Tag Archives: Economy

Politicians, employers, managers, employees and more

When I was younger I always hated managers. As according to my experience they didn’t do much and earned high salaries, higher than people in technical jobs, more working type jobs. So I was kind of jealous and didn’t understand exactly what they were doing. I mean, I was and am more of a worker, doing the work, the thing that’s really important, the thing that ‘produces’. And over time I also started to hate salespeople. As they also just seemed to talk and have high salaries, often even commission based, something that wouldn’t really make me move, something like commission.

And then politics, I also didn’t really understand. As politicians all seem to be somehow dishonest people, people defending points of view they might not even support, people voting for things they might not agree with. How can you do that, how can you live with yourself doing things you don’t agree with, defending things you don’t agree with.

But slowly I started to understand that politics have a function in society. And that politicians have a role in that, that politicians are needed to play the political game, to make decisions that are virtually impossible to take for a person like me. So slowly I started to admire politicians, started to appreciate that there are people who can be, who want to be a politician. As of course there may be politicians who just want the fame, the name, the importance or whatever. But I guess most of them are just doing their job, are just trying to make these impossible decisions related to what people want, impossible decisions around benefiting groups at the cost of other groups. As somehow that is the right thing to do, decide something for the ‘common good’, even though you know this is going to hurt people, this is going to affect people in a negative way.

The same applies to doctors, medical staff deciding about life and death, especially after a disaster where there is not enough capacity or medicines or whatever is needed to save the lives of all people that need treatment. They would make these decisions who lives or dies, and still live with that. Which I guess is not as easy as it seems, no matter how they would normally point to ‘training’ and ‘procedures’ and such. But in the end I’m quite sure all of them would somehow being affected, having made decisions about treatments or who lives or who dies. In the end it’s still about people.

So yes, I started to appreciate politicians and doctors as they are doing things I don’t like to do, and as a person might not even be able to do anyway as I would be too much affected with the things they do, the decisions they make, have to make.

The thing with the managers I never fully understood. But somehow I realize that managers, especially good managers, get things done where I somehow don’t get things done. So yes, they do have value, even more than me, much more than me as stated in Think and Grow Rich about people who can get things done, can get other people to perform.

And the thing with marketing and sales people I am also starting to understand. As ‘selling’ or ‘buying’ is not only about having the product or service available. It’s also communicating the value of the product or service between buyers and sellers. And yes, that’s what I learned, especially after having ran my own business, is needed next to the product or service. Communicating about it, preferably before the deal is made.

So yes, slowly I am starting to see that there are good reasons why society, why governments, why companies are organized as they are. That indeed all those roles that exist need to be fulfilled to get things done, to serve people.

But somehow there is one thing I don’t fully understand. And that is why some people, many people, all people are being paid differently. Or not that they are being paid differently, but why, e.g. a not so hard working manager is being paid more than a very hard working laborer. As they both do their best, they both do best what they’re good at. So why would the one just doing what he is good at be paid more than the one working very hard, doing extra effort, who is not that good to deserve the higher pay.

And I don’t have the answers. And this is just what it is right now. But somehow I have the feeling it can be organized better. As the current wealth doesn’t seem to be distributed properly with our current payment system.

So maybe yes, maybe you can think with me and put some comments on how we could organize this better, that e.g. hard work would be paid a bit more, versus that only work clever or efficient would be paid more.

All the same

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Recently I have worked a bit from the “Your Best Life Now” journal from Joel Osteen and the more I read all this ‘self help’ stuff the more I realize it’s all the same. Today I encountered day 1 from Step Three (Discover the Power of Your Thoughts and Words), which basically is nothing else than the message of Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich that was a main part of the foundation of this site and the project Inspiration for Success. I presume it even comes from the ideas of Napoleon Hill as the key truth for today he states is:

“When you think positive, excellent thoughts, you will be propelled toward greatness.”

And reading the chapter many ideas are similar to what Napoleon Hill states, even though they are stated in a Christian way.

And yes, reading all this stuff and signing up for ‘self help’ type websites, partially for research for this project and applying all these principles and listening to audio’s and applying all kinds of principles is starting to make me feel uncomfortable. Because nothing really changed in my life, actually recently it kind of got worse somehow, especially business wise, even though as a person I feel that I still grow. And apparently I’m not the only one who is in need or hooked up to all this self help stuff, otherwise this ‘self help industry’ wouldn’t exist.

And I want this site, and the project Inspiration for Success, to be different. I don’t want Inspiration for Success be just another self help site. And until now it isn’t, as there are no advertisements and you don’t have to enter your e-mail address when entering the site.

And don’t get me wrong. There is nothing really wrong with how ‘self help sites’ work, first ‘being found’ in a specific way, then asking for an e-mail address and then sending daily or weekly message. Although I am starting to be turned off with all the implicit selling that’s being done. So yes, that’s how the industry works. And it means its industry. And I’m starting to get more and more convinced something needs to change in the way we have organized our world as you also may have read in other posts and pages of me. As I think humanity can do better than ‘industry’. And ‘industry’ is everywhere, it’s how the world works, it’s how we get our daily food, it’s how we are entertained, it’s how our cars and refrigerators and all our other stuff is being provided to us.

But it doesn’t work like that for everybody. It works most for the people who ‘fit’ the system, but it doesn’t work for large groups of people, at the moment even including me. As the whole system is based on money in some kind of greedy type of way. And there is nothing wrong with that. As that is the way how the system came into being, how we all, literally all, benefit from food being available and medicines, yes, also for many poor people I guess. And for being able to move around with cars or motorcycles or public transportation.

But somehow I think we can do better. And I don’t know how, as money indeed is a convenient means for the exchange of services and goods. But somehow money has become a goal in itself, and it has been already for a long time I guess as also the bible states things like money should not be treated as a God or something. And the recent financial crisis, that has been going on for years now, is some kind of signal that we may want to move forward to a better system. And I don’t know how, but I’m quite sure humanity can find a better way to provide humans with their daily and not so daily needs and wants.

But maybe start with the self help industry, with this site. As I consider this site a part of the self help industry, even though I don’t fully like it, being part of an industry, especially ‘self help’, especially if it’s about improving the deepest parts of people, of people’s lives, of their soul and well being.

So I’m looking for ways to let you really benefit from this site, this project. So you would really get and achieve what you want. As somehow these sites and books and courses and, and, and don’t seem to work. Otherwise it wouldn’t be an industry. Or would it?

Leading is following?

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Well, today I heard I was kind of too ‘pushy’ with where I want to go, what I expect from the team members and how fast I want to go. And yes, I think we’re going way too slow and I think the team should do a lot more than they do. But indeed, ‘pushing’ doesn’t really seem to be the right way, so I have to find a way to make things move in a different way. And that’s also exactly what I want, because I want the team to do things for Inspiration for Success in an inspired way. And I’m starting to believe, and that’s my message, that the world needs inspiration, not motivation, not ‘earning from hard work’ as at least one of the team members mentions when talking about priority. And not ‘work to make ends meet’ as one of the other team members seems to be doing. And I also tended and tend to do those things. But that’s exactly what I want to change, that’s exactly why I started this project, that’s exactly why Inspiration for Success exists. As I think that humans deserve much more than just work for money to make ends meet with or without a holiday once a year or something.

But yes, not easy with all the things we have learned about ‘earning a living’ and ‘working to live or at least survive’. And yes, that’s how the world works, of course I know that.

But wouldn’t it be nice if everybody could just do the things he likes to do. And wouldn’t it be nice that everybody could just receive what he wants to receive? It sounds like Utopia, but somehow I have the feeling it can be done and that when we achieve that situation the world would be a much happier place.

And the more I look around me, the more I see it could be done, the more I see there is capacity enough, capacity in service, in people liking to give service as well as capacity in products. And no, I didn’t do any research on how much we all would really produce if everybody would just do what he likes to do. But I’m quite sure we do have the technology and the knowledge to make something like that possible, to make something like that work.

It’s just a matter of changing our mindset, changing indeed to mindset of abundance. A mindset where everybody believes that money (=services of other people) does grow on trees. As I believe everybody likes to do ‘something’, everybody has some kind of passion what he wants to do. So why not all do it?

Ah, and the title of this post doesn’t seem to make much sense. But I just wanted to let you know that I’m trying to follow the guidelines that we are discussing as a team, the guidelines for creating better content, so I should have this post checked by someone else before posting. But for today I hope the team will forgive me that my urge to create ‘a daily post’ is higher than to produce ‘quality posts’, as the last is not (yet?) really my strength. So I’m not a good follower yet of our editor in chief, but I have decided to do better. And while writing, yes, I would need to set a date. So from October 31, 2013 or earlier I will follow the rules of the posting as set by our editor in chief.

Also God starts with desire

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Today I was looking for some meaning and didn’t really feel like doing anything as most of the things I did lately were not appreciated very much. So, based on one of the advises of Abraham Hicks I decided not to do anything, except the little things I had planned and just wait, just wait for some inspiration. Or not just waiting, but kind of thinking, letting things sink in. Because somehow I feel like I have some kind of information overload as i read somewhere. And if so a human has information enough to make decisions but just needs time to process it.

And I’m still trying to match this ‘wait until you are inspired’ from Abraham Hicks and the ‘put your plan into action straight away’ from Napoleon Hill, but I think they’re not really contradictory because today I really didn’t know what to do. And I tend to do ‘just action’, but also according to the teachings of I think both, ‘just doing things’ and/or working hard is not really something that brings you success. Maybe you know: I feel like I have worked hard enough in my life, but in the end it didn’t really bring me anywhere.

So my resting and thinking and ‘doing nothing’ somehow brought me to another self help type book I have. The book “Your Best Life Now Journal” from Joel Osteen. And this book, this journal starts with the same thing as where Napoleon Hill starts: with desire, what do you want. So I pondered a bit about that. And I allowed a bit what I wanted. And before I always wanted to be rich, really rich. And I still want to be. And somehow I am starting to believe that I will be. But things have changed over the last year, because I know more why I want to be rich, I know more what I really want in life. And the main things for now are just having a car, and yes, I still want to show off also, so I prefer a Mitsubishi Pajero, not any car and having a holiday, and the last to be specific to Bali. But these things mean more to me than ‘just a luxury car’ and ‘just a holiday’. The car means mainly that I can move around, visit friends and family and the holiday means mainly that I want to have some private time with my loved one as we had when we just met, when we were really in love and the first few years we were together.

And I am crying now, because I still don’t know what exactly went wrong with those things, with my life. We started so well here, being together, starting a business together, moving to our dream house together. And we were so enthusiastic, especially when moving here, ideas about business, parties with friends, holidays indeed. And somehow, somewhere things started falling apart.

And maybe this was all needed to bring me where I am now, start this project, this website, mean something in the world. And yes, I have learned a lot, an awful lot, about life and such. But the price has been enormous and I still don’t fully understand why I deserve where I stand now, feeling like having nothing left, especially financially, especially living the good life, especially just enjoying life. But looking at the ideas that Napoleon Hill describes in Think and Grow Rich it seems that all people, maybe especially successful people, have these deep downs. So I still have hope that it will be alright, that things will be OK soon. But like today and yesterday it’s not easy to see meaning, to be happy, to be positive, to be inspiring. And I’m not sure if I should share what I just wrote right now as sometimes I think you, the world needs leaders who are successful, who look successful and not someone who doesn’t know anymore, at least not yesterday and not until this moment today.

The funny thing right now is though that I am starting to feel better right now as it feels that I should continue this project, that maybe this is the thing that the world needs, as one of my other ambitions, one of my other ideas and maybe my purpose in life is to make the world a better place. As some things, like especially the financial system, doesn’t seem to work. At least not for me right not and not for many people without a job, without any perspective right now. And as I stated in my desire document for this project I want to make people serve each other (again?) in a happy way instead of working for money and focusing on the money as I think most people do, and I did and still do. As that is how the world works, that is what makes the world move right now. And there is nothing wrong with money, but right now, me, an educated experienced person not being able to give services to other people I like to give (and indeed, receive money for that) is plain waste, especially seeing that so many things are not being done, are not being serviced. So money, capitalism, is not the only or not the definite way to make the world go around, at least not in the way we have organized it right now.

So how should it be done, could it be done? I’m not sure, but indeed thinking from ‘giving and receiving’ instead of ‘exchange services for money’ might be a better way of looking how we can do what we like to do and at the same time serve other people. Anyhow, more on that later as we did not prepare the site yet for our ‘receiving’ part. Ah, and yes, I am starting to see more and more that I think most humans have more problems with giving than with receiving.

What’s next

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Yeah, what’s next. No real customer requests today. And while writing this I realize that somehow there is an enormous abundance in the world of people wanting to do something. As I’m quite sure all those people demonstrating e.g. in Syria are just looking for jobs and I guess most people don’t want a job only for the money, but also want a job to have something to do. Or not? Maybe I should check some statistics for that.

So how can we organize better that we can do the things we love to do and give that effort to others and the other way around? I mean, I have plenty of time and a lot of drive to do things and I’m quite sure there are a lot of people who would like to receive the things I can do for them.

So how can we find each other?