George Washington (probably the greatest man who has ever lived)

One SONG can spark a moment
One FLOWER can start a dream
One TREE can start a forest
One BIRD can herald spring
One SMILE begins a friendship
One HANDCLASP will lift a soul
One STAR can guide a ship
One WORD can frame your goal
One VOTE can change a nation
One SUNBEAM will light a room
One CANDLE wipes out darkness
One LAUGH can conquer gloom
One STEP can start a journey
One WORD can start a prayer
One HOPE will raise our spirits
One TOUCH can show you care
One VOICE can speak with wisdom
One HEART can know what is true
One LIFE can make a difference.

Your talent is God's gift to you.
What you do with it is your gift back to God.

by Charly Mann

Aristotle said, "The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learned from others; it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an eye for resemblance." A metaphor is a figure of speech that uses one thing to mean another, and makes a comparison between the two. Carl Sandberg’s poem FOG is a beautiful example of the use of metaphors.

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Great metaphors like Shakespeare’s “All the world’s a stage”, compares two unrelated things that make sense when brought together in a phrase. Metaphors are not meant to be taken literally, but they should be substantively descriptive. Bob Dylan’s line, “the harmonicas play the skeleton keys in the rain”, from his song Visions of Johanna, paints a hauting image of someone playing a harmonica.

Unlike a simile, comparisons are made in a metaphor without the use of the words “like” or “as”. So the expression “The pen is mightier than the sword”, is a metaphor, while “ he is sly as a fox”, and, “the wind howls like a hammer” or similes.

Using metaphors will make your writing and speaking much more lively and interesting. Readers and listeners usually understand a subject better when a metaphor is applied, because the phrase can communicate a great deal of meaning, and forces them to think more about what they are hearing or reading.

I hope my article has gotten to the bottom of the advantage of using  metaphors. I have tried to shower this piece with some good examples. Now I hope it bears fruit with you, and is not too difficult to swallow. If you practice for a while, writing metaphors will be a breeze, and your writing and speaking will really shine.

A few of our favorite metaphors:

Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.

Winston Churchill

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.

Victor Borge

Modern English is the Wal-Mart of languages: convenient, huge, hard to avoid, superficially friendly, and devouring all rivals in its eagerness to expand.

Mark Abley
 

"You see," Sherlock Holmes explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such information as you choose. A fool takes in all the facts of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge, which might be useful to him, gets crowded out. Now the wise person will have nothing but information which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."

by Charly Mann

Abraham Lincoln said that if you want to be successful “your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.” Umesh Ramakrishnan in his new book There's No Elevator to the Top asks a wide range of top CEOs what it took them to get to the top of the corporate ladder. Not surprising, hard work, dedication, passion and preparation, are all essential ingredients. Just as important is being a great team player once a corporate decision has been made. Also important is being a great communicator, and to take on a wide array of difficult assignments in different areas and global locations of your company. Another common trait of those who made it to the top is they always focused on their current responsibilities instead of maneuvering for their next move. You should also accentuate your strengths, while always working to improve your weaknesses.

In today’s tough economic climate, the people who get ahead are those who can make difficult cost savings decisions, even though they can affect the jobs of many other people. When the economy is flourishing, leaders who are more sensitive and people-oriented do better. For those who want to have a life outside of work while making it to the top, there seems to be consensus that one has to sometimes dedicate entire years on one's ascent in business, forgoing friends, family, and a social life.

For me success is being able to spend most of my life the way I want to. As Albert Schweitzer said, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”

In a field one summer's day a Butterfly was flying about and eating nectar from flowers to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, dragging along with much effort an ear of corn he was taking to his nest.

"Why not come and chat with me," said the Butterfly, "instead of working so hard?"
"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you do the same."
"Why bother about winter?" said the Butterfly, "we have plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued taking food to its nest.

When Winter came the Butterfly had no food and found it self dying of hunger, while it the ant ate well from the food it had stored.

by Charly Mann

The fundamental cause of the current economic meltdown is the United States Baby Boom generation. These 79 million individuals born between 1946 and 1964 were the economic engine of the world economy. They make up just 28% of the population in America, yet accounted for more than 50% of its consumer spending. As the boomers are nearing retirement their spending is sharply slowing down, and they are trying to sell their large houses. The problem is there are not enough financially capable Americans to make up for their consumption power or buy their houses. While Baby Boomers' net worth on average increased 97% over the last fifteen years to over a quarter of a million dollars, the generation coming behind them actually saw their net worth fall 28% to just under $50,000. The mortgage crisis, which precipitated the current economic crisis we are in through a rapid fall in housing prices, was caused primarily by the glut of boomer homes on the market.

The boomers lived better than any generation in history, but the fall in stock prices has wiped out more than 2.5 trillion dollars, close to half, of their retirement savings. The irony is they will now have to live far more frugally than their parents did in their retirement years.

The mere possession of a vision is not enough; we must live them.

Charly Mann

by Charly Mann

Your genetic makeup, intelligence, and hard work have little bearing on whether you will be great at something. It is instead the kind of focus and practice you use that will determine whether you master a skill. Most practice and repetition we use in trying to succeed at something actually only helps us become mediocre. Geoff Colvin in his book, Talent is Overrated, makes a convincing case that becoming really good at something comes primarily from many years and thousands of hours of what he terms “deliberate practice”.

Deliberate practice includes the following steps. First, setting goals each day for a specific process you will work on toward mastery of a skill. Second, critical observation of your progress and how your mind is reacting as you work on your goal. This is called metacognition and it allows you to quickly adapt to a better method when you recognize something is impairing you from getting optimal results. Finally, after practice, carefully evaluating how well you progressed toward your goal, and developing new goals and strategeies for improvement the next day.

Only the people with the focus and discipline to do years of daily deliberate practice for hours each day succeed in achieving true mastery of a skill. The younger you start developing skills in an area you want to master, the better. It takes ten years of hard work with deliberate practice to achieve excellence in almost anything.

Ordinary riches can be lost, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.

Oscar Wilde

by Charly Mann

The answer is yes. Countries have gone bankrupt, and as I write this, Iceland is on the verge of this calamity. It can happen in the same way it occurs for an individual or business, when the United States owes more than it has the ability to repay.

Today the United States total gross domestic revenue is about $14 trillion dollars, and the current debt we owe according to the government is $10.2 trillion dollars. However, in this number the government is not including its huge liabilities that it owes in future social security and Medicare obligations. When these are figured in, our national deficit becomes more than $46 trillion. That is the equivalent of $375,000 for every full-time worker in the United States today.

Even with our strange government accounting that excludes Social Security and Medicare costs from the deficit, the United States Congressional Budget Office states that the ratio of federal debt to gross domestic product will increase from 37% today to about 100% in 2030. After that date Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the deficit will “grow exponentially”.

Today, the federal government spends 20 cents of every dollar Americans earn to pay for its expenses. By 2050, that amount is expected to rise to 50 cents of every dollar in order to cover the increased interest on our debt as well as Social Security and Medicare. Remember, state and local governments will also still need our money. To finance all of this, Americans would face a tax rate of more than 75%!

A big problem now is that we are being kept afloat by other nations, who are buying 80% of our national debt. As our nation’s credit risk increases with an ever growing debt and a population unable to save due to high taxes, foreign nations are likely to stop lending us money and asking for repayment of the trillions that they are owed. At this point a person or businesses would declare bankruptcy, since they would owe more than they have, however a government tries to solve this problem by printing more money. By doing this, it pays back what it owes with money that is worth just a small fraction of what it was originally worth. Think about a million dollars then being equivalent to $100 today, and you get the idea. This will eliminate much of the wealth of the countries who loaned us money, and it will also wipe out the savings of all Americans. If Social Security continues, retires would be receiving checks with little buying power by today’s standards.

How did this all happen? Is it those greedy financial people on Wall Street or the Oil Companies? No, the fault is squarely on our shoulders. We, like most of the world, live in a democracy. We generally vote for people who promise to have government do the most for us. The problem is, these benefits grow well beyond what a country can afford, and no candidate can get elected by promising less. A family or business often sees that it is spending too much and learns how to make do with less, but that is not a characteristic of democratic governments.

Will the U.S. declare bankruptcy? I doubt it. More than 20% of Americans work for the government, including the Armed Forces. I don’t think these people would allow it. Instead, we will have very high taxes and a much lower standard of living than we enjoy today. It will not be the end of the world. There are many things that money will never be able to buy, and I do think the best things in life are free.

By Charly Mann

Most people find it difficult to define themselves. On the other hand almost every self-realized and successful person can tell you who they are and what their plans are for life. The best way to define yourself is to write down how you would like to be remembered. To start this exercise think about whom you would like to be positively remembered by. Then decide what kind of person you want to remembered as. Next imagine some of the good things you want to be remembered for. Finally write down the characteristics you would not like to be associated with.

When I did this exercise for myself I wrote down the following: “ I would like to be remembered as a positive person who is able to easily reinvent myself as I learn more about life and encounter new challenges. I want to have been thought of as optimistic cheerful, sensible, discreet, confident, curious, witty, wise, passionate about learning, and compassionate. I would not like to be remembered as stubborn, selfish, or opinionated.”
Now is this really me? No not entirely, but after I wrote it down and now review it several times a day, I have become much like this than I was before.

I have a friend who always wanted to be successful in business. Even though he was not well educated and had little background in business, he exuded total confidence in himself, and the various businesses he started always succeeded beyond everyone’s expectations. When I asked him how he would define himself, he immediately said “as a winner.” He went on to say that this meant he would not accept failure and would do whatever it took to succeed.

Self-awareness is essential when defining yourself. If you know who you are and what you have a passion for, you will realize what attributes are necessary for these s. Think about who you want to become. Almost everyone wants to be a good person and successful at something, but what does that mean to you. Suppose for example you want to excel in corporate management. This would require that you have the attributes necessary to succeed in this field. You would have to be dependable, resourceful, a team player, a great motivator, a problem-solver, and most importantly someone who listened and spoke well.

Finally, define yourself by who you believe you are really capable of becoming. The more you act like the person you define yourself as, the more like minded people will be attracted to you and offer their support and help. You will soon be surrounded by the kind of people you want to become. It is a challenge to define ourselves and then live our lives by that definition, but it is far better than accepting yourself as you are now, and not becoming what you are capable of.

A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting.

Russell H. Ewing

Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice.

William Jennings Bryan

To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan but also believe.

Anatole France

Watch your thoughts, they become words, your words become actions, your actions become habits, your habits become character and your character becomes destiny.

Earl Nightingale

Nurture your mind with great thoughts for you will never go higher than you think.

Benjamin Disraeli

Follow your bliss and the Universe will open doors where there were walls.

Joseph Campbell

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Eleanor Roosevelt

If you change your thoughts, you will change your life.

Charly Mann

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Eleanor Roosevelt

What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

Peter F. Drucker

You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work at it, however.

Richard Bach

by Charly Mann

The most important thing you can do to have a rewarding and successful life is to have long term and short-term goals that you write down. A Yale University study found that only 10% of their students had defined goals, and just 4% had actually written them down. More than four decades later it was discovered that the 4% who regularly wrote down their goals had a combined net worth greater than the 96% who did not.

From my own experience over the past 40 years, I can attest that when I have been disciplined about writing down my daily and long-term goals, I have almost always been successful in reaching and surpassing my goals. When I did not, I rarely even reached my goals.

Setting and writing down goals on a daily basis helps make us organized. People are not naturally organized, but it is a talent one can attain. Surveys have found that people who achieve the greatest success and run our largest companies are very well organized.

An organized person is in control of their life. If you make a habit of writing down your daily goals, and organizing them into a schedule you are taking an enormous step toward becoming a proactive and responsible person. You are actually planning how to accomplish everything you need to do from the important to mundane. You are also constantly aware of what you need to be doing if your scheduled goals are in view. Always knowing which goals are most important allows us to better manage our time even as events change.

Being organized means not creating chaos. This means never leaving something where it does not belong, whether it is a drink you sit next to you as you read a book, or a bill that needs to paid and filed. Everything should have a place where it is kept. An organized person does not allow their house, car, or office to be messy. Don’t allow things to accumulate, or your clutter will overwhelm you.

Curiosity is becoming a rare trait among adolescents and adults. Cultivate your curiosity. Keep it sharp and always working. Consider curiosity your life preserver, your willingness to try something new. Curiosity is a state in which you want to learn more about something. If somebody is curious, it reflects a lot about their personality. A curious person can also think far better than most people because they know more and can connect different facts together for more logical reasoning.

Judge a person by their questions, rather than their answers.

Voltaire

Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.

Samuel Johnson

Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.

Leo Burnett

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.

Dorothy Parker

I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.

Albert Einstein

Be curious always! For knowledge will not acquire you; you must acquire it.

Sudie Back

I keep six honest serving-men,
They taught me all I knew;
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

Rudyard Kipling

There are no foolish questions, and no man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions.

Charles Proteus Steinmetz

A good manager inspires her team with confidence in her; a great manager inspires them with confidence in themselves.

As long as you know what it is you desire, then by simply affirming that it will be yours -- firmly and positively, with no ifs, buts, or maybes -- over and over again, from the minute you arise in the morning until the time you go to sleep at night, and as many times during the day as your work or activities permit, you will be drawn to those people, places, and events that will bring your desires to you.

To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty; To find the best in others; To give of one's self; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. A mild form of insanity that focuses all your attention on making a single business idea successful.
2  Such single-minded focus that you have no time, and little concern for your family.
3. To view your business competitors as the enemy, and focus on undermining them as much as possible.
4. More than anything, you need a great idea with the stamina and overwhelming persistence to make it highly profitable.

by Charly Mann

We are usually our own worst enemy in life. The enemy is, more precisely, our lack of willpower to do what is right. That is why most people are overweight, in debt, and unhappy with many aspects of their lives.

You can correct most of your problems by firmly asserting your determination to reach your goals. For example, you can really lose a lot of weight if you refuse to let yourself eat anything more than a light salad in the late afternoon and nothing after that for the rest of the day, for eight straight months.

Willpower is a focused and committed mind that knows what it wants and controls itself to ensure that no action is taken which could sabotage that goal. Think again about dieting; it is often hunger that makes us break our commitment to eat less. With willpower, we can trump hunger, because we have the intelligence to know our hunger will eventually subside and the joy of not succumbing to temptation will give us personal satisfaction, as well as instill a habit of hunger management.

There is no more fulfilling activity in life than making yourself do something that is driven by your inner strength rather than laziness or thoughtlessness. For most people, however, the concept of willpower is just a myth, because they lack the emotional ability to stick to their commitments.

Willpower is a demonstration of your character in action. Confirm your strength, self-discipline, and ambition to improve your life by asserting your willpower. There is no greater attribute for success in life. With it, you can overcome temptations and negative habits by rejecting what makes you feel comfortable in the moment for a much greater reward that will come when your goal is achieved.

Willpower gives you not only control over your life, but tremendous satisfaction and peace of mind.

The stock market has been on the skids this year. However, over the course of the last seventy years the average diversified stock portfolio has appreciated between 9 and 12% per year. If at age 22 you started investing $1,000 a month in a balanced mutual fund or stock portfolio, you could expect to be a millionaire in only 26 years, at the age of 48, assuming a historically conservative 8% appreciation of stocks.

On the other hand, you could buy $1,000 worth of bonds or CDs a month, now paying about 3.5% annually, and you would have to wait an additional fourteen years, until you were 62, to be a millionaire.

by Charly Mann

You can be almost anything you want, if you are self-disciplined. With discipline, you can solve almost any problem, including losing weight, overcoming addiction, and saving money. Despite the benefits, few people ever incorporate this into their lives. We all know the problems we want to overcome, but because of procrastination and disorder, we are unable to fix them.

Discipline is your ultimate tool for personal empowerment.  It means taking control and getting your life in order. You need to commit to doing this, now, and honor that commitment to yourself. Life is too short to put it off any longer. 

Once you become self-disciplined, your life will improve dramatically. You will be able to plan your days and have time set aside for being creative. You will be much more focused, which means your brain will work better and faster. You will also have a lot more time for relaxation, because you will use your time efficiently.

Your life will never blossom until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined. Success, you will discover, is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day. Combine self-discipline with passion for what you are doing, personal goals, and good organization, and you will reach your human potential.

The following are my favorite quotations for inspiring self-discipline:

"One-half of life is luck; the other half is discipline - and that’s the important half, for without discipline you wouldn’t know what to do with luck."

Carl Zuckmeyer

"The ability to concentrate and to use time well is everything."

Lee Iacocca

"Discipline is remembering what you want."

David Campbell

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments."

Jim Rohn

"No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined."

Harry Emerson Fosdick

The most important thing that money can provide is time to pursue something you feel passionate about that gives your life meaning. It can also allow for an abundance of quality time with friends and family, which most people find very enjoyable.

Money can give you financial security, and should therefore free you from worrying about money. Unfortunately, there are many people who do not experience this peace of mind no matter how much money they have. 

Money can’t buy happiness because what money buys are material possessions. A life in a mansion, surrounded by expensive things and luxury cars loses its buzz very quickly. Worse still, a life without purpose, filled with nothing but leisure time, is boring and unfulfilling.

The truth is that if we live below our means, save prudently, spend regular quality time with our family and friends, and have a purpose for our lives, we are much better off than most people who accumulate large fortunes.

How well you communicate determines how well you will do in your personal life as well as your career. Communication skills are always at the top of the list of traits that companies use when hiring and promoting managers. It is also the single most important factor for how much other people like you.

The most powerful tool for successful commication is the ability to listen well. Nothing will better connect you to another person than this ability. Few people listen well, but it is a skill that you can learn if you work hard at it.

The most important aspect of listening is to make sure your mind is totally attentive to what is being said. For many reasons, our mind rarely focuses on what is being said to us for very long. Sometimes we are thinking of how we will respond to what is being said, but typically the problem is just that we are allowing our mind to wander instead of paying attention.

Rules for Becoming a Perfect Listener:

1. Focus on trying to understand what is being said to you. This means figuring out the substance and merit of what you are hearing.

2. Confirm to the speaker that you are listening, by regularly restating, in your own words, the main points he or she is trying to convey.

3. Take notes whenever you can. It forces you to summarize and prioritize what you are hearing. It also demonstrates that you consider what is being said important.

4. Ask as many questions as you need in order to clarify what is being said. Focusing on understanding is a good way to prevent yourself from formulating a response or letting your mind wander.

5. Maintain eye contact with the person talking to you, and make sure you don’t send a non-verbal message that says you are not paying attention. This means no fidgeting and especially no yawning. Instead, you can offer a smile or a nod to ensure he or she knows you are listening.

6. If someone seems to be upset or expressing an idea that you believe is contrary to your own, make sure to not show any reaction until the person has finished. Often if you don’t judge too quickly, you will find some common ground on which to build your response.

7. Learn to listen with enthusiasm. The better you listen, the more you learn and therefore grow as a person. Enthusiastic listening will help you better empathize with the person talking, and thereby gain a much better understand what is being said.

8. Always be aware that listening is not a passive act, but a mental challenge. You need to make your mind concentrate by being actively engaged in hearing the speaker's message. Keep checking yourself to make sure you understand it.

Remember that as a listener you have a huge advantage over the person who is talking. That is because we speak at a rate of between 110 to 200 words per minute, but our brains can process words at 400 to 3000 words per minute if we find something interesting. This is a huge gap which you can use to think about and restate what is being said.

If you learn and use these techniques you will find listening well is often a more powerful tool for ensuring your success and influencing others than speaking.

We seem to live like we have all the time in the world, yet few of us are satisfied with where we are in life. We have habits, issues, and character flaws we wish to fix, yet we  believe we will solve these problems in the future. The truth is, people rarely change for the good and usually just accentuate their bad habits over the course of their lifetime.

Weight gain is a perfect microcosm for this reality. As we age we begin to put on pounds and constantly resolve to eat differently to fix this problem, yet look around and you will see that in spite of all the diet foods, books, and exercise equipment, most people are just getting larger as they age. Albert Einstein said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” and that is exactly how most of us live.

Right now, we should start living as if this were our last day to be alive. This mindset would ensure that we could not put off till tomorrow what we should do today.

"Success in any endeavor requires single-minded attention to detail and total concentration."

Willie Sutton

This is a male Baltimore Oriole.

The word oriole is derived from the Latin word for gold. The female Baltimore Oriole is a yellow-gold color. This bird spends the winter in South America.

"People who soar are those who refuse to sit back, sigh and wish things would change. They neither complain of their lot, nor passively dream of some distant ship coming in. Rather, they visualize in their minds that they are not quitters; they will not allow life's circumstances to push them down and hold them under."

 Charles R. Swindoll

You can turn your life around. Become assertive. Do not give up because of a few failures. Learn from your mistakes and do not repeat them.

There is a great solution to almost every problem you encounter. One of the most exciting things about life is that there are always problems which we can use our creativity and energy to solve. You will rarely fail if you are determined to remain focused on finding the perfect solution to your problem.

The optimal efficiency for gas mileage on most cars is achieved while driving 60 miles an hour on the highway. Your cost per gallon of fuel increases by 20¢ for each additional 5 mph you drive over 60. So driving at 75 mph is the equivalent of paying 60¢ more per gallon for gas.

Removing a hundred pound of weight from your car by clearing our your trunk will save you around $60 or 12 gallons of gas a year.

If it is recommended to use premium fuel in your car, check your owner’s manual to see if it will also run on regular gas.

In 1945, corn sold for $1 per bushel and a barrel of oil was $1.19.
Today (7/15/2008) a bushel of corn is $6.91 and a barrel of oil is $145.12. Keep in mind the United States produces 100% of the corn it uses, but only one third of its oil.

The United States has 37 of the top-rated universities in the world; China its main economic rival, has three.

Twenty of the top fifty companies in the world are American. China does not have one.

52 of the top brands in the world belong to American companies. China does not a single brand in the top 100.

The United States spends more proportionately on research and than any other country.

Half the patents issued each year in the world are to U.S. companies. Chinese registration of patents is exceptionally low.

The United States is the number one exporting nation in the world. (Exports are up more than 13% this year.)

Even though the United States has a huge import trade deficit, more than two-thirds of its imports come from companies producing goods for an American company, which means much of the profit on those imported goods goes to U.S. companies.

If you think Europe might be a significant challenge to the U.S. economy in the future, the following fact is indicative of the coming generation of Europeans. A recent poll showed that 70% of American high school students hope to start their own companies someday. In France 70% of high-school students hope to get a government job.

The surest way to get what you want is self-discipline. By being disciplined, focused, and organizing your time well, almost anything you want to accomplish is possible.

Going to law school may be a waste of time and money. Unless you graduate in the top third of your class from one of the top rated law schools a law degree might give you little more than a job paying $20 to $30 an hour. Many recent law school graduates complain they are saddled with debts after graduation of more than $125,000, yet struggle to find a job as a lawyer where they can make $32,000 a year. More and more lawyers are doing temporary contact work at between $20 and $40 an hour with no benefits.

The Temporary Attorney blog describes the appaling condition of what it describes as sweatshop lawyers.

Here is a  for those who are able to find jobs as Insurance Lawyers in New York City.

Live below your means.

Invest, but do so conservatively, in things you know extremely well.

According to the fascinating and information packed Who's Your City by Richard Florida deciding where to live is as important as choosing a mate or a career. He argues convincingly that most economically successful people are part of a creativity-based economy. He then shows that these people are clustered in less than fifty cities or, as he calls them, mega regions around the world. In the United States this includes Northern California, Austin, Seattle, and Boston. He demonstrates with charts and statistics that these areas are ripe with opportunity for the well educated and creative.

The following is a brief excerpt from the book:

“Today’s key economic factors—talent, innovation, and creativity—are not distributed evenly across the global economy. They concentrate in specific locations. It’s obvious how major new innovations in communications and transportation allow economic activity to spread out all over the world. What’s less obvious is the incredible power of what I call the clustering force. In today’s creative economy, the real source of economic growth comes from the clustering and concentration of talented and productive people. New ideas are generated and our productivity increases when we locate close to one another in cities and regions. The clustering force makes each of us more productive, which in turns makes the places we inhabit much more productive, generating great increases in output and wealth.

“Because of the clustering force, cities and regions have become the true engines of economic growth. No wonder these locations continue to expand. Today, more than half the world’s population lives in urban areas. In the United States, more than 90 percent of all economic output is produced in metropolitan regions, while just the largest five metro regions account for 23 percent of it. And cities and their surrounding metropolitan corridors are morphing into massive mega-regions; home to tens of millions of people producing hundreds of billions and in some cases trillions of dollars in economic output. Place remains the central axis of our time—more important to the world economy and our individual lives than ever before.”

from Who's Your City by Richard Florida

Think before you act. Be patient and use your intelligence in reaching your goals. Never lie. Always consider the possible consequences of your decisions.

Rent-to-own businesses like AARONS & RAC Rent-A-Center are popular throughout the United States. Instead of paying cash for something you want you finance (“rent”) it on a monthly or weekly basis. Typically you will own your item in about a year, but by the end of that time you have paid 300 to 400% more than if you had just paid cash. As an example, the Sony Playstation 3, sells for $399.00 from most retailers in the United States (Wal-Mart even has a promotion that includes $100 worth of Blu-ray DVDs with the purchase of one). From Aarons you would pay $89.99 a month for twelve months or $1187.87. From RAC your monthly payments would be $129.00 for a twelve-month total of $1548.00.

Most of what we buy is not a necessity, and even necessary items can often be delayed until we have the money to pay for them. The problem is we want it now, and must have instant gratification. The average American family now carries $8,000 in credit card debt, and the average American spends 22% more than what they earn.

If you simply develop patience and become determined not to buy something until you have the money to pay for it, you will save yourself the high expense of financing and you will greatly reduce your stress.

The great economist Adam Smith said "It is the maxim of every prudent master of a family, never to attempt to make at home what it will cost him more to make than to buy." Free trade applies this same principle to countries. Thus goods that that are produced cheaper in one nation can be bought in another without additional duties. With free trade consumers always get the most for their money. Unfortunately companies that cannot produce comparable products as cheaply as ones in another country usually go out of business.

Some see protectionism as a good way to save companies that cannot compete against foreign manufacturers. This usually means imposing tariffs to increase the price of foreign products. This however makes these goods more expensive to the consumer, and often s in a trade war where the country whose goods have the tariff placed on them puts a retaliatory tariff on goods from the country that placed one on them.

Most economists support free trade and believe that protectionist policies can cause severe recessions and even depressions. Many believe the Smoot-Hawley Tariff that the United States enacted in June 1930 was the real cause of our Great Depression. During the Depression the stock market fell 89% in value in less than two years, and did not recover those losses for twenty-five years.

Since 2001 the average family’s health insurance premium rose from $6,230 a year to more than $12,000. College tuition has increased by 64% during the same period.

You should have constructive relationships with everyone you interact with. Always be complimentary and encouraging with your colleagues. Start conversations with a smile, and ask questions so you can really get know what is important to the people you work with. Likewise, always be engaging and attentive when someone talks to you.

If you are ever in a position of leadership, make sure you treat everyone with integrity and respect. Let all your subordinates know you seek their feedback. Listen to others and never dominate meetings or conversations. Encourage and thank people for their input. Try hard to get them to understand your ideas and concerns, and you theirs. Also, avoid sarcasm and be prepared and punctual.

Well if you look at the public debt to Gross Domestic Product ratio of your country you can get a good idea.

Our source is the CIA World Factbook for 2005

So what does this show? Well simply how much debt a country is taking on beyond what it can pay for now. A solution would be to cut back spending, or just raise taxes to cover the shortfall.

by Charly Mann

Civilized people have lived on our planet for less than 100,000 years. During all but the last 200 years almost everyone except a few kings and emperors lived a life of mere subsistence. In about 1800, people began doing better. Per capita income in the Western world almost doubled during the next one hundred years. In the years 1900 to 1950 per capita income (again adjusted for inflation) doubled again – in in last 50 years it has increased about another 150%! And this phenomena which started in the West has spread throughout most of the rest of the world.

As we get richer other aspects of our life have gotten better too. At the beginning of the 20th century, the average American worked more than 60 hours, while today this number is under 35. In 1900, 6% of workers took vacations and today over 90% enjoy this luxury.

A college graduate earns on average 70% more than a high school graduate.

Someone with an advanced college degree makes on average 100% more than a high school graduate.

In April 2008, the U.S. Treasury said that receipts from corporate income taxes fell 16% to $129 billion in the first half of fiscal 2008, which began Oct. 1, 2007. The federal deficit during the same period reached a record $311 billion. Much of the revenue decline is due to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, which is impacting the profits of investment institutions and banks.

Corporate Tax Rates Around the World:

The U.S. now has highest corporate tax rate among industrialized countries

There is a theory that tax receipts fall when corporate tax rates are too high. Ireland, for example with a 12.5% rate, receives 3.6% of GDP in corporate taxes. The U.S. on the other hand, with its 39.3% rate, gets less than 2.5% of GDP in corporate taxes.

In February 2008 Americans had $951.7 billion in total revolving debt, most on credit cards. This is up 8.2% from a year ago.

Since 2005, the U.S. savings rate has been below zero; meaning we are spending more than we save. At the same time it is estimated that social security will cover only between 32% and 42% of our retirement needs. Since today only 33% of Americans have pensions they can look forward to supplementing their retirement with, most of us really need to be aggressively saving for the future.