We’re all searching for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, whether it provides capital to launch a dream or allows us the freedom to have what we want, while keeping all of the bills paid.
The Internet is filled with empty opportunities, promising get rich quick schemes with little or no work. Book stores have grown from shelf sections on the topic to complete departments filled with ‘get rich’ how to's to Trump University. The real principles that build wealth haven’t changed for centuries. According to Benjamin Franklin, your journey can begin with reading his book, “The Way to Wealth”, where you may find all the wisdom you need to amass a fortune. Granted, it’s still going to take hard work, focus, and discipline, but do you have the passion?
Franklin’s book is a quick read, just 30 pages and filled with financial wisdom. "The Way to Wealth" is an essay first published in 1758 as a preface to Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanac". Just 78 maxims, written by our beloved kite-flying, electricity-discovering, founding father himself. Here are just a few: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise" . . . "Never leave that till tomorrow, which you can do today" . . . "God helps those who help themselves" . . . “He that lives upon hope will die fasting” . . . “There are no gains without pains”.
On the importance of saving, Franklin’s Father Abraham said, "If you would be wealthy, think of saving, as well as of getting. Away, then, with your expensive follies, and you will not have then so much reason to complain of hard times." These words still resonate true today. On the constant need to buy clothes and goods: "What use is this pride of appearance, for which so much is suffered? It cannot promote health, nor ease pain. It makes no increase of merit in person, it creates envy, it hastens misfortune." Father Abraham then asks the crowd, "what madness it must be to run in debt for these superfluities?"
I wonder, shouldn't the "The Way to Wealth" be required reading at the high school level? It's great to have Franklin’s image on the U.S. one-hundred dollar bill, but his timeless advice is priceless.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Have Male Friends without Having to Defend Yourself
When you’re free to make friends with whoever you want, especially the opposite sex, life is but a dream. If you find yourself in a stifling relationship or marriage, the bowl of cherries can turn sour. Here are three women’s stories:
Cherie lives on the Atlantic coast of Florida, where the beach is only two blocks from her home. She stops by the beach on her way home from work whenever she can, just to walk along the shoreline and listen to the ocean. Cherie and her boyfriend Chad met at the same beach and he knew how much time she spent there. One afternoon, he confronted her about how late she was getting home. She told him that she ran into a friend and didn’t mean to be late.
Her boyfriend began to feel uncomfortable and allowed his imagination to run wild, thinking that Cherie had met someone else. Late one day, he stopped by the beach and saw Cherie sitting on a bench having a conversation with a man he didn’t recognize. Chad approached them and asked Cherie if she was ready to go home. She paused to introduce her boyfriend to the man on the bench, when Chad insisted they leave immediately.
“What is your problem, Chad?”, she asked, as they walked toward the car. “So, is this where you go to meet men?” he yelled back. Shocked, Cherie reminded Chad that she had female friends and male friends and if he had a problem with that, he better think twice about living with her.
Alena works at a health club, where both co-workers and members are male.
There was a time when she was struggling with not only a jealous husband, but a co-worker who had been flirting with her. As she found herself constantly re-assuring her husband that she wasn’t interested in anyone at work, she was also being confronted by her jealous boss, every time he thought she was being too flirtatious with a male member of the club.
“It was a nightmare”, said Alena, “a very difficult time in my life”. I love my husband, but he has never accepted how I have to dress at the club and who we interact with there. As an assistant manager, Alena also has to keep a watchful eye over the other female club consultants and defend them in situations when male club members claim that they don’t receive the attention they believe they are paying for. Alena says that it’s challenging at where you draw the line between service and pampering.
Liz spends every possible waking moment in her yard and garden. Bill, her next door neighbor, is another one of those homeowners who has the latest gardening equipment and would mow twice a week if he could. Liz and Bill usually just wave to each other, but occasionally stop to visit at the fence to share gardening tips.
Married to Jack for fifteen years, Liz is content with Jack’s disinterest in the garden. “When the grass is getting high”, says Liz, “he seals himself off in his office over the garage to write.” But Liz doesn’t mind and finds her zen in mowing and trimming among the roses and herbs, so Jack never has to be concerned with exterior maintenance.
Bill lost his wife two years ago and found that escaping in the care-taking of the yard seemed to be healing. Liz can tell that he is lonely, but finds herself being careful about how much she talks to Bill. “Even though Jack doesn’t seem to care”, she says, “he would never understand”.
Stay tuned for a future blog where I feature one of the 101 reasons to celebrate being single, “you can flirt as much as you want”.
Cherie lives on the Atlantic coast of Florida, where the beach is only two blocks from her home. She stops by the beach on her way home from work whenever she can, just to walk along the shoreline and listen to the ocean. Cherie and her boyfriend Chad met at the same beach and he knew how much time she spent there. One afternoon, he confronted her about how late she was getting home. She told him that she ran into a friend and didn’t mean to be late.
Her boyfriend began to feel uncomfortable and allowed his imagination to run wild, thinking that Cherie had met someone else. Late one day, he stopped by the beach and saw Cherie sitting on a bench having a conversation with a man he didn’t recognize. Chad approached them and asked Cherie if she was ready to go home. She paused to introduce her boyfriend to the man on the bench, when Chad insisted they leave immediately.
“What is your problem, Chad?”, she asked, as they walked toward the car. “So, is this where you go to meet men?” he yelled back. Shocked, Cherie reminded Chad that she had female friends and male friends and if he had a problem with that, he better think twice about living with her.
Alena works at a health club, where both co-workers and members are male.
There was a time when she was struggling with not only a jealous husband, but a co-worker who had been flirting with her. As she found herself constantly re-assuring her husband that she wasn’t interested in anyone at work, she was also being confronted by her jealous boss, every time he thought she was being too flirtatious with a male member of the club.
“It was a nightmare”, said Alena, “a very difficult time in my life”. I love my husband, but he has never accepted how I have to dress at the club and who we interact with there. As an assistant manager, Alena also has to keep a watchful eye over the other female club consultants and defend them in situations when male club members claim that they don’t receive the attention they believe they are paying for. Alena says that it’s challenging at where you draw the line between service and pampering.
Liz spends every possible waking moment in her yard and garden. Bill, her next door neighbor, is another one of those homeowners who has the latest gardening equipment and would mow twice a week if he could. Liz and Bill usually just wave to each other, but occasionally stop to visit at the fence to share gardening tips.
Married to Jack for fifteen years, Liz is content with Jack’s disinterest in the garden. “When the grass is getting high”, says Liz, “he seals himself off in his office over the garage to write.” But Liz doesn’t mind and finds her zen in mowing and trimming among the roses and herbs, so Jack never has to be concerned with exterior maintenance.
Bill lost his wife two years ago and found that escaping in the care-taking of the yard seemed to be healing. Liz can tell that he is lonely, but finds herself being careful about how much she talks to Bill. “Even though Jack doesn’t seem to care”, she says, “he would never understand”.
Stay tuned for a future blog where I feature one of the 101 reasons to celebrate being single, “you can flirt as much as you want”.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
