Bureaucracy

dictionary.com defines a bureaucracy as:

1.     government by many bureaus, administrators, and petty officials.
2.     the body of officials and administrators, esp. of a government or government department.
3.     excessive multiplication of, and concentration of power in, administrative bureaus or administrators.
4.     administration characterized by excessive red tape and routine.

Definitions one and two are relatively benign. Each speaks to the structure with no pejorative overtones (unless you want to attach special meaning to the word “petty” in the first definition).  Read more... (702 words, estimated 2:48 mins reading time)

Are you old enough to remember when the BUFFALO NICKEL was in circulation? Or maybe you’ve seen them in display cases at a coin shop or in a friend’s collection. They fascinated me as a kid, the picture of a proud Native American on the obverse and a mighty buffalo on the reverse. How easy it was to examine one side, then flip the coin over and look at the other side.

I seriously doubt if you have a BUFFALO NICKEL in your pocket, so look at the two sides of the coin in the picture below:

Sometimes you have to focus on survival before you can turn your attention to excellence.

One of the most stimulating and perceptive things I’ve read in some time is the “12 Rules of Survival” by Laurence Gonzales on his web site, deepsurvival.com

The author’s introduction reads:  Read more... (271 words, estimated 1:05 mins reading time)

After having counseled and coached literally hundreds of individuals and many families spread across my career, I’m convinced there are five critical elements for success in any specific endeavor and in life in general.

Four of these are not so unique to me; you’ll find entire books written concerning the first four. They are:  Read more... (626 words, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)

We all know it: stress is a killer. But

long before it gets that bad, it’s still bad! Stress reduces our ability to think creatively and often contributes to hasty decisions that we pay for later. At the most elemental level, stress is a thief that can, if allowed, rob us of enjoying life moment by moment. Kind of like this video . . .

Information Overload Syndrome?

So . . . like so many other things that come our way daily, stress must be managed.

Okay . . . This Works!  Read more... (602 words, 1 image, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

So many people in the U.S. are unhappy in their jobs. They drag themselves to work on Monday and all week look forward to Friday and the weekend. Perhaps you’re one of them. If so, I suspect that off and on (maybe daily) you’ve wondered if there is something else you could do—that dream job that a few fortunate people find. You know the one. It’s the job that doesn’t feel like work. The one where someone has to tell you to go home because you’re having so much fun and don’t want to leave. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but would like to share three things that come from Dan Miller’s book, 48 Days to the Work You Love that might help—they helped me a great deal.  Read more... (1035 words, 5 images, estimated 4:08 mins reading time)