The Quality of Life Blog
Quality of Life According to Mark - Part 1
January 30, 2009 by Mark T. Rafter · 1 Comment
Since this blog is (often) about Quality of Life, how to get there, how to stay there and how to pay for it, I figure a blog or two about that specific subject would be worthwhile.
I look at Quality of Life as fulfillment (satisfaction, contentment, being at one with … whatever you want to call it) in all the dimensions of who you are. If that sounds like the usual self-help blathering woo woo talk, let me be more concrete:
- If you exercise regularly and dont eat like you’re some kind of an idiot that hasn’t read anything about what’s in a good diet in the last 20 years (eating whole grains, fruits, vegetables and avoiding excessive sugar, alcohol, fast food, saturated fats etc. ), you have quality in the physical dimension/aspect of your life. You have physical health/well being/wealth.
- If you are able to turn off the chattering voice in your head where your ego allows you get offended and take personally what people say about you, causes you to feel inferior, insignificant, etc., you have quality in the personal dimension/aspect of your life. You have personal/well being/wealth. Read more
IRS Chief Doesn’t Pay Taxes, Why Should You?
January 29, 2009 by Mark T. Rafter · 1 Comment
Think about this for a minute, the new head of the IRS, Treasury Secretary Timothy Giethner did not pay his Social Security and Medicare taxes for 2001-4, when he was a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (the IMF does not withhold taxes for its American employees).
He (Geithner) ultimately paid a total of more than $48,000 in back taxes and interest. Note of course that part of this (why not all?) was paid ONLY AFTER HE WAS AUDITED in 2006 and the rest last November.
Note 2: “the rest last November” could very well have been after he got the call that he was on the short list for Obama’s cabinet.
I can see the To Do List now: 1) Clean up skeletons in closet. 2) Pay back taxes 3) Convince Congress is was an oversight 4) fix the economy 5) etc.
I have an idea: let’s ALL stop paying our taxes. Everyone refuse to send in their returns. I suppose if you are owed money you would want to get a refund (interesting that they call it a “tax refund” when it was your money in the first place). What are they going to do … come after ALL of us?
Remember Howard Beale in the movie Network? He played the TV guy that exhorted everyone to open their windows and yell: “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more!”
Why aren’t we doing this now? What is going on in our government is lunacy. Our future Quality of Life is being jeopardized by what is going on.
So, what are you going to do?
Time Management 101
January 12, 2009 by Mark T. Rafter · 1 Comment
Educator and speaker Stedman Graham says that the 24 hours in a day is what makes us all equal. It’s what we do with it that makes the difference.
Most of us are text book time wasters and procrastinators. Does not work if you want to make progress in your life, be a success in your business, etc. So, here are a couple of ideas.
Break whatever tasks/goals/to do’s that you have for the day into 15 minute chunks. Focus for that 15 minutes on getting one thing done. After the 15 minutes, look back for a few seconds, acknowledge what you did, what you learned, what you are going to do next. For bigger project, it may be just continue on with the job.
Yes, you can get totally lost in your work and hours just disappear. Most people who work for themselves or at home dont have that problem.
Tip number 2: get a cheap-o digital timer/alarm. I bought one on ebay for $1 (I think the shipping was $4 … funny business model where your profit center is on the shipping markup and not the product itself)
I use the internet for all kinds of things - research, online marketing, blogging etc etc. Continuously available source of distraction. When I open up my browser, all bets are off for how long I will get lost in all of the amazingly cool stuff you can find “out there.”
I put 2-5 minutes (depending on what it is I’m in for) on my digital baby sitter alarm and when it goes off, if I have got what I wanted, I get out immediately. If not, I get it immediately and get out.
You can use the timer in association with the 15 minutes idea as well.
Amazing what you can get done.
Making Money
January 3, 2009 by Mark T. Rafter · Leave a Comment
Is that title clear enough?
You Dont Want Money-Good Thing 'Cuz Now You Have Less of It!
OK, well forget it for now. You dont want money. I have said this before but it is very relevant now and I am going to say it again: You Dont Want Money.
You want what money gets you: food, shelter, security …. the basic survival stuff but also better education and health care, funds to contribute to those things you want to support, resources to go off into the world and explore and learn. Etc. Etc.
Yes, money is useful BUT considering that an obsession with more and more money, greed in the most insidious sense of the word, is what got us into this mess we are currently in here in the first month of 2009, we need to REALLY think about what is important to us and our lives beyond money.
Get back to the values that (most of us) were brought up believing: integrity, an honest days work for an honest wage (or, in my verbiage, an equitable exchange of value), family, giving back, etc.
More on this later. And more on making money too (oh yeah, forgot that this is where I started).
Why Marketing Should Matter
January 3, 2009 by Mark T. Rafter · Leave a Comment
Seth Godin is one of the most inventive and down to earth marketing guys around. He has written various books with titles that might lead you to conclude he looks at things a bit differently:
Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
This latter example discusses his purple cow theory which, in a nutshell, is that you can take your business (or blog) to new heights by differentiating yourself from your peers.
In any event, one of his latest posts reflects on the concept of marketing budgets and whether ads work.
His blog is always brief and hits home with often a truly compelling message. I personally am better at the latter than the former … still have not figured out how to come up with a short blog post.
Maybe next time.
Read Seth’s blog. That’s all I really needed to say!
Religion and Reality: It IS What You Believe
January 2, 2009 by Mark T. Rafter · Leave a Comment
People who believe in one particular religion (and all its ideology and dogma and baggage) are often convinced that their God is the right God, the correct God, the Highest and Best God.
And they are right and wrong at the same time. They are right for themselves because this is the reality they create; it’s what they believe more than anything else on Earth. It becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.
On the other hand, they are wrong in the broader sense of things because they cannot justly impose that reality on someone else: we have to come up with our own version of what we each individually believe. Your version/vision of Higher Power will always be more real and meaningful than when someone else is trying to shove their belief system down your throat.
Not going to happen unless you let them do it.
