Archives for Valuing Time
Money Does Buy Happiness: Here’s How Much Moolah You Need and Why
In the pursuit of happiness, how many times have we asked ourselves, “How much money is enough?” only to quickly realize we have no idea. Finally, we have the answer. According to the latest research, once you have about $75,000 a year, earning more doesn’t really help. Not surprisingly, people with a comfortable living standard […]
Powering Down: Forcing My Disconnectedness in a Moab Canyon
Sometimes the only way to disconnect for a few days is to choose a location that offers no other choice. I’m leaving tomorrow morning for Moab, Utah. I’ll fly into Grand Junction, Colorado, and then drive a rental car a couple of hours to Moab, where I’m meeting my friend, Dee-Dee, at the grocery store […]
The New Plan B: Cutting a Deal With Fate for the Life You Want to Live
Plan B used to refer to the reverie of the life you could swap for the one that you were leading. The old Plan B was a lark that you could enjoy even if you never got past the dreaming phase. We dreamed a lot about Plan B - that life we’d lived after we […]
Brunch Talk Reveals Negative Impacts of 24/7 Connectivity
This past weekend, at a “first Sunday in 2011 Brunch,” very smart people held tightly to their champagne as they painted scenes from their lives that wouldn’t make inspiring screen savers. The question posed - “How has connectivity negatively impacted your personal and professional life?” – revealed an underbelly of distinct ways our relationships and professional success may […]
Hollywood Comedian Andy Borowitz Got Off the Hedonic Treadmill. Will You?
Picture yourself an ascending star in your field, speeding down the highway toward success. Everything’s going smoothly and the road is clear. But one mile from arriving at your pinnacle, you stop the car, get out and walk home. That’s what Andy Borowitz did - and he’s happier because of it. In the 1990s, Hollywood […]
Live Deeply Versus Digital Connectivity. Please, Don’t Make Me Choose.
My brain is addled. I’m starting to look at my Blackberry and ask, “Do I really need to take you with me?” Jeez, Barbara, what if someone tries to get in touch with you while you’re in the cereal aisle at Publix at 10pm or you miss a Tweet telling you that someone you haven’t […]
On Extended Travel, Career Breaks & Sabbaticals: Lose Your ‘Tude, America
If you’ve been lucky enough to travel internationally, you probably met other travelers along your way. And you may have noticed: travelers from countries outside the United States usually travel for longer periods of time than Americans do. How many Americans have you met recently who have vacationed for longer than a week? Right. Even […]
Are You a Workaholic or Just a Hard Worker? Find Out Here.
“Workaholic.” Vile word. Implies I am not a normal functioning person. I imagine an intruder who shadows me for a week and, as he logs my 60th hour of work, he enters another checkmark into the red column and makes a frowny face. Does the number of hours I work make me a workaholic? Or […]
When’s the Right Time to Say, “It’s Time for Me”
Dr. Jonathon Weiswasser is an accomplished 43-year old. A vascular surgeon with a thriving New Jersey practice, he built and flies his own plane and is the father of two. At the end of a CBS Sunday Morning segment yesterday, Weiswasser said: “I’d give it all up – everything – to be 18 again in 1963.” […]
Is Your Brain Wired to the Office? Here’s a Sure Fire Way to Disconnect.
Yesterday, I tested out one of the recommendations on how to detach from the office suggested in the Wall Street Journal article, Why Relaxing is Hard Work, June 15, 2020. “Try something new,” was the first suggestion for how to make sure your time away from the office is truly time detached from work. Try something new. Learning something […]
Your 168-Hour Week. Can’t You Wrestle That into Shape?
My Kindle edition of “168 Hours” by Laura Vanderkam just whooshed into my Home Page. A lifetime, if calculated from week to week, is “simply 168 hours, back to back, repeated again and again,” according to Ms. Vanderkam. Subtract 56 weekly sleeping hours (eight a night) and 50 for work and you still have 62 […]
Here’s What You’re Doing With an Extra Hour a Day
An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal told of the latest “American Time Use Survey” released by the Labor Department on Tuesday. It seems we now have extra time to spend each day due to rising unemployment. Okay, that I understand - a person without a job might have more spare time than those who […]
Does the Internet Make You Smarter or Dumber?
This was the title of an article in last Saturday’s Wall Street Journal. Two experts answered the question. Clay Shirky says “Smarter”. Nicholas Carr argues “Dumber”. I was struck by some of Carr’s thinking, especially this: “…a growing body of evidence suggests that the Net, with its constant distractions and interruptions, is also turning us […]
“Too Late” is Reality in Life: Oil at My Back Door
Two herons breakfast each morning in Santa Rosa Sound 75 feet away from the terrace where I gulp coffee on these gorgeous summer days. We’ve named them George and Stretch. They languish near the shore and don’t appear worried about their future. So, I’ll worry about it for them. Oil is now 50 miles offshore from us here in Pensacola. […]
Multi-Tasking Makes Me Stupid
My mother will be mad when she reads this: I text while I drive. I anticipate the wreck that will teach me the lesson I need to learn. And shouldn’t the anticipation be enough? In other areas of my life, I seem to have wisened up about multi-tasking. I’m not good at it. You’re not […]
Forget the Bucket List; Live and Work with Verve
When a healthy friend keeled over last month and died of a massive coronary, many in my community took pause – even her personal trainer. Not many of us do a better job of taking care of our health than Ann did. The minister structured his eulogy around five adjectives. One of those has stayed […]
Five Excellent Practices for Your Career Break or Sabbatical Mindset
Inspired by a fifth-century conversation between Zi Zhang and Confucius about the practices of wise rulers in The Analects, here are five excellent practices for those taking time out from jobs and careers. Even those who have no sabbatical in sight can cultivate a sabbatical mindset using these best practices. Practice the arts of attention […]
Mr. Turtle Gets a Career Break
On my early morning walk yesterday, I watched a jogger stop mid-gait to stare at a turtle crossing the two lane road in our neighborhood. This is the turtle’s job – to crawl slowly from place to place. But Mr. Turtle hadn’t picked a great time of day to start this challenge. With a good […]
Connected 24/7? Meet Your New Disorder - “Disconnectivity Anxiety”
My husband, Herb, freaked out the other morning when his mobile phone went down to two bars. He yelled obscenities at the phone, hoping it would heal itself from whatever malady it suffered. Later that afternoon when his computer displayed e-mail in a new format, he flipped out - big time. I listened as he raged and insisted […]
The REAL reason you’re not taking a career break
Years ago NYC-based The Learning Annex called to see if I’d be interested in teaching a class called overcoming procrastination described as “one of our most popular in the city.” Atlanta (my location) would be a good spot to try to recreate this adult education success. I said yes. I love to teach, plus I […]
The Best Gift of All: Rocks in a Box From My College Girlfriend
A girlfriend in Ft. Worth paid $25 in shipping fees to send me a box of rocks for Christmas. Seriously. But these were special rocks: stacked on top of one another, they formed three symbolic cairns. Granted, they were purchased cairns, likely from some pricey boutique in Dallas, but cairns nonetheless. Like anyone who hikes […]
Randy Hain: The Man Who Slowed Me Down and Made Me Think
By the time I met Randy Hain for an early morning cup of coffee in an Atlanta suburb, he had already been awake for almost three and a half hours. I met Randy at 7:15 a.m. Randy gets up every morning at 4 a.m. to meditate, pray, journal, read and think. It’s his quiet time, […]
Lotto Ticket of Time, Not “Surviving Rough Year”, Sparks Gratitude
While I hate to lambast a respected journalist, and best-selling author, I will. When Peggy Noonan declares that this Thanksgiving serves up a “new gratitude,” she proceeds to offer up her thoughts as well as her friends’ ideas for what deserves gratitude. Their ideas stink. Declarations, Noonan’s column for the Wall Street Journal, Still Here After a […]
Get the Most Out of Your Life: Run Away (then come back)
In conversations for the past three days, the phrase, “run away” has predominated my vocabulary with interesting results. I’ve done more than just use the phrase in passing; I’ve suggested it to people as an outright solution for any woe. If the person was having a rough day at work, Tropical Storm Ida had made […]
Clash of Time and Culture: Shop, Rest or Go to Jail on Sunday?
On a sailing trip to Tonga years ago, my husband and I were told to keep our knees covered as a sign of respect and never engage in any buy-and-sell transactions on Sunday. We would end up in jail. Sunday in Tonga is celebrated as a strict Sabbath, enshrined so in the constitution, and despite […]