Meant to’s

I have a bad case of the ‘meant to’s.’ A beloved aunt passed away, she had been sick for quite a while and I had meant to send her a card or two to let her know I was thinking of her. But I didn’t.

I haven’t talked to a friend who was sick in a longer than it should be. I meant to but I got busy and life . . .

I haven’t talked to or emailed with my siblings because we are all busy, I meant to keep in touch better. . .

I haven’t talked to or emailed my Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Friends because . . .

I meant to. I mean to do a lot of things but some how I just haven’t taken the time. There really isn’t any other excuse except that I didn’t take the time. I need to fix this.

While I am figuring out how to being contact with everyone more often without stalking people please know this isn’t going to be just an “I meant to.”

I will let you know how it works out.

Happy thoughts for a happy day.

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Would You Rather Work Hard or Have a Pot of Gold Land in Your Lap?

We all know that one person who just seems to rise up the ladder with seemingly effortless ease. We usually refer to them having a horseshoe somewhere in their anatomy. Often we just shake our heads and say “Of course he got the promotion/raise/prize he has always had a horseshoe . . .” Is it really luck or is it really hard work? There are arguments for both.

Luck

They are at the right place at the right time, their name is drawn out of a hat, they hit the lottery, they were just sitting around and a pot of gold fell in their lap. From this list chance plays a major part in luck.

Hard work

They paid attention and networked and did their job exceptionally to be ready when the right place and right time occurred.  They worked really hard and garnered more entries so the odds were in their favor.

Luck

Winning the lottery – according to multiple sources on the internet your odds of winning the lottery are 175,223,510 to 1 (if you don’t believe me Google it). So this is pure luck. There is no strategy, there is no way to increase the odds unless you spend a boat load of money, and even then your odds do not change each ticket is still 175,223,510 to 1, you just have more of them with those odds. Also I have heard it is easier to win the lottery if you actually buy lottery tickets your odds go from 0 to 175,223,510 to 1, but at those odds probably foolish too.

If a pot of gold falls in your lap, you will be both lucky and unlucky. Lucky because you have a pot of gold and at $1286 per ounce you could have a small fortune. Unlucky because if a pot of gold fell in your lap you would need its value to pay the doctors’ bills. It only takes 25 pounds of force to break a small bone – think fingers – and gold is heavy. So is the pot, most leprechauns pots are made of iron so you are looking at probably broken legs, a crushed pelvis and if it rolls off you onto the floor broken feet too.  Again lucky and unlucky.

Hard work

So let’s recap a lot of luck seems to come with long odds or painful bits. Hard work seems to take time and energy and usually a sense of satisfaction.  So while some people seem to have a lot of luck I am thinking it is probably more along the lines of a lot hard work.

I personally would rather work hard for the things I have, I enjoy the sense of achievement I get and the satisfaction of a job well done. Besides, that pot of gold thing just sounds too painful

PS  Your odds of winning as a percentage = 0.0000000057%

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I think I should have gotten another Bachelor’s rather than an MBA

I have three college degrees: an Associate of Arts and Science, a Bachelor of Science and an MBA. There is a big debate going on about the cost of education and how far in debt it puts people. In theory the more education you have the higher your wages should be. In theory *sigh* – one thing you have to calculate in your education and career path is will it really increase your earnings capacity.

There are some industries where you have to have a Master’s degree in order to practice. But there are a lot of industries where you don’t need one. Keep this in mind when you decide you need further education. Sometimes it is more beneficial to get another bachelor’s degree rather than an MBA.

The second question you need to ask yourself is “Will it actually teach you what want to know or need to know?” If you are changing careers, like going from engineer to sales or education to furniture repair it might be more beneficial to get another undergrad degree rather than a graduate degree.

An undergraduate or tech degree with teach you how to do the job. It will teach you the graphics program or the cad program or the accounting procedure you need to know how to do – actual work. A graduate program will generally teach you about how to manage those who are doing the job. It will teach you how to create budgets and calculate ROI and ROE and EBITDA and P/E ratio and how to manage people and projects.

I have been giving my education a lot of thought recently.  I have enjoyed my educational experiences, however and this is a big however, I wish I had gotten a second undergraduate degree rather than my MBA. It is satisfying to see the letters after my name but I think a BA or BS would have been more beneficial to me. I would have learned more of the nuts and bolts of the degree rather than the managing of it.

So my advice, before spending the vast amounts of money it costs to get a Graduate degree, really look into what it offers and what you want. If they are a not similar take a step back and look a step down. Maybe what you really need is at the tech school or undergrad. Don’t be afraid to go a less traditional route.

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Frustrated!

I am so frustrated right now I don’t know if I want to spit or hit someone. Neither of these options will solve the problem and only very temporarily make me feel better. So the question is what am I going to do about it? I don’t know. Right now I am going to go get some lunch and read a book and think about it for a while. I will get back to you when I have a plan or have calmed down.

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Ok. I am only sort of calmed down. No not true, I have gotten to the depression part of frustrated. The f@#$% it I don’t care anymore part of frustration. The worst part is I do care. I care very deeply and the fact that I don’t seem to be being taken seriously makes me  . . . sick, angry, sad and whole bunch of other emotions all roiling around in my stomach.

So, what to do about it? One of the things I have to do immediately is just let it go. It isn’t worth my stomach roiling and my teeth aching from being clenched so tight and the beginnings of a headache. Breathe in, breath out, breathe in, breathe out. Let it go. Nice slow deep breathes. Close my eyes and breathe.

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I’m back. A little dizzy all those deep breathes, so much oxygen in my head now.  The next thing is to discuss my frustrations with the offending party. Tomorrow (in theory) we will discuss this, unless this happens again; in which case I may have to say a few things louder than I would want too.

I may be pretty laid back in some things but even I will only let it go for so long.

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