Feb 152013
 

Websters defines a “dud”…

Main Entry: dud 
Pronunciation: primarystressdschwad
Function: noun
1 plural a CLOTHES b : personal belongings
2 : a complete failure <the movie was a dud>
3 : a missile (as a bomb or shell) that fails to explode

Too many people don’t set goals for this week, this month, this year — and the result is that they are a missile that never explodes in a blaze of glory. They become a dud. Don’t be a dud.

I ask many about their New Year’s resolutions when February arrives. Half of those asked never set any resolutions in January. The other half are all too predictable — they mostly set weight and fitness resolutions — and most of them are already falling off the too-painful-to-follow formula that they created only six weeks ago.

That means that around 80% of you are ready for a new February 15th resolution. Here’s my thought for you: quit setting negative, painful resolutions. The truth is most resolutions are difficult and fraught with feeling of disappointment when one’s results come up short. Getting in shape is not easy for most people. Eating four servings of fruits and vegetables each day is not easy. Stopping complaining, saving more money, stopping smoking are all difficult.

So, here’s the solution. Make this your new resolution:

Make this your only resolution. Then, execute. Plan one fun event for every month that remains in 2013. Put the events on the calendar. Buy tickets. Let yourself go, forget your daily worries, and be sure and take pictures. If you don’t, you are likely to end this year as a dud. Don’t choose that path!

Make a slide show of all the great pictures you take while having fun in 2013 and set it to music. Upload it to youtube in December 2013 (send me a link if my idea helped!). Repeat in 2014. Forget the incessant negativity of the news media. Life is good and fun is always within reach.

Optimistic, positive resolutions are much better, and far more likely to happen.

I.M. Optimism Man

Feb 132013
 

If you watched President Obama’s 2013 State of the Union, three things were evident:

1. Little hope for “working together” exists in Washington DC during the next four years. The President will do everything he can to beat the Republicans senseless at every turn. He wants to personal “win” everything possible.

2. The President will tax everyone as much as he possibly can, then borrow as much as he can, to then spend the money on big government programs, because he wants a BIG legacy of accomplishment. By the time we are done, everyone will foot the bill, not just the rich that the Democrats target.

3. The deficits of the USA will grow a lot for the next four years.

Given this reality, my message is simple. We the people, for better or worse, elected the President, knowing full well that it did mean higher taxes for all and greater deficits for the future. On a personal level, you have a choice — be a pessimist, complain about the result, watch the play-by-play of DC, and wait doing little until the outlook improves — or — be an optimist and “Get On with It” now, starting your business, or jumping on a new job. Losing four years of personal progress in your life is easy to do if you simply read the paper or watch the news far too often.

If everyone, especially the decision makers in corporate America “Get On with It”, economic growth and the country overall will be better off than it is today four years hence. One of the nasty issues of the current “Hate the Rich” campaign is that the people the Democrats target are also the people most likely to influence the investment of their company’s money in new plants, new locations, and new jobs. I’m sure its hard being a CEO, hearing the daily message that you are targeted by the government, even though you already pay much greater taxes than most. It is hard, given the situation, to invest and expand, because its hard to imagine the country improving when a target is painted on your back. But the CEO’s must rise above the common and all-too-popular politics employed by the President’s team. Being anti-business and pro-entitlements brought them to power. Why would they change their personal class-warfare winning formula now? The answer is that they can’t and won’t.

Any CEO that “Gets On with It” and invests wisely now will have seeds planted for the very probably turning of the weather in DC in 2016. When a regime leans far from the middle in either direction, the next chapter is almost always a return toward the middle ground. Success in business takes time. Plant the seeds in 2013 and 2014 to enjoy the harvest in 2016 and beyond. This is true no matter if we are talking about your personal outlook, your small business outlook, or your bug business career.

Be an optimist. Get On with It, and Prosper,

I.M. Optimism Man

PS. Marco Rubio’s response is worth watching. He summarizes the idea that smaller government is better than big government in 20% of the words. But, my point, more than any other is “Get On with It” — personally. Lets do our best, on a simple daily basis, to make our world better, our little slice of America better.