Let go. Perfectionism is rooted in self-consciousness and a fear of looking foolish. I know, I've been there. And there's an old joke that may prove useful in this regard: you wouldn't care what people thought of you if you realized how rarely they do. I know, it sounds harsh. But really, everybody else is too busy managing their own lives to pay much attention to yours. So you're free to get out there and take a chance. If you mess up, not many people will notice -- and of the ones that notice, not a single one will remember it a year from now. Then, you can pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and continue to adjust (remember, you love to improvise now) until you get it right.

Babblermouth is far from perfect. As I look at it, there are many things that I want to fix and so many improvements that can be made to it. Over time, they'll get done. In the past, I might have waited until I had the perfect design before I wrote my first post (and would have, of course, waited until my first post was perfect before posting it). But I made the leap. After all, the point of blogging is to share your ideas with readers -- and that's getting done.

Also at Babblermouth:
Fun With Truisms
Who Are You?
3 Things: Time Management For Scatterbrains

The Next Big Challenge

Ok, so you've mastered time management. You can pack more accomplishment into one day than most people can put into a week. Now you are ready for a real challenge: do nothing.

If you've never tried meditation before, you are missing one of the biggest challenges you will ever face. Now, I'm not talking about meditation as a mystical or spiritual practice. This article is about meditation as a relaxation technique and a method for training the mind for which there is no equal.

The goal is deceptively simple: All you need to do is sit still and try to focus solely on one thing or to avoid focusing on any one thing. No problem, right? Wrong! In my experience, nobody ever meditates well the first time.

To try your first meditation, sit comfortably and close your eyes. Sit down as though you never intend to get back up. Some people may insist that you cross your legs or hold your hands in very specific ways, but the only thing that I've found matters is keeping good posture -- it helps you to breathe more deeply. Your only task in this first exercise is to count your breaths from 1 to 9, and repeat counting from 1 to 9 until your time is up. Set a timer for 10 minutes (one with a gentle alarm if you can...after all, this is about relaxation) for your first attempt.

The biggest surprise for people new to meditation is just how easily distracted an untrained mind can be. Here is an example of a typical first try: breathe in...breathe out...1...hmm, I wonder if I turned the coffee pot off -- BZZT! You just lost your focus. Trying again, breathe in...breathe out...1...breathe in...breathe out...2...wow, I got to "2" without losing my focus -- BZZT! You did it again.

Yes, it's frustrating. And over the course of 10 minutes, it is extremely unlikely that you can get to "9" without getting distracted. Eventually, however, you find that those random thoughts diminish until finally your mind does what you direct it to, and only what you direct it to. This is a territory unlike any other you may have experienced, and an extraordinary paradox -- you will be at once both fully relaxed and yet completely focused! And once you've been there, you will want to return!

Like any skill, meditation becomes easier with practice. In a first attempt, you may not even reach that point of relaxed concentration. Over time, however, you become able to access it at will.

So, how do you "use" meditation? On the surface, it can look like meditation does nothing. But, do not forget that the seeds of all action are rooted in the mind. It is in this sense that meditation helps you be even more effective when you are not meditating. By creating focused, clear thinking, you set the foundation for focused, clear action. Relaxed concentration is also the optimal mental state for problem solving. If you are having trouble accomplishing a goal, get into a state of relaxed concentration and then direct your thinking toward finding a solution. You will find that those solutions are more elegant than any attempts you may have made in the past!

As a final thought, consider this: if you feel like you are too busy to attempt meditation, you may need to try it now more than ever!

Also At Babblermouth:
Financial Freedom Series 1 -- Cause and Effect
Fun With Truisms

Indulging Modern Indulgences

Carbon credits have an interesting partner in history. I see a close link between the growing practice of buying "carbon credits" and the curious practice of buying indulgences as sold by the Roman Catholic church in the early 1500's.

An indulgence, in Roman Catholic theology, is the granting of full or partial pardon of temporal punishment for sins that have already been confessed and forgiven. In layman's terms, the idea is this: you will be punished later for your sins, but you will be punished a little bit less if you are granted an indulgence (my apologies to practicing Catholics if this oversimplifies the matter). Indulgences are typically granted for acts of piety, such as devoting oneself to prayer or reading the scriptures with great reverence.

The granting of indulgences eventually became corrupted and indulgences eventually became commodities that could be bought. Pope Leo X, for example, sought to rebuild St Peter's Basilica by aggressively marketing the granting of indulgences in exchange for alms-giving. This abuse of the doctrine of indulgences soon became one of many contentious issues that led Martin Luther to develop his famed 95 theses.

So, through a corrupted granting of indulgences, people could atone for their sins by fronting a little bit of cash. Carbon credits, as I will demonstrate, encourage people to atone for their environmental sins in the same manner.

Let's look at an example of how carbon credits operate. Average Joe begins shopping for a new vehicle. He's environmentally conscious, and begins looking at the Earth-friendly cars that have the best gas mileage. If he only needed a car to get to work and back, no problem; but he needs something to take all of his kids (and their friends) to soccer practice during the week, and to haul all of the home-improvement supplies (most notably, plywood) for his weekend projects. So, the 1960's space capsule on wheels just doesn't cut it. He needs -- gasp! -- an SUV to do what he needs to do. However, owning an SUV makes Joe feel incredibly guilty. How can he justify owning an SUV when he knows how much damage he would be doing to the environment? Enter the carbon credit.

Carbon credits are presented as a way for Joe to offset his "carbon footprint" (that's the guilt that he feels over the carbon emissions his SUV puts out). When Joe buys carbon credits, his money goes to, let's say, Johnny Appleseed. Johnny now can go out and plant new trees with that carbon money and, in theory, those new trees will suck all of Joe's unpleasant additional carbon right out of the air. Carbon in, carbon out. A perfect balance!

The problem with this approach is that it maintains the status-quo at best. Rather than making it better, it merely keeps it from getting worse. If Joe truly cares about his impact on the environment, then he should adjust his own behavior rather than paying somebody else to pick up the slack. Rather than driving to the grocery store 5 days a week, his family could keep a list and shop only on Wednesday nights. He could ride his bike to work on nicer days. He could turn his thermostat down a couple of degrees and start wearing more sweaters. But if he is buying carbon credits, he has no further motivation to do any of those things. In his mind, he's "covered", environmentally speaking.

What would be the effect if we brought this philosophy to other realms? Would "diversity credits" allow bigots to continue to spew racial epithets and discriminate against minorities as long as they made generous donations to the United Negro College Fund? Would wicked little children be allowed to torture stray cats so long as they offset it by donating their allowances to the humane society? Perhaps if drunk drivers were to buy "Blood-Alcohol-Content Credits", they...well, you get the idea.

Carbon credits do nothing to resolve the problem they claim to resolve. If anything, they trivialize it! Environmental policy, as with any problem, is best addressed with action at the individual level -- not money.

Also at Babblermouth:
Financial Freedom Series 2 -- The Value of Values
3 Things: Time Management For Scatterbrains

Where Have All The Parents Gone?

Maybe I am now officially an old curmudgeon, but I swear children are less respectful and more obnoxious than they were when I was a child. However, I don't think it is fair to blame the kids. In truth, kids are no different than than they've ever been -- but parents have changed quite a bit! Here are some examples inspired by real life events:

Johnny has trouble behaving in school. He frequently gets into fights with the other kids, and after ignoring many failed requests to stop hitting others, Johnny is suspended. His mother's reaction? She storms into the school and demands that the school remove the suspension. Her son, she says, would never hit anybody. And besides, it would be too inconvenient to find daycare on such short notice.

Johnny's mother brings him with her to visit a friend's house. A short while later, Johnny draws all over the host's white drapes with permanent marker. Perhaps the greater insult is that his art isn't even very good. His mother's reaction? She kneels down in front of him, smiles and says in a sing-song voice, "Johnny, we only draw on paper, ok? Now, this is your first warning". No apology is made, and no offer to replace the drapes.

It's way past Johnny's bed time, and he is ignoring all requests to finish getting dressed and into bed. His father finally tells him quite firmly to get into bed, or there's going to be trouble. Johnny screams "I don't want to go to bed," and punches him in the thigh. His father's reaction? He acts as though nothing happened, and goes downstairs to play Freecell.

Parenting is not a biological description -- parenting is a job description. And it's a serious job that we must perform to the best of our ability, because the stakes are high. If we fail, we destroy not one but two lives!

The role of a parent is this: to train children to live harmoniously in a world where there are consequences for their actions. This is certainly a practical approach, because this is a world where there are consequences for our actions. Once children understand that there actions have consequences and begin to choose their actions accordingly, a bright and beautiful future opens up for them.

First of all, self-destructive behaviors practically disappear: smoking and drugs lose their allure because the risk is too great. Abstinance becomes more appealing than sexual promiscuity. Also, children are less likely to misbehave in school because it just isn't worth it to be disruptive.

In addition to avoiding decisions that have negative consequences, children begin to seek out actions that have positive consequences. They treat other people with respect and actively seek to help out around the home. They focus on their studies and have plans for a brighter future. In short, a proper understanding of consequences -- also known as the law of cause and effect -- inevitably leads to taking responsibility for one's own life.

Parents clearly wield tremendous power over their children's well-being, and it must be used with great care and diligence. Good parents don't shield children from the consequences of their actions. Rather, good parents help their children endure those consequences. Then, most importantly, they ensure that the lesson is learned so that it need never happen again.

Also At Babblermouth:

Financial Freedom Series 1 -- Cause And Effect
Who Are You?