#HappyNewYear #Happy2019 #NewYear
May 2019 bring everyone blessings beyond measure.
The past year has seen many contradictions. Though the unemployment rate is low, the stock market has been volatile.
Bad weather brought on many catastrophes.
Though many are still struggling to recover months later, the country and its communities have shown great resilience in the face of tragedy.
So how is your personal situation now, and where is it headed?
Are you looking for more of what you have now, or are you in need of a change?
If your employment situation is not what you want, there may be no better time to change jobs than now.
Many “We’re Hiring” signs are cropping up at many businesses.
Some may still be discouraged, having never recovered from the economic downturn about 10 years ago. They have lost good jobs, and the jobs they may have gotten since don’t pay nearly what their old jobs did.
These folks might ask, what good are plentiful jobs if most of them don’t pay much?
If you are in that situation, or you have a job that eats you alive to the point where you have little time for much else, there are many ways out there to pick up not just extra income, but potentially an income that could change your life. To learn about one of the best such vehicles, message me.
Meanwhile, take stock of the many good things in your life.
If you want a better 2019 than 2018, start with optimism – a belief that you can make your life as good as it can, or should be.
No matter the circumstances around us, most of us can find some good to celebrate. Focus on that. Your attitude is the one thing YOU can control.
Another thing you can control is how you treat others. Be more of a giver than a taker. Those who take tend to get their hand slapped. Those who give tend to get rewarded eventually.
Instead of looking for fairness, look for goodness. Much of life can be unfair, but amid the unfairness, goodness most likely can be found. If it can’t be found, it can be created. Be one who creates goodness.
Creating goodness helps a person grow. By always creating goodness, a person always keeps growing.
So don’t just wish for a good year, make 2019 a good year.
Wish that others will do the same. Better yet, help others do the same.
Don’t let circumstances dictate your life. Make life better by appropriately dealing with your circumstances.
Here’s to a happy new year that you will create.
Peter
Monthly Archives: December 2018
FINDING YOUR PASSION REQUIRES LOOKING FOR IT
#passion #FindingYourPassion #LookingForYourPassion
People advise us that we won’t be truly happy unless we find our passion.
But, according to a study from Stanford and Yale-NUS in Singapore, searching for one’s passion may actually make it harder for people to figure out what they love to do.
The study was quoted in an article on the subject published July 28, 2018, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“The Idea of ‘finding’ one’s passion implies that people have built-in interests just waiting to be discovered, and if you can simply figure out what they are, you will magically be able to embrace them,” the article quotes the study, which will be published in the journal Psychological Science.
True passion develops, and is not found, the article says. It develops “through being open-minded about delving into a new topic and being willing to put some work into it,” the article says.
Let’s look into this further. Let’s say you have a passion for art. You know it’s there, and you pursue it. It may not make you a good living, mind you, but you pursue it anyway. Then, you figure out how to make a living.
Now, if you have a job that’s hardly your passion, and you have no outside activities that you are really passionate about – OK, watching your favorite sports team, or other sedentary activities, doesn’t count — then, you have to find something that produces both passion and profit.
That requires LOOKING, rather than sitting and waiting for it to come.
It also requires THINKING — contemplating whether you could make something your passion.
Locating your passion requires action, not reaction. It requires pursuit and creativity, not serendipity.
Your passion could be placed in front of you by someone you know, or someone you don’t know but have just met. A person who truly is looking for his or her passion will look and listen when someone presents a new idea to him or her.
Again, if you are in a job that is NOT your passion, find something about the job that, if not arousing passion, will make you want to go to work every day with a smile.
Meanwhile, be open to new opportunities that may be presented to you. There are many great ways out there to make money outside of your job, that won’t interfere greatly with what you are already doing. To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
Going along and getting along will probably not produce passion. We all have things we have to do to take care of ourselves and our families. That doesn’t mean we can’t take time for things we really enjoy.
The ultimate passion comes when we love what we are doing, regardless of what other reward we get from it. But if that other reward is handsome, that’s a real bonus.
Yes, you can become passionate about something you know nothing about now. You have to look for that passion, and you have to know it when you see it. Then, you have to pursue it – with a passion.
Passions aren’t like snowflakes that fall from the sky. They are more like fires that have to be started, stoked and maintained. In other words, YOU have to ignite your passion.
You may not know it when you see it initially, but you must have the drive to create it, perhaps from some unexpected source.
Peter
CHILD-CARE WORKERS IN DEMAND
#ChildCare #Child-CareWorkers #ChildCareInDemand
They are using non-compete clauses, college tuition incentives and non-refundable wait-list fees.
Are these engineers or scientists? No, child-care workers.
There is a child-care workforce crisis – at least in Seattle, where Sally Ho based her article for the Associated Press. The article was also printed in the Sept. 9, 2018, edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The situation basically goes like this: the booming economy is encouraging child-care workers to leave their highly demanding, low-paying jobs for other positions.
And, at least in Seattle, the demand for child-care programs is booming, the article says.
What are the child-care providers doing? They are requiring and enforcing non-compete clauses for their workers. To raise money to increase salaries, they are requiring families to pay fees to get on a wait list, the article says.
Child-care workers in the U.S. make less than parking-lot attendants and dog walkers, the article quotes Marcy Whitebook, co-director of the University of California, Berkeley’s, Center for the Study of Child Care Employment.
“If you can’t get workers to do the job, then it’s hard to expand the supply. And when the economy is good, that’s when you need to expand the supply,” the article quotes Whitebook.
In 2017, there were 132,000 more children up to age 6 in Washington state who could use formal child-care arrangements, compared to the number of available child-care slots, the article quotes
Child Care Aware, and advocacy group.
Two-thirds of all children up to age 6 have parents who are both working. Some child-care centers are so popular in Seattle, New York and San Francisco that parents pay to get on waiting lists while still trying to conceive, the article quotes Whitebook.
Research show children who attend good preschools are better off as adults, with higher incomes and healthier lifestyles, the article says.
The obvious answer here is to make child-care work more desirable by increasing workers’ pay. But there’s a delicate economic reality: there’s only so much most parents will pay for child care. If the cost of child care is the same, or exceeds, one of the parent’s salaries, it makes no sense for that parent to work – at least economically.
When looking deeper, the solution for parents is for at least one parent to have more time flexibility, while still earning money. Time flexibility, plus money, equals choices for parents. If they WANT to send their child to a day-care facility or preschool, they can. If they want to keep them home until kindergarten, they can.
There are many vehicles out there that parents can utilize to build more time into the family, while still earning a potentially greater income than many W-2 jobs pay. To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
Meanwhile, if you are a child-care worker, particularly in an expensive urban area, and you like your job, know that you are in demand. Don’t hesitate to ask for a raise, if you believe you are not getting paid enough for what you do. Or, you, too, could use your non-working hours to supplement your income in a different way.
If you are parents, or parents-to-be, you may have to think outside the box to figure out how you are going to manage raising children with work. It may entail a whole new form of thinking on how the family can create time flexibility, with enough income to give that child (or children) the life they deserve.
If you now get paid only for time worked, imagine what you can do if you got paid by leveraging your time to give more of it to your family.
Peter
BEING LONG IN THE TOOTH CAN BITE HARD AT WORK
#ageism #OlderWorkers #AgeDiscrimination
“He’s too old to cut the mustard anymore.”
That’s a lyric from a 1950s-era country song about a man who used to jump picket fences, but now is lucky if he can jump an inch, to paraphrase another lyric from the song.
It brings to mind a problem – or, rather, a situation – in today’s work force.
People are living longer, and some are choosing to work longer. Trouble is, their employers don’t want to keep them past a certain age.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy tackled this issue in an article for the Rockland/Weschester (N.Y.) Journal. It was also published Sept. 2, 2018, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“With 10,000 baby boomers reaching 65 every day – a trend that began in 2011 and is set to continue until 2029 – it is past the time to have a conversation about attitudes toward retirement. After all, since the time Social Security set the retirement eligibility at 65 in 1936, life expectancy at birth has gone up by 20 years,” the reporter writes.
The article points out an organization called Respectful Exits, which aims to mobilize the voices and talents of aging workers.
“Age discrimination occurs when an employer treats an applicant or employee less favorably because of his or her age, “ the article quotes the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission.
The reporter quotes Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as saying that “young people are just smarter.”
Admittedly, in some lines of work, age matters. A construction laborer probably will be more productive in his 20s than in his 60s.
Athletes can be at the top of their games for a decade or two, but likely not more than that.
But in most white-collar situations, the older worker is probably no worse – in some cases, better – than his or her younger colleagues.
But, here’s the rub. Workers with more experience tend to cost employers more. They, in many cases, get more vacation time. If they are lucky enough to have them, they may tend to use the health insurance benefits more. The health insurer may raise the company’s premium because they are employing older workers.
From the worker’s viewpoint, they may not have enough money saved, or may not be able to afford to retire on Social Security and whatever pension they may have.
Some may enjoy their jobs so much they don’t want to leave.
So what’s a worker to do when, deservedly or not, they are let go? What do they do when their once-glowing performance evaluations suddenly tank? What if they keep getting messages, subliminal or otherwise, that they need to go?
First, workers, no matter what age, need to be prepared for when that happens. They need to look at other ways to make money so that they can survive, even thrive, after their job disappears.
There are many ways out there to make a potentially substantial amount of money with a few part-time hours a week. To check out one of the best, message me.
The lesson here is that the day will come in nearly everyone’s career that a tough decision will be made. Workers need to start preparing from the youngest age possible for that day, for they know not when it will come.
It may require some outside-comfort-zone thinking, but it would be wise for everyone to do it.
Peter
PRIVATE SCHOOLS BETTER THAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS?
#PrivateShools #PublicSchools #education #QualityEducation
A new study has turned conventional wisdom on its head.
While most think that private schools do a better job educating students than public schools, the study shows it not to be true.
Valerie Strauss tackled this subject in a Washington Post article that was also published Aug. 7, 2018, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The University of Virginia researchers looked at data from more than 1,000 students. It found that “all of the advantages supposedly conferred on private education evaporate when socio-economic characteristics are factored in,” the article says.
The study also found no evidence to suggest that low-income children or children in urban schools benefit more from private school enrollment, the article says.
“You only need to control for family income and there is no advantage,” the article quotes Robert Pianta, dean of UVA’s Curry School of Education. Pianta conducted the study with Arya Ansari, a postdoctoral research associate at the university’s Center for Advanced Study for Teaching and Learning.
Pianta also says that kids who come from homes with higher incomes and parental education achievement offer young children, from birth to age 5, educational resources and stimulation that other children don’t get, according to the article. These conditions presumably carry on through all school years, Pianta concludes, according to the article.
Let’s break it down further. Some private schools can offer what public schools can’t, such as religious education. It may be worth the parents’ expense to see that their children get that religious education along with academics.
But for those parents looking purely at academics, there is probably no need to incur the expense of private education.
Certainly, there are other reasons, too, to consider private education. Safety may be one. A private school may incur whatever expense is necessary to make sure there are no unwanted visitors in school.
Those parents who cannot afford private education, over and above the taxes they pay for public education, can rest assured that their students likely would not do any better academically in a private school.
Certainly, there are private schools designed for children with special needs – though most public schools have solid programs for those students.
In short, unless there are special circumstances, a student will probably do no better in a private school. The key is how much parents value education, and how willing they are to work with their children outside of school.
We like to measure education on what kind of job a student can get after graduation. If you have a student who is unsure what he or she wants to do with his life, there are plenty of vehicles out there through which they can earn a potentially good income while they are trying to figure out what they want. To learn about one of the best, message me.
Educating children, so they can turn into good, productive adults, is perhaps the greatest task we as a society are challenged with. Governments in many areas have been reducing education funding over the years, for a variety of reasons.
But, aside from parents, there may be no more important people in a child’s life than his or her teachers. Parents can support their child’s school in many ways. The most important way, though, may be to put a high value on education, and help the child learn the importance of education from the day they are born.
Peter