Alignment

I haven't blogged for awhile because I've been busy. It's the weekend now though, and while my schedule is still packed tighter than the cotton at the top of a bottle of Advil Cold and Sinus I have managed to find a way to breathe clearly, so to speak. I have been busy with work, the story goes. I'm trying hard to be awesome at it. Every week I'm making progress, I should do well if I can keep that up.

Recently, I've realized that to be awesome at work, I have to be awesome at a bunch of other things.

You see it's not JUST about working hard. It's about being awesome in the most encompassing of manners. It's about ironing my clothes on the weekend so that I look sharp all week. It means buying healthy groceries and preparing food properly so that I can sustain myself in a healthy manner. It demands exercising and trying to sleep right (the latter being a major challenge for me, generally speaking). To be truly great (whatever that means) I don't think you can be good at just one thing. I think life needs to become a sort of positive feedback machine, where everything you do makes up a framework that allows you to best accomplish your goals, whatever they may be. It's about creating a successful lifestyle. It's about alignment. It's why I believe that Gary Johnson is the most compelling candidates for Presidential Election (honestly watch the first 2 minutes and tell me you don't think the same, the guy exudes character and integrity). And it's because everything he does is underscored by awesomeness. By ambition, passion and solid logic.

Now to write another blog post for the middle of the week when I don't have time to write; all to appear awesome at writing, of course.

Ode to Roger

I mentioned Roger Martin in a post a few days ago. A friend later directed me to an article he had written regarding the state of Canadian Education. From there I perused a few more articles and interviews he had written for The Walrus. Finally I came across one about the future of the Canadian Economy. It was a great read with some great lines that reminded me why I like so much what Mr. Martin has to say. Here is the article in it's entirety and below are a few of my favourite excerpts.

"So when I talk about how we should tax corporations, I am not making an argument about the size and involvement of government. I am making an argument about the intelligence with which governments in Canada tax corporations. Currently our taxation IQ is double digit — in a word, pathetic. "

"Our only choice is whether we want to be ahead of the curve or behind it. I can’t and won’t stop arguing this point because whiny people say that it would be hard to change. The truly hard thing is living with the consequences of profoundly bad decisions. "

"Second, keep pressing forward. There is greater danger from standing still and hoping the status quo will prevail than from innovating and being wrong. "

The Worthy Life

I feel like the first blog post should be this legendary piece of writing. One that proclaims the need for observers to read my opinions and musings, for their personal and professional development, of course. Unfortunately for you and me, I don't know yet that my comments on the world in which I take part will benefit anyone. I hope to have fun writing about them though.

I'm in an interesting stage in my life. I can't help but feel pending tumultuous change as I prepare to leave the academic world, which until this point, is pretty much all I know. I'm excited. I don't know where the future will take me but I have some goals and I'm pumped to see how they play out. More and more I think about how cool it is that in this world we can do anything we want. The only limits are the ones we impose on ourselves. Not to get too philosophical and shit.

I have something of a plan. I'm desperately looking for employment, as the world economy collapses around me. Great timing. It's cool though, I know that when I get hired I will have to add value and profit to the organization that takes me in. Otherwise they will find someone who does. I would like to leverage my people skills and business savy with an undergraduate science degree, ideally. I want to go back to school in a few years to pursue a law and/or business degree. That's obviously open to change though. I want to have fun and pursue my interests, which are of course open to change.

I'm going to [try to] write [regularly] about what I do, how I feel about things I experience and anything else interesting that I might find myself fortunate enough to take part in. I'll focus a bit on finance and the stock market because that's something that curently interests me quite a bit.

It being my first post and all I'm going to throw it up instead of editing and re-writing for the next 4 hours because of the pressure. Hopefully we can grow and learn together. Thanks for stopping by!