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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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The legacy of post-recession fears

by Rick Baker
On Sep 6, 2016

In many areas the post-recession fears have not subsided. Businesses are still dragging payments, for inordinately long periods. Businesses are still refraining from making purchases, even when the ROI on those purchases are quite attractive. Many businesses are hesitant to fund innovations and, as a consequence, they are slipping farther behind the pace of automation in their business sector.

It looks like lots of baby boomers are attempting to recover the financial losses they experienced during the recession of 2008/9 and the Canadian dollar volatility that followed that recession. The recession itself took money out of baby boomers' pockets. The rapid decrease in the value of the Canadian dollar took more money out of some baby boomers' pockets. And the economic challenges during the last year have exacerbated these problems. 

When you put it all together many baby boomers are reluctant to spend money on their businesses at this point in time. 

I suppose this is no surprise to economists. Likely, in every generation of business, the leading generation of business people hits a point when it becomes less confident and less courageous. When that happens expenditures shrink. And protectionism, around personal wealth, sets in. 

Regardless, it certainly is troubling to watch the value of baby boomers’ businesses shrink…year after year.

Perhaps, it is time to consider better options…small changes for the better.

What legacy do you want to leave?

Tags:

Abundance | Thinking as in Think and Grow Rich

inexpensive diamonds contain value - expensive diamonds contain flaws

by Rick Baker
On Aug 17, 2016

Things are rarely as bad as they seem - things are rarely as good as they seem. 

Time seems to iron out our emotional highs and lows, healing old wounds and adding perspective to achievements.

In this way, Time shows us our tendency to overstate both the positives and the negatives.

A balanced viewpoint is a wonderful thing: enjoying the good things [while not getting too inflated about them] and accepting the bad things [without losing too much energy or damaging spirit].

While Dorothy and Toto aimed somewhere over the rainbow they ought to have been thinking about aiming somewhere closer to the middle of the rainbow, say in the bluish-green zone.

There’s much to be gained through a more balanced approach. I'm not talking about being dull and even-keeled all the time. We don’t want to ignore or miss the learning experiences embedded in life’s truly extreme experiences. But, life is not a roller-coaster ride unless our minds make it so.

Sure – we can be on the optimistic side of centre…as in – “always look on the bright-central side of life”. 

Stated another way – rose-coloured glasses have their limitations. After all, they focus on one end of the light spectrum [R as in ROYGBIV, that is]. So, there’s a good argument to be made in favour of wearing green or blue coloured glasses.

While inexpensive diamonds may lack lustre [and all those other pleasing-to-the-eye attributes], they are nonetheless diamonds, containing value. While expensive diamonds are far more expensive, they still contain imperfections…which you will learn all about if you try to sell one.

On Improving

by Rick Baker
On Aug 8, 2016

It doesn't matter where you came from, what's happened to you or what you've done so far. While those things may carry some interest and perhaps even some value, they are not that important. The important things are your thoughts and your actions.

For your thoughts and your actions - You have the present...perhaps just brief moments left...perhaps numerous years. 

For your thoughts and your actions - You have no guarantees for your future. You cannot rewrite your past. You only have your present and your ability to think and act. 

For your thoughts and your actions - You have choices: choices about the thoughts you think and choices about the actions you take. 

You can choose to direct your thoughts and actions toward goals and improvement. There's no guarantee for your future - regardless, you can have dreams, goals and aspirations. And, you can choose to think and act in ways that align with your dreams, goals, and aspirations. 

***

Expect nothing from 'Fate', 'Destiny', the 'Law of Compensation' or the 'Law of Attraction'. Don't expect 'Abundance'. Don't place faith in 'Positive Mental Attitude'. 

Instead -

  1. Know what you value and desire.
  2. Believe your thoughts and actions have a level of influence over your outcomes.
  3. Take [some] comfort in the common sense embedded in thinking and acting in ways that align with your values and goals. 

Good things come to those who wait...if they're working while they're waiting.

by Rick Baker
On Jun 21, 2016

Old sayings contain wisdom that has withstood the test of time. 

'Patience is a virtue.' That saying contains a simple, valuable piece of wisdom: you will fare better if you choose patience over impatience.

'Good things come to those who wait.' That saying contains the wisdom of 'patience is a virtue', however, it stretches that wisdom a little too far. 

Waiting - patience alone - does not cause good things to come. Good things come when we work the right way at the right things and understand that good things don't always happen quickly and sometimes good things take mysterious routes before they arrive. This is consistent with a high-level of (but not a zealous/fundamentalist) belief in the Law of Attraction...i.e., I mean - in broad terms, the good things we do will, some day/some way, bring good things to us.

Good things come to us when we work the right way at the right things. Perhaps, not all the time but at least some of the time. Unless you hold a fatalistic viewpoint, a belief in pre-set destiny, you believe your actions will generate results. And, you believe working the right way at the right things will tend to bring about good things.

Good things come to us when we combine patience with good work.

6 steps for making positive use of Stress Energy

by Rick Baker
On Apr 20, 2016

You can make positive use of Stress Energy

by Rick Baker
On Apr 18, 2016

We all experience Stress.

Most of us view Stress as a necessary evil, a part of the human condition...a thing that damages all who experience it.

Few of us view Stress as a phenomenon which we can use as a tool...to help us achieve our goals...to help us achieve meaningful things.

***

Perhaps, you see Stress as a damaging, necessary evil. 

If you buy into 4 premises, you can change all that.

***

Stress is damaging and unhealthy except when you choose to use its energy to achieve success in your work and your life.

Copyright © 2012. W.F.C (Rick) Baker. All Rights Reserved.