By Jim Selman | Bio
One of the toughest things we ever learn is to ‘let go’. I can’ t remember all the times I have made resolutions or tried to ‘reinvent’ myself or start over in one way or another. Every time we end a relationship or a job or some deeply ingrained habit (whether voluntary or involuntary) we must confront the break between the certain past and the possible future. And as far as I know there is no way to create and experience a ‘new’ future
By Jim Selman| Bio
Ah, January 1st, the new beginning and a chance
to finally get it right this year. Or is it?
Perhaps it is the End of the Beginning. When we began as a
nation, we were full of hope and idealism. We believed that every person could
thrive and prosper if they worked hard and learned from their past mistakes.
Today, can we honestly say we believe that hard work will
take us in the direction of our dreams? What happened to us? Where are we
going?
Our current
By Jim Selman | Bio
As long as I can remember, people have been telling me to relax, enjoy the moment, smell the roses and just take it easy—to live life one day at a time. That’s a challenge when we’re younger, when we have many goals and not a lot of history under our belt. As we age, we eventually realize we’re not going to accomplish everything. So what happens when we realize there are a lot of expectations we have that will never be fulfilled?
In my experience, my ‘ego’ (or
By Jim Selman| Bio
I have a friend who is really upset because she feels she was pressured into a particularly large purchase and not appreciated afterwards. It occurs to me that this could be a concern for many single women, especially as they grow older. We read daily of various scams to help older people part with their money. While I don’t think that women are the only ones affected, they do seem to be targeted more often than not. In the case of my friend, the issue
By 2012, 50% of Americans will be over 60. Most of us can expect the gift of an additional 30 years of life.
What will we do with this gift?
Surviving old age is not enough.
We want to continue living to our highest potential. We want to be valued, to experience well-being, happiness and love, to be fully self-expressed in this last third of our lives. We still have a lot to contribute.
We need
By Jim Selman | Bio
I just finished reading a really good ‘how to’ book by Russell Bishop called Workarounds That Work: How to Conquer Anything That Stands in Your Way at Work. This book is today’s best guide for having our work lives work.
Although I am not generally a fan of ‘how to’ books, especially about the workplace, Bishop has written a book for living well set in the context of work. Moreover, while the book is definitely written for and delivers to people who want tools
By Jim Selman | Bio
We’ve been assaulted lately by political pundits and statisticians telling us what will happen this week. It is easy to roll over and assume they know what they are talking about. So why bother to vote at all? Just sit back and watch the process on TV. This is a particularly easy rationalization for cynics and those who’ve become resigned that they don’t make a difference anyway.
Most of the hype and hysteria seems to be aimed at younger voters. It is assumed
By Jim Selman | Bio
Stephanie Chen, a writer for CNN, recently published “No Retirement for These Older Folks, Just Work” about older workers and the fact that more and more people have to keep working well beyond their ‘retirement age’. For some, this is purely a function of economic necessity. For others, it
By Jim Selman | Bio
Someone said to me in a meeting yesterday that there are a billion blogs. The number seemed high, so I did what we all do these days. I went to Google and in about 30 seconds of looking at “How many Blogs are there”, I was assured there are closer to 100 million, with about 175 thousand new ones being created every day. So while the billion estimate was a bit exaggerated, it is obvious that there are a LOT of blogs.
This got me thinking: why so many? A blog is basically
By Jim Selman | Bio
When I was growing up, you needed to be master the 3 Rs (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic) in order to be educated. Today we need to master a new 3 set of ‘Rs’: Rights, Rewards and Responsibilities.
When I first started traveling to other countries in the 1970s, the conversation about the USA was always in a context of respect and even admiration—even when criticizing certain aspects. But for the last 10 years or so, I have noticed that the conversations are changing.