Conquering Fear of the Future...
Keep a clear head to fend off a sense of pending doom.
Since I live in a state that has been hard hit by the real estate collapse and the evolving mortgage-foreclosure disaster, in the epicenter of the economic damage of the resulting financial crisis, my perspective tends to get skewed on the larger US and world economy. To be sure the outlook is not very good in most places but Arizona, along with neighbors California and Nevada, has been particularly devastated and life often feels unstable with each bit of news about real estate and foreclosures making it seem even rockier. The news can be in the form of a headline, about someone we know, friends, family, workmates, a neighbor, friend of a friend or overheard in public. The feeling can rise suddenly, is unanticipated, unsettling and manifests itself in unexpected ways.
Even those of us that in spite of economic damage due to unemployment and other financial problems but have ourselves, our family and friends, managed to remain fairly intact and stable, relatively unscathed, are beset by unnerving raw thoughts and emotions. We wonder what is the next shoe to drop and even though we have made it through so far and have never been involved in too much debt, real estate transactions gone awry and the like, are concerned we will be hit by flying objects out of our control.
Most people here understand that this entire decade will be spent unwinding and reconfiguring the aftermath of Arizona's economy that collapsed due to an overblown building boom, that resulted in unrealistic real estate prices and far too much reliance on construction. This can cause moments of weariness at looking at the long road ahead or a sense of pending doom.
Truthfully, selfishly I suppose, I'm not worried much about what happens next for me. I'm a survivor and usually manage to make the best of whatever situation I end up in for the duration. My concern is more for what happens to society and institutions around me and how what happens to them will affect our daily lives. I worry about a breakdown in society around me that makes ordinary activity difficult. Since worrying never solved anything and the future can't be predicted, this is a futile waste of brain power. Good old therapeutic self-talk seems to work. These "memos to self" work for me:
Everything changes and in the long term it's usually for the better. A positive point of view and keeping perspective generally makes whatever happens turn out to be a good thing.
Remind myself that just as surely as a bad thought or feeling arrived unannounced, it can be replaced in a flash with another, better thought or feeling.
This is a great opportunity to embrace my inner bohemian. If the future is up in the air, then conventional rules and practices are irrelevant.
If nothing is the same anymore, then the future brings the chance to live life in new, unconventional ways. What is there to lose if the old way is gone?
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. There is an element of truth in what you expect is what you get, so it's a good idea to expect the best.
10/14/10
10/13/10
Quote of the Day: Dr. W. Edwards Deming
There is no substitute for knowledge...
"Any manager can do well in an expanding market."
Dr. W. Edwards Deming
American statistician, professor, lecturer and author
Quality
It's about process...
Somewhere along the way, especially since the telecom/tech bubble and the rapid advancement of electronic communications, doing things in an orderly, well-thought out and thorough process got lost. Speed won out over doing things correctly, the right way, the first time, and now we are paying the price for it. The implications of not following a quality process can no longer be scoffed at, as they have been for the past few decades.
The real estate foreclosure scandal that is now finally coming to the forefront for what it is, a breakdown of proper legal procedure that is factually fraud, is the epitome of disruption of process. There was a reason why for decades prior to the nineties, real estate paralegals and lawyers, mortgage loan officers and title companies demanded precise research and documentation on paperwork for property transactions.
On a large scale those values were lost in the desire to make big and fast bucks by facilitating transactions with speed and little regard for accuracy, expediting them by fax machines and the internet, without thought to the implications down the road. We've barreled down that road uncontrollably, dead ended, and now will be paying a heavy steep price for a long time to come. The repercussions are not limited to real estate, mortgages and financial institutions but ricochet to other segments of the economy also.
It all comes down to quality work. It may be near impossible to unwind who really owns what and who owes what to who in this real estate tangle, due to the sacrifice of accuracy and quality to satisfy speed and quantity. One thing is certain, we will have to figure that out with quality methods in mind. An orderly, well thought out process, that is repeated accurately over and over again over time, is just as speedy as well as correct, results in no or few repercussions in the future. Accuracy and speed are not mutually exclusive of each other and both are integral to a quality process. It is imperative we put quality back at the core of any business transactions we do, as we rebuild our economy and this country.
Somewhere along the way, especially since the telecom/tech bubble and the rapid advancement of electronic communications, doing things in an orderly, well-thought out and thorough process got lost. Speed won out over doing things correctly, the right way, the first time, and now we are paying the price for it. The implications of not following a quality process can no longer be scoffed at, as they have been for the past few decades.
The real estate foreclosure scandal that is now finally coming to the forefront for what it is, a breakdown of proper legal procedure that is factually fraud, is the epitome of disruption of process. There was a reason why for decades prior to the nineties, real estate paralegals and lawyers, mortgage loan officers and title companies demanded precise research and documentation on paperwork for property transactions.
On a large scale those values were lost in the desire to make big and fast bucks by facilitating transactions with speed and little regard for accuracy, expediting them by fax machines and the internet, without thought to the implications down the road. We've barreled down that road uncontrollably, dead ended, and now will be paying a heavy steep price for a long time to come. The repercussions are not limited to real estate, mortgages and financial institutions but ricochet to other segments of the economy also.
It all comes down to quality work. It may be near impossible to unwind who really owns what and who owes what to who in this real estate tangle, due to the sacrifice of accuracy and quality to satisfy speed and quantity. One thing is certain, we will have to figure that out with quality methods in mind. An orderly, well thought out process, that is repeated accurately over and over again over time, is just as speedy as well as correct, results in no or few repercussions in the future. Accuracy and speed are not mutually exclusive of each other and both are integral to a quality process. It is imperative we put quality back at the core of any business transactions we do, as we rebuild our economy and this country.
10/12/10
Word of the Day: tongue typo
You know what I mean...
tongue typo: What happens when you know perfectly well what you want to say but it comes out wrong.
It's a tongue typo when you trip over your words and accidentally call your friend Mike instead of by his actual name, Mark.
Urban Dictionary
10/11/10
tongue typo: What happens when you know perfectly well what you want to say but it comes out wrong.
It's a tongue typo when you trip over your words and accidentally call your friend Mike instead of by his actual name, Mark.
Urban Dictionary
10/11/10
Boomers
Our strengths and weaknesses...
There were so many of us because the young people, fresh out of the experience of WWII, started having children right away, creating the baby "boom." Since during the Great Depression of the nineteen-thirties and WWII the birth rate was low, there wasn't the infrastructure in the US or the UK to accommodate a large influx of children with the same needs. As a result, on both sides of the Atlantic, systems we're built and we had the advantage of the newest and most modern eduction, health services, food and nutrition and thanks to Dr. Spock (depending on your point of view) the most current ideas of parenting.
Everything was constructed around us, therefore we were unintentionally spoiled that way. We were told we were special and that we could do or be anything that we wanted if we tried hard enough, although that was an ideal to strive for and not the truth for everyone. These factors are the elements that are both our strengths and weaknesses. Both genders were empowered to endeavor for higher education or a better career if we wanted and as a result we made great scientific and technical advances along with social progress. We also have an over-developed sense of identity, self-worth and feel a sense of entitlement. Overall the good outweighs the bad but we should be mindful that our dominance in numbers shouldn't crowd out those older and younger than us.
There were so many of us because the young people, fresh out of the experience of WWII, started having children right away, creating the baby "boom." Since during the Great Depression of the nineteen-thirties and WWII the birth rate was low, there wasn't the infrastructure in the US or the UK to accommodate a large influx of children with the same needs. As a result, on both sides of the Atlantic, systems we're built and we had the advantage of the newest and most modern eduction, health services, food and nutrition and thanks to Dr. Spock (depending on your point of view) the most current ideas of parenting.
Everything was constructed around us, therefore we were unintentionally spoiled that way. We were told we were special and that we could do or be anything that we wanted if we tried hard enough, although that was an ideal to strive for and not the truth for everyone. These factors are the elements that are both our strengths and weaknesses. Both genders were empowered to endeavor for higher education or a better career if we wanted and as a result we made great scientific and technical advances along with social progress. We also have an over-developed sense of identity, self-worth and feel a sense of entitlement. Overall the good outweighs the bad but we should be mindful that our dominance in numbers shouldn't crowd out those older and younger than us.
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