Larkland Morley’s Professional Blog

http://blogs.hbr.org/tjan/2011/08/keeping-great-people-with-thre.html

The underlying issues that led to debt ceiling crisis is very interesting. I wanted to share my view on it hopefully from a neutral perspective but sooner or later, I will probably take a side that matches common sense.

Here are the areas of discussion

1. Social Needs – those that support this view comes from the school that you need to protect the poor as much as you can. In fact one of the main sticky points in overall discussion is that the deficit is increasing mostly because of social programs such as Medicare, Medicaid etc.

2. Keep Taxes Low – The guys that push this view is that people should keep their money and government play a lesser role in the general economy. They also claim that low taxes on companies will increase investment in the economy.

3. Keep the military strong – The group that pushes lower taxes and less social programs also wants to see the military at its best and the US leading the world.

Analysis

1. If social programs are driving the deficit then it seem that we have way more poor people in the US than we want to admit. Secondly, if they were being well paid, they could afford to pay more for medical services out of pocket and save towards their own retirement.

2. The US has the lowest tax rate in all the so-called developed countries. In fact, they probably have the highest crime rate in the most developed countries club as well. Obviously, lower taxes means less money to pay for social programs.

3. The question is; why do you need to push a big military presence while you are telling the poor that they can’t get the basic support from the state? Employers are probably not paying as much as they could to ensure the working class can save enough despite their lower tax rates.

4. I strongly believe that most people would like to use their own money for retirement and medical care not to depend on anyone including the government. People take pride in helping themselves. Of course there are those who fake disability to get benefits but the majority has some degree of honesty.

5. Most of the people who are anti-government and anti-taxes claim to be religious especially Christian, yet the Bible does make it clear we should take care of the poor. The tithing system in Israel was setup to aid the poor especially those that did not have job because they performed religious services. Again, its actually contradictory to the nth degree when you examine the facts.

Conclusion

Honestly, I think the problem is fixable but it will not be fixed. First of all, the same companies that get the low tax rate will go and invest in other countries that have cheaper labor. They don’t have any sense of patriotism except when their is an issue in those countries with cheap labor, the US military must come to the rescue. When those same soldiers retire with their low wages, you are now saying you can’t afford to offer them anything since we have this huge deficit.

The one bias I have is to say that those that pushes small government concept is out of touch with reality totally. What we should push for is more efficient government. Ultimately, you need to have a better tax system long term.

This is a great write up and how to keep yourself on track. Its about the habit of successful people that makes them stand out.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/02/nine_things_successful_people.html

We can talk a lot about ways to be successful and wealthy but its also very important to be healthy. In fact we owe it to ourselves to manage our health properly as one of the first priorities in life.

I want to share some perspective I gain from a few writers in the Fat Management world and kind of take the best of each one for some long lasting suggestion. The writers are Tim Ferris “4 Hour Body”, Jorge Cruise “Belly Fat Cure” and Philip Goglia “Turn Up the Heat”. Interesting enough, the authors seem to agree on most of the fundamental points. Bear in mind that Philip Goglia is the only certified doctor in this group, so from reading the book you can see more scientific data presented to enforce the required changes.

Here are the main points to achieve your ideal weight and health.

1. Build a weight management program without exercise. You can use exercise to accelerate weight loss but long term you should be able to have your ideal weight without excess exercise. In any case, its highly recommended to exercise daily for general health reasons.

2. Reduce  or eliminate Sugar – This one is across the board with all the authors. You have to manage this one well. In fact its a big change once you get it under control. Some substitute such as Stevia has being recommended by some doctors. Bear in mind that a lot of process food and baked products does have lots of sugar content.

3. Drink lots of Water – This one tip alone can account for a big change in your health. Water will help to cleanse your body as well as regular overall body function. The more important recommendation is to drink based on your body weight which in most cases would be more than the usual 8 Glass rule. In fact most of us don’t even drink 8 glasses daily. I remembered finishing off several cases of water during a one week winter break and I did lose at least 9 pounds solid. I did not pay enough attention then.

4. Body Type – This one was highlighted by Philip Goglia. You need to know your body type, so you can plan your diet based on that profile. You would normally find out your body type from the blood work done at the doctor during physicals. The general types are protein-fat type, Carbohydrate type and the Combination of the two.  This basically means for each body type you should eat more of those food to get optimum results. In the case of the combination type, you need to each proportionally to get the results. I am planning to check mine once I get the results from my latest physical.

Lots of people fail on diet programs because they are not eating to match body type. For example if you are Carbohydrates type and go on a low-carb diet, it goes without saying.

5. Do not starve yourself – Once you know the body type, you need to eat properly and the right amount of food. One reason the body stores fat is because enough nutrition is not coming so it reacts by storing fat.

6. Dieting should be long term – You need to plan your diet for the long term. It should not be some lose 50 pounds in 2 months then go back to normal way of eating. Most of these approaches do work but because they are in a sense boring, people will just go back to default habits later.

7. Stomach health – Ensuring that your stomach is operating properly will go a far way to ensure you process food correctly. This is where cleansing programs come into play. I would not recommend those up front but drinking as much water as possible and taking some pro-biotics will fix this fairly quick.

8. Practice Kosher Diet – I have to throw this one in based on my religious belief but in all of the above cases, make sure the food you eat is kosher. This is mostly along the line of the food type (no pork, bacon etc) and not how it was prepared. I don’t believe you need to have some special procedure before you eat food except to pray and thank God.

9. Always Exercise – While these programs are not overly dependent on exercise, this will help you in most cases.  Try to walk for at least 30 minutes a day. One recommended way to maximize weight loss with exercise is to have periods of intensity in between slow ones. This helps to burn calories.

Summary

The message is clear but I want to simplify here: Reduce sugar intake, Drink lots of water, eat to fit your body type then add in some exercise to close things off. You should consult your doctor about any health related changes as you could have conditions that is outside the norm. This way you protect yourself from any potential dangers.

In the end you want to feel good and look good, so always research and verify with your doctor to get the best results.

P.S. Please share this with others, I think it could go a far way to make people healthy and reduce health care cost. The like button is a good start to sharing.

Just started to check out Google+ this week and also read some articles about its implications. I must say that its a very impressive product for starts and has much better potential what is now the forgotten Google Waves. In general the consensus is that this is not really a Facebook killer and does stand to attract the more technically minded in the first stage. I guess, Facebook started out that way too initially among University students.

At a glance, I really like the group concept as a built-in feature and from what I understand, there are several ways to share with Facebook and Twitter easily.

What are the intents of Google+? For me at this point, I think Google want to use this to enhance the search experience over time. This means that sharing and +1 activities can be used as signals for more useful search results. Having played with Internet Marketing discussions for the last 4 years or so, I know that people can publish a lot of crap to get first page ranking on Google. Wow, they have gotten first page ranking but it has really destroyed the quality of search for sure.

Other good features I plan to check out, is the one call Huddle. This should have potential especially with business audience.

In the end, Google+ is not an anti-Facebook tool, it’s actually more of a tool to help Google improve search.

This post is more like a note to self on my experiences this last week-end. I was very grateful to witness a NASCAR race in person this week-end in Sonoma, California. It was really amazing to see cars moving so fast on the ground.

Of course it brings up the issue of the human potential. The bottom line is that a lot of us could actually drive that fast if we put our mind to it. In others, if they can do it, you can do it too.

It whole experience re-enforces my belief that setting a goal or vision and really believing in it, is the simple step to personal success. I also observe people who seem successful at least monetarily and I realize that they seem to have something missing in their life despite that. In looking at that I realize its not really required to have lots of money to feel good about life and that is so true.

Good example of the money versus happiness curve is that while the US is the richest country in the world with the largest middle class, they are not he happiest country by far. This is really worth looking for sure.

Just wanted to share this experience.

Just want to share a few ideas earlier this week on how you can grow yourself going forward

1. Choice – Everything you do is a choice, not an “Have to”. Lets look at the job situation with most people not being happy. They have chosen to perform that job, they do not have to do it. Now we could argue that they would not choose to do the actual job they are in now but they may have chosen it because they need to provide a living for their family. This means you have different values that drives your choices in life. That does not mean they should not explore finding a job that they actually want to chose for professional satisfaction.

If someone insults you, it does not mean you have to respond with revenge or vindictiveness, you can chose to be calm and point out where they could have done things better.

Whatever case you are in now, just do your best at it. Don’t use a mismatch situation to sabotage the job. Always examine what choice you can make.

In the end, you “chose to” do things not “have to”, that is the plain truth and an important way to look at your daily life.

2. Personal Growth – If you look at inventions and major breakthroughs in life, you will see that the people who caused them may not have been the best in their field or even close. Take a look at the wright brothers, they were not even trained engineers by the standard at the time. What made them create an industry? They saw a possibility that they could make happen. They did not know how to do it but they keep trying and refining their craft.

This is how you will grow in life. You have to decide on a vision and work hard to make it happen. Lets hope that vision is for the good of others as well.

Hope these are helpful

Check out this write up on LTE performance so far.

http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2011/06/14/4g-lte-does-long-term-evolution-live-up-to-the-super-speed-hype/

Fortunate for me, I have never been in a destitute situation in my life but with the reality of more people in the world living in poverty compared to those that are not, I think its something to take a look at to some extent.

Here are some ideas I decided to share for someone living an urban environment ( will cover rural in another post).

1. Mindset – The first and most important thing is to change your mindset about life. You need to find a way to look at things in a positive way. This can go a far way in the whole process. Instead of seeing yourself as helpless, homeless or whatever, you need to form a picture of where you want to be in life. No problem with dreaming big in this case. You have nothing to lose here as if you stay negative you are not going to make progress anyway. The bottom line with this step is that it will give you motivation to take action.

2. Values – This will be the bedrock of your life going forward – What values do you cherish in your life. Some of the recommended ones are Honesty, Love, integrity, patience, sharing and many other good ones. Pick about five main ones as your starting point. We all have values but some of them could be holding us back. There is a tendency for people in poor areas to support dishonest living but as you can see it just keeps you in a vicious cycle. Frankly, you can make billions if you are honest and be able to really help others positively.

3. Information – Now that we got the desire and values in place, we are at the point where want to take action in our life. This is the stage where you seek out the means to move forward. Things to find out are what does your government provide in terms of training, small business development, job programs and any other. Where could you get some guidance for moving to the next level?

4. Networking – Following up to the information gathering stage is the whole issue of networking. One simple place to start are religious bodies like a local church. There are small groups in lots of neighborhoods with help on various topics. Try to meet new people that could help you and keep plugging a way.

5. Education – even if you have a PhD, it comes to a point that if you are destitute, it means you need new thinking to get out of that situation. Try to find some ways to get a new skill or learn something new. With the Internet, there are many free options or low cost courses. One think I believe in nowadays is to consider starting a business, so get as much ideas on that as possible. Books are also very good educational tools, use the library if you can’t buy them. Most governments also provide some free basic skills training, try to find one that is not too common and has high demand.

6. Team Work – If you live in a poor area, there is a good chance you are not the only one in the same situation. This a chance for you to form a team to tackle issue of improving the groups situation. They normally call this a master mind group. You meet often to discuss ideas that can help the community and each other. This is not just about money but to add meaning to your life in general. Who knows, with complimentary skills, you could start a venture together.

7. Economics – I am sure while all the suggestions above can sound good, your urgent need is to put food on the table and a shelter over your head. The best start is to volunteer to help someone in exchange for small favors. Instead of begging you offer to help with something that is in need of attention. The important thing is how you do it, try to be presentable to build trust in the process. As you do more, you may have a potential service business on your hand. Just keep the contacts in place and offer to do more this time with price. The best start for persons with no money is to setup a service business and the team work mentioned about could be a big help with that. If you have access to the Internet, there is a bunch of ideas that you could pursue on that front.

All of this is said in the context that you can’t find work or that you can’t find money to start a full blown business. Just try to help people with good manners and see where it goes from there. You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

Conclusion

The basic message here is that you can be successful regardless of where you are, it all starts with your mind and what you think of yourself. If you think you desire better and take responsibility to do this in an honest way, you will be surprise of the rapid progress that you make.

Focus on the education and areas where people need basic help, do it professionally and you will move forward.

P.S. Please share this with others. Most people who need this may not have access to the Internet to so pass on the word. I will add more practical ideas in time.

I really got interested in the $300 home concept recently and I am very excited to see there are great ideas emerging.

Here is how I think this could be realized for most people worldwide.

1. Land space – People will need to occupy land space in order to build a home. My take, is that government or private owners could provide land based on people engaging in some positive activity such as completing skill courses or direct labor.

2. Home Construction – Training people to build their own homes – Make the process simple and let them participate in the process to save on labor cost.

3. Payment – Allow some kind of savings account that collects money, recycling materials or labor towards the purchase of house materials. Any combination should work better for the future home owner.

4. Flexibility – Make the designs flexible so that people can add more rooms as they accumulate resources – My take is that you could build a studio with bathroom first then add more rooms later.

I think the biggest obstacle in all of this are the bigger businesses whom are afraid that innovation would reduce cost and thus reduce their overall profitability.