Well, readers, last week was just crazy, with 12 hour days for work, and homework and class after hours! I’m back to a slightly less hectic schedule this week!

My husband and I had a discussion recently about the transfer of power, inspired by his reading of “The History of Western Philosophy” by Bertrand Russell. He posed the question, “If a Senator dies while in office, who should get to replace the Senator?” I responded that we’ve got a process for that, but ultimately, it’s whoever the public elects. Then he asked, “If a man dies, who should get his estate?” I responded, his wife and children, or whoever he wills it to. We started talking about how monarchies used to transfer political power through blood, but now, political power is transferred through votes. However, we still transfer economic power through blood.

However, in today’s society, the golden rule is more true than ever: He who holds the gold makes the rules. Wealthy people wield significant power over the political arena and everyday lives of common people. Take a look at the housing crisis and the economic recession, and you’ll see that the government can’t change fortunes as effectively as the wealthy. Rich people contribute to PACs, lobbyists, and individual campaigns, their stock holdings can make or break a corporation, and their disposable income can fund entire cities! Why, then, do we still allow this type of power to be transferred through blood?

I posited that a wife and children had to make sacrifices for the man to become so rich, and that there are a lot more checks and balances in place to ensure that the heirs don’t hurt others with their wealth. My husband commented that the owner of a nuclear power plant shouldn’t just automatically pass that ownership down to a child. What if the child was evil or incompetent? Wouldn’t that be as bad as a king leaving the kingdom to his inept eldest son? To me, there’s a board of directors, a managerial team, and shareholders (or, in the case of nuclear power, government regulations) to ensure that the heir can’t inflict harm via their inheritance of such a company.

We talked about some pros and cons of the transfer of economic power through blood, and I’ve presented a few of the points we discussed. In short, will economic transfer of power eventually go the way of political power?

Yesterday, I was exactly the person I want to be. You ever have those days? The days where you come home and you reflect on the day, and realize that you were the best version of yourself? I love those days! On the surface, you think those days are easy to come by, but when you dig down deep, you realize that you’re often settling for something less than your best self. So, how do you become your best self?

For me, I’m usually my best self on days that involve productivity and creativity at work, mental stimulation and challenge, and success in one of my hobbies. Again, on the surface, it sounds like an easy formula that everyone has. But for me, it’s not just about “getting work done”, it’s about the unique combination of creativity, variety, and project completion. It’s not just about “reading an intellectual book”, it’s about making the gears turn in my brain, and seeing connections explode across all my functional knowledge. It’s not about “attending rehearsal” or “going to the gym”, it’s about fine-tuning my talents and body, and making a break-through. Yesterday was that, the perfect storm of planning and execution to be my best self.

I arrived at the office by 7 am, to accommodate leaving early for class. I completed some website content updates, and then sat down to design a new ad… and the ideas were flowing. I finished 7 mock-ups in about an hour, and I would have been satisfied with any of them being approved! Then I headed to my first class session for my Negotiation and Dispute Resolution class, where I formed what I think will be an exceptional team for the group project. After checking out the requirements for the group project, I nerded out on the drive home about game theory, the science of lying, access to information, and all the intersections between those subjects. My mind was basically exploding with ideas by the time I reached my front door, and I’m still coming up with new facets this morning! When I arrived home, I changed clothes and headed to a kick-butt boot camp. After boot camp, I came home and hung out with my husband, telling him about all my ideas and projects and generally sharing my zest for life with the person I love most. I even ate healthy meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner yesterday!

I came into the office this morning completely invigorated and ready to take the day by storm. Already, I’ve received information for two new projects, and I’m a ball of energy as I start to work on them. I feel like I’m going to have another day of being exactly who I want to be. The difference between my best self and anything less than my best self is astounding. It may not even be noticeable to outsiders, but I can see, feel, and experience the intense focus, productivity, creativity, and satisfaction that comes from being my best self. This is what it’s all about. The career, the education, the opening night, the sore muscles… it’s all for those days when I’m the best version of myself.

My husband I talk about making high value decisions pretty frequently. I was thinking about high value decisions recently, when the ultimate low value decision popped into my head.

At my office, we tend to keep the batteries “hidden”, since they are relatively expensive, and we don’t want people just taking batteries whenever they feel like it. One day, the president of the company was looking for some batteries. He spent 30 minutes walking around, asking if anyone had any batteries, digging through cabinets, and generally wasting time trying to find some batteries. Our CFO commented that it was completely stupid to hide the batteries and make the highest paid employee of the company use time to hunt for batteries. We gave the president his own box of batteries after that incident.

What about the people that drive 5 miles to save five cents per gallon on gas? They’ve probably spent their full fifty cents of savings driving to the other gas station! This is another one of those things that if you actually knew and considered the numbers, it would make much more sense to just stop at the gas station you’re closest to at the moment.

How often do you make the wrong sacrifice? Some people think that they’ll take a longer commute, but at least the rent is cheaper! But, did they calculate the increased cost for gas, and worse, the increased cost of their time?  How do you go about making high value decisions?

Happy New Year! It’s time to make resolutions, reflect on the progress made in 2011, and generally consider the bright future ahead in 2012. But, I’d like to take a slightly different look at the New Year, by focusing on the word “once”. I think “once” holds us back sometimes, and instead of using goals, resolutions, and the new year to our advantage, we hide behind it. Here’s a few of my “once” problem statements:

– Once I finish my MBA, I’ll have more time to work out and be involved in creative endeavors.

– Once I get the MBA job, we’ll be able to meet the big financial goals.

– Once we buy a house, I’ll host guests and cook at home all the time.

– Once the New Year hits, I’ll get back to eating healthy, blogging regularly, studying harder, and coming in to work early.

See the theme? I’ve got plenty of goals and things that I want to do in life, but I keep hiding behind some other event. The thing is, once I finish the prerequisite, something else will pop up, and I’ll still be deferring my plans until the new prerequisite is fulfilled. This is how people get to old age, look back on their lives, and realize that they missed out on all the things they said they valued. There’s no magic in a New Year, and there’s no reason I can’t start accomplishing things right now, right where I am.

So, I think my New Year’s resolution is to stop hiding behind long-term goals, to let go of “once”. I’ve talked many times about being ready to take the opportunity, golden handcuffs, passion, and doing something stupid. I’ve found that putting off until tomorrow what I should do today is ultimately unfruitful, even if “today’s” endeavors are noble. What are your New Year’s resolutions? Do you hide behind “once”?

I can’t believe this is the last post of 2011! This year has flown by, and December has been a blur. I’ve starting reflecting on the past year, and contemplating my goals for 2012. A few of my education and career highlights from 2011 include:

– Completing 20 hours for my MBA degree, with a current GPA of 3.8

– Managing 2 website overhauls at work, presenting at two different sales training sessions, managing the allocation of the 2012 ad budget

– Writing elsewhere on the internet 11 times! (I realized this when I updated my “As Seen On” page the other day, didn’t realize I’d put myself out there so much in the last half of the year!)

It’s been an exciting year, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds. I hope you have a Happy New Year, and I look forward to your readership in 2012!

I had a chat with my mom the other night that sparked this post on the generation gap. We’re in a much different place than our parents, and I think sometimes we forget that there’s a difference between today’s economy and priorities, and those 20 years ago.

First, there’s no loyalty anymore. My brother is job hunting, ready to leave his first job out of college, and my mom just couldn’t understand why he’d want to leave so soon. I’ve heard this sentiment from people my mom’s age, as well as the media. My boss was with his previous company for 27 years! I can’t imagine being with any company for that long, and I tend to think I fit in more with the old-school crowd in terms of job loyalty. Basically, our generation needs to keep moving to the next challenge, promotion, or city, and we have little regard for our employer’s “feelings”. The difference, though, is that employers aren’t loyal to us, either! I was telling my mom that companies today have no problem laying off or firing employees, in favor of computers, outsourcing, or just over-loading the employees they have. In “the good ‘ole days”, the employees remained with their employer because it came with steady growth, pay raises, and a pension upon retirement. I’m not going to get any of those things with most companies, so my only options for improvement are changing jobs every few years.

Second, I think my generation is starting to realize that time is more valuable than money. We can travel all over the world cheaply and easily, so why would we want to spend our years behind a desk? Technology allows us to work remotely, and increases our efficiency, so why would we want to put in 8+ hours a day at the office? This cuts both ways, as my parents’ generation had much more work-life balance. Companies would actually let you leave at 5, and you didn’t have a Blackberry beeping all through dinner. People could actually take a vacation, since there were no cell phones or Wifi on the beach to keep you working. It’s just that now, my generation wants the “break” earlier and more often. Flexible work options are becoming a much higher priority for a lot of people my age. For people in the previous generation, this concept that we “deserve” to work different schedules, go on trips, or work remotely, is completely foreign.

And finally, I think my generation is much more aggressive about negotiating. Again, there’s no loyalty between employees and employers, so if we’re all out for ourselves, we should get as much as we can. My brother wanted to negotiate his starting salary, and my mom wondered what prompted him to want to negotiate an already decent offer. His response, “Because I can, so I should.” Straight-forward, no thought, just assuming that everything is open for negotiation. I think a lot of us are tired of the traditional model that we just do as our company tells us, since there’s no end reward tied to following those rules. In generations past, following the rules meant you got your big pay-out at 65. These days, rule-following won’t get you noticed, so you end up with fewer raises and promotions, and less prestigious work assignments and schedules. Essentially, our values have changed, so we’re much more willing to try to buck the system to make it fit into our values.

I’m not sure if these differences are good or bad. I definitely don’t want to just jack into the matrix and hum along until I’m 65, but I do think there’s something to be said for finding contentment and stability. I think that once my generation is “in charge” the whole tone of work is going to shift. There was a great essay by Paul Graham about the dichotomy that our society enforces between work and play, and that essentially, we all view work as this unpleasant necessity that precedes and facilitates play. I think my generation is more adamant about mixing the two, and if work and play are out of sync, we’ll go find a different arrangement. Are you loyal to your employer? Do you think it’s worth it to “all work, no play” until you’re 65? How does your mentality differ from your parents (and, presumably, your boss?)