#graduation #graduationseason #commencementspeeches #wordsofwisdom
Patricia Murphy loves commencement addresses, she says.
But, as she points out, giving life-changing advice to 1,000 people when they just want their diplomas or degrees is no easy task.
How many people do you know who may have fallen asleep during a commencement address?
Murphy, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Political Insider columnist, tackled the topic of how politicians use the commencement address in her May 23, 2021, column.
After a year of cancelled events, Murphy says, Georgia leaders had plenty of advice to give graduates.
U.S. Sen Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., told Savannah State University grads: “Have a mountain? Just climb it. A river? Just cross it. A dream? Just chase it. A vision? Just pursue it. An idea? Just do it. A bad habit? Just break it,” according to Murphy.
Warnock’s speech was just one example Murphy used to illustrate the speeches during this season.
Commencement speeches are supposed to inspire. Do you remember the great advice the speaker gave you and your classmates at your graduation ?
Mostly, graduates want their degrees. They want to get the formalities over with, so they can get comfortable and party. After all, it’s generally pretty warm on graduation day, and staying dressed up is a drag.
Then, if they don’t continue their education at the next level, they just want to go to work. They want to find work that pays decently and, if they get lucky, provides benefits.
Today, that promise is much more elusive than it was decades ago.
Most people who start at Job X likely won’t stay at Job X for their entire working life. Some will choose to change jobs. Others will have their jobs changed. Still others will lose their jobs through no fault of their own.
It’s been said that the only sure thing is change. That may be the best advice graduates get this season.
Some change is good. Some, not so good. One personally cannot stop change, particularly in the workplace, but one can figure out how best to deal with change.
If you graduate this year and take a job, you’d be wise to set up a Plan B, as you will inevitably face change in your workplace – in some cases, frequent change.
There are many programs out there that enable people to earn potentially lucrative income with just a few, part-time, off-work hours a week.
There are no education, experience or background requirements to take advantage of them. The main requirements are an open mind, the ability to be coached and the desire to take advantage of what you have your hands on.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
Meanwhile, if you are graduating this year, congratulations. Perhaps you’ll get a nugget of wisdom from your commencement speaker. Regardless, don’t hesitate to dream. Don’t hesitate to go after what you want. And, beware the many changes you will see as you go after it. You’ll likely find the path to what you want will not be straight and/or free of obstacles.
Above all, stay optimistic. Learn to deal with adversity. Remain honest with yourself and others. Do what you want with the intention of helping not just yourself, but others along the way.
Peter
Monthly Archives: May 2021
ELECTRIC TRUCK SHOWN TO BE BETTER THAN GAS-POWERED ONE
#electricvehicles #electrictrucks #gaspoweredvehicles #gaspoweredtrucks
Imagine a Ford F-series pickup towing a million pounds of cargo.
Now, imagine that the truck that tows a million pounds is an electric vehicle.
Rachel Maddow showed this demonstration on her MSNBC news show May 18, 2021.
The Ford F-series pickups are the best-selling vehicles on the planet.
Sales of those trucks generate more revenue for Ford than all revenue of a lot of major companies, Maddow pointed out.
Ford has created an all-electric model of its best-selling vehicle, and quietly demonstrated how it can pull rail cars, AND rail cars full of F-series pickups.
If they mass-produce those electric trucks, would they sell as well as their gas-powered ones?
If so, it could change the automotive game, big time.
With the recent gasoline shortage caused by the hack of the Colonial Pipeline computers, people began to look at electric vehicles.
Perhaps people thought electric vehicles could never be better, or have more power, than those powered by gasoline.
But the electric Ford F-series pickup IS better and more powerful, the demonstration showed. It also, at least initially, will be more expensive.
It was noticeable that Ford didn’t try to tow a million pounds with a regular pickup.
There are issues with electric vehicles – not the least of which is the lack of charging stations that can juice up a vehicle quickly during a long trip.
But the Ford demonstration showed the power and potential of electric pickups.
A big question will be: will those fans of pickups – and obviously there are many – like the electric ones as well as the gas-powered ones?
Will they be as useful, as fun to drive, etc.? The Ford demo shows they can be better than the regular trucks.
Perhaps those pickup fans will have to think outside the box a bit for the electric pickups to catch on. But, as Maddow’s piece demonstrated, the electric pickup is here and could be at your local dealership relatively soon.
A purpose in the Ford demonstration is to show the advantages of the electric vehicle. But it also shows what happens when a company thinks ahead and doesn’t rest on its very successful laurels.
People should do the same. If you are successful at what you are doing now, or not, you may want to think outside the box about how you earn money, since the way you earn it now could suddenly disappear.
There are many programs out there that can, with a few part-time hours a week, allow you to earn an income that could potentially dwarf what you are earning now. But, you have to be willing to think outside the box – outside of what you are now comfortable with.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
The electric pickup demonstration had a WOW factor to it. OF course, most people may never have need to tow a million pounds of cargo. But, it illustrates an example of how new things can indeed be better than the old.
It may not seem as much fun to ride off into the sunset in your electric truck. But, if you use your imagination, it really could be fun.
Peter
RENTS RISING AS MORE OPT NOT TO OWN
#RisingRents #housing #HousingOptions #homeownership #economy
Metro Atlanta’s home prices have gone ballistic in the last decade.
Rents are following suit.
Michael E. Kanell, business reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, discussed this in an article published Jan. 1, 2021.
In fact, renters pay more in Atlanta than in any other Southern city, Kanell quotes RentCafé. Atlanta ranks 10th highest nationally. The median rent for a two-bedroom home has surged 65 percent to $1,474, Kanell writes. That compares to $3,680 in San Francisco and $2,235 in Washington, D.C., the article says.
Just a decade or two ago, new houses were plentiful, Kanell writes. The default for young professionals was to buy. They would move however far into the suburbs that they had to to find affordable houses, Kanell writes.
But the median home price has gone up 98 percent since 2009 to $251,125, the article quotes Rent Café.
Though the metro Atlanta economy has added more than 650,000 jobs and drawn a steady flow of young residents – many with good jobs and good pay – many are choosing to rent rather than buy, Kanell writes.
In breaking this down, we find that the American Dream of homeownership is being shattered. Many young people, even those with the means to do so, are electing to rent rather than buy. This is probably true in places other than metro Atlanta as well.
It’s a lifestyle, rather than a financial decision.
Financially, a home can be an investment that can appreciate over time. Yet, renting gives people more flexibility should there be a sudden change in employment. It makes a young person, or young family, freer to move elsewhere should a job opportunity arise, without the hassle of having to sell a house.
At the same time, real estate, like any other investment, can have its ups and downs. Renting can free a person from those ups and downs.
Ask yourself this, when deciding whether to buy or rent: do I want the responsibility of homeownership? Is it worth my financial investment to do so? Would I rather have the flexibility to move on short notice should something come my way?
If money is an issue, whether you want to buy or rent, there are many ways out there to enhance your income by investing a few, part-time, off-work hours a week. To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
Rising rents go along with rising home values. If you find yourself unable to afford the housing you want, you may have to boost your income.
If getting a second, traditional job doesn’t suit you, look for other ways to put more money in your pocket.
Buying a house can be like paying yourself, rather than a landlord. But it comes with responsibility. Renting also comes with some responsibility, but to a much lesser degree. Choose the housing option that best suits your life.
Peter
IS AN ECONOMIC BOOM LOOMING?
#EconomicBoom #coronavirus #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve #MothersDay #WomenInWorkforce
Some experts are predicting a post-pandemic economic boom.
And, after we have just celebrated Mothers’ Day, experts are saying that women workers were hurt the most by the pandemic recession.
Fareed Zakaria predicted on his GPS show May 9, 2021, on CNN that he sees the beginning of an economic boom because of the COVID-19 pandemic subsides and things getting back to normal.
He said that the money put into the system through government aid packages, plus our learning how to do things differently because of the pandemic, is producing conditions that could send the economy soaring.
Certainly, we’ve seen signs of that as businesses reopen and beat the bushes to find help.
The aid has helped businesses and individuals stay afloat during the pandemic, allowing, as they get back to normal, for the potential to prosper.
Meanwhile, ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” featured a Mothers’ Day panel discussing how the pandemic recession affected women in the workforce.
One notable statistic from the recent jobs report says 165,000 women have left the workforce since the pandemic.
The panel, including Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, Lareina Yee, chief diversity and inclusion officer at McKinsey & Co., and Fatima Goss Graves, CEO and president of the National Women’s Law Center, discussed how women have had to make hard decisions and sacrifices during the pandemic.
As pandemic restrictions ease, the panel said the choices women have had to make was to go back to work – many cannot work from home – or stay home with their children, who may not yet be back in school full time.
The women also discussed how the trend of women leaving the work force has increased since 2000, well before the pandemic, largely because of a “care crisis” that leaves many with no one with whom to leave their children while they work.
As we watch these trends emerge, or continue, many of us will have decisions to make. If you are not seeing the potential for an economic boom from where you sit, you may want to look at other ways to earn an income – even one that could dwarf whatever income you could make at a job.
Or, if you are a woman who hesitates to go back to work because of child care or other issues, there are many programs out there that can allow you to earn a potentially sizeable income from your home, particularly as technology improvements make that task easier.
To check out one of the best such programs, message me.
Obviously, the economy’s performance will depend on whether the pandemic subsides enough to kick everything back into high gear.
It could also depend on whether resources could be provided to enable more women to work outside of the home.
It will depend on how many people get one of the proven vaccines against the coronavirus.
It will still be an individual decision on whether, and what type, of work you could return to. The good news appears that there are more options out there than anyone may realize.
It may also depend on whether you see yourself as an optimist or a pessimist. Here’s a hint: optimists are more likely to succeed.
Peter
ARE YOU TEACHING YOUR KIDS TO TAKE RISKS — OR NOT?
#TakingRisks #security #ancestors #parents #LessonsfromAncestors
In an Ancestry.com TV ad, the leading lady says, to paraphrase, our ancestors were the kind of people who took risks.
And, it implies, she wants her children to know that their ancestors took risks to come to America from wherever they came from.
Such inspiring parenting leads to the question: does this same lady want HER kids to take risks? Or, did her ancestors take the risks so their descendants wouldn’t have to?
In generations past, even though the elders came from risk-taking stock, parents taught their kids to look for security. Work hard, but keep your head low. Make sure that if you get a job, it provides you with what you need for a comfortable life.
In other words, they were taught to look for and settle for contentment. After all, taking risks would jeopardize your comfortable life.
So, are today’s parents teaching their kids what their parents taught them?
To paraphrase Andy Andrews, the Greatest Generation may not have been the greatest. Their parents may have been the greatest generation, because they raised the Greatest Generation.
We all want to raise our children to be responsible adults. But, in today’s world, what we used to call responsibility is harder to come by.
There are no safe, secure jobs and work environments – or, at least, very few of them.
In past decades, progress in the workplace plodded.
Today, progress can be instantaneous.
And, progress can interfere with the secure, safe, contented life parents of yesteryear wanted for their children.
Today, we hear teachings that say things like: be innovative, be creative, dream big and follow your dreams.
In the past, dreams interrupted contentment. Today, contentment is hardly good enough to succeed in a rapidly changing world.
So, where does that leave you? Are you merely content? Or, do you go to work each day waiting for the next shoe to drop?
Either position is, or will be, untenable in today’s world.
But there are programs out there that can move you to the next step in a changing world. You just have to be willing to check them out. Also, they may involve doing something you would have never thought you would do – or, perhaps, have been taught by your elders to avoid.
These programs don’t care about your education, background or experience. They just want you to open your mind, get out of your comfort zone and be coachable.
To check out one of the best such programs, message me.
Today’s world requires flexibility, desire and a willingness to be uncomfortable. Finding the spot that gives you a content, comfortable life – nothing special – is fraught with peril.
Don’t settle for contentment. Instead, go for prosperity. Explore new ways to channel your energy into a life that not only benefits you, but also can benefit others.
A life with purpose can breed prosperity for those who continue to evolve, explore and, when they find the right thing, pursue it with consistency.
Peter