Blogs

You are the Reason Your Most Essential Team Fails

A team is defined as several persons associated with some joint action. You drive on roads and highways with other vehicles. Driving is the joint action you have in common with other motorists, which creates a team. The team’s purpose is to land at their destination traversing safely through road traffic until reaching the target. This is your most essential team, and you are the reason your team is failing.

Unfortunately, some of your group is focused only on themselves. Their goal is to arrive where they want, not taking into consideration the team. They swerve between cars, tailgate the vehicle in front of them, and slow traffic by driving in the left-hand lane even though cars are trying to pass. Conversely, colleagues become frustrated when they can’t pass, forcing teammates to step on their brakes.

Someone stepping on their brake signals they are reducing speed. Causes for that action are approaching an intersection, a slower vehicle, and of course, the motorist that just cut in front of him. The car behind, seeing the brake light come on instinctively presses on his brake. Consequently, this starts a chain reaction with other vehicles observing the brake lights. The name for this is Phantom Traffic Jam.

A Mysterious Phenomenon

Mysterious Phenomenon The mysterious phenomenon occurs when traffic is backed up. Upon reaching the spot where the traffic lets up, mysteriously, there is nothing there. The phenomenon developed from the car that originally stepped on its brake. The distance the lead car broke the speed determines how far back it affects cars behind it. In other words, the longer the brake is depressed the farther back it will disrupt cars.

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We The People Vote But Does It Count

Photo by Dyana Wing So -unsplash

What happened to our voting system? It used to be that we, the people voted by mailing in our votes before the actual voting day, early vote, or vote at the polls the day of. Sitting in front of our televisions we found out the results of the election that night or early the next morning. No longer do we have a voting day. It is now a voting week or more. We the people voted, but did it count?

This year after the polls closed, the outcome of several positions including The President of the United States is still unknown. We have more technology connected to voting than ever before, yet we did not receive the results faster than when they were hand-counted.

Mail-in Votes

One of the problems causing the delay is allowing mail-in votes after election day. An excuse we are given is that the US Post Office has trouble getting the mailed votes in on time. Though, not an issue in the last decade, somehow it is now. Is it actually a Post Office problem?

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Dinosaurs are Running Free and Most are in DC

Members of the House of Representatives

Just when we thought dinosaurs are extinct, we find that to be false. Theories point to the weather being too hot or too cold, or the sea level dropped, or a large asteroid was the cause of their demise some 65 million years ago. However, we are now aware that dinosaurs are alive, running free, and most of them are in DC.

There is a considerable chance you already guessed that I’m referring to the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives. However, you may not agree with my correlation. I’ll walk you through my thought process.

Dinosaurs Aren’t Just Large Reptiles

Ordinarily, the word dinosaur immediately prompts images of large reptiles like Tyrannosaurs, Sauropods, Triceratops, Raptors, etc. The definition of dinosaur is more than that.

There are two definitions of the word dinosaur, the second being; “something that is unwieldy in size, anachronistically outmoded, or unable to adapt to change.” That’s a mouthful so it requires a breakdown in order to fully understand what it states.

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240 Pages by 2 Hours Equals a Book

I Couldn’t Read Them All Until Now

Messy bookcases and desk filled with books
Books on Shelf by Ekrulila – unsplash

Outside of writing, I am happiest when I’m reading. My preference is non-fiction since I love learning and my writing genre is non-fiction. Every so often I pick up a fiction book to expose myself to colorful words and phrases. It helps my writing and I love a well-written mystery. I adore books however; I can’t read enough of them. Then I discovered that 240 pages by 2 hours equal a book. I couldn’t read them all until now.

240 Pages by 2 Hours Equals a Book

I found an article by Jesse Wisnewski on “How to Read a 240-Page Book in 2 Hours.” Of course, I was  intrigued. I couldn’t wait to read the 12-minute article which would take me 20 minutes.

Published in medium.com, a site I also write for, Jesse states; “Based on a speed-reading survey by Staples, the average reading speed is 300 words per minute.” A college student reads 450 wpm, high-level execs read 575 wpm, and speed readers crank out 1,500 wpm. Sounds interesting but how fast do I read.

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An Amazing Adventure Waits

So Simple Kids Can Do It

The world is accessible if you take the time to seek. Travel anywhere while in your office, home, coffee shop, even your bed by using a method so simple your kids can do it. It lies within the pages of books. Whether online, in kindle, on your phone or physically holding it in your hands, books carry you to faraway lands and fantasy places, transporting you to another world. Each one is an amazing adventure waiting for you, so simple kids can do it.

Missing Out On The Adventure Waiting

It’s surprising that people don’t read books, actually, a large number of people. Only a staggering 28% of Americans age 15 and up read for pleasure. This is a drop of 30% since 2004. There are those who haven’t read a book since college. How can this be when amazing adventures are at hand!

Back when you went to school, I bet there was groaning when assigned to read a book and write a report on it. The teacher provided the reading list, and you searched to find which had the least number of pages.

The Reading List

The list typically includes:

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Are you Telling me This is About Washing our Hands

Ok, one more. I know I wasn’t going to write one article about the coronavirus and here comes my second one. I must since I’m perplexed as I watch the news. Everywhere we hear, wash our hands, cough into our sleeves, and don’t touch our faces in public. That’s peculiar, are you telling me that people are not ordinarily washing their hands?

Washing Our Hands

I’ve seen it in public restrooms, women leaving a stall and walk right out of the bathroom. Really! In the back of my mind, I imagined men might not be cleaning their hands. Shockingly, these are women and I’m not talking about kids. Children love to play in the sink so they are apt to clean their little fingers. I’m talking about women; grown-up, childbearing age, grandmother aged women. This is incomprehensible.

What happened between being a kid when our mothers reminded us to wash our hands to becoming an adult and believe that it’s not necessary anymore.

I remember when men used a handkerchief to blow their nose in. I always thought that was gross since they didn’t run to the bathroom to wash their hands, and some poor woman would pick up that square and throw it in the washing machine. Today, our habits are worse.

The CDC Telling Us

The CDC states that only 31 percent of men and 65 percent of women wash their hands after using the bathroom. CDC Statistics

According to the Bradley Corporation, “while 92 percent of Americans say they believe it’s important to wash their hands after using the restroom, only 66 percent actually do.” As for disinfecting with soap, “Almost 70 percent admitted to skipping that step of the hygienic process.” These are Americans, not a country that doesn’t have running water. HuffPost Article.

Surprisingly, there is National Hand Washing day on June 15th and Global Hand Washing Day is October 15th. Is there a need to have a day devoted to hand washing to remind us to actually do it!

What This Is About

It’s normal to wash our hands often, sneeze and cough into our sleeves and don’t touch our face in public, right? I’ve always done that and I’m hardly ever sick as a result of my hygienic practices. Back in January of this year, I wrote an article about this; What Someone Else’s Sickness Costs You, before Coronavirus came to light, which proves my point. Proper hygiene holds back the spread of viruses, including influenza.

Nevertheless, here we are. The spread and intensity of the coronavirus remind us of how they spread. Whether it’s influenza, a cold, or COVID-19, all transmit from one person to another. A practice as simple as cleaning hands with soap and water can combat the spread.

So I wonder, are you telling me we are here today with coronavirus due to not washing our hands?

How Well do you Remember Slogans

Whether we are aware of it or not, every day we are bombarded with slogans. These phrases and expressions are used by businesses to advertise their products or services. In many cases, a company’s slogan may be the first thing a customer learns about that business. How well do you remember slogans? That’s the real test.

Slogans are Catchy

A slogan is; “a distinctive cry, phrase, or motto of any party, group, manufacturer, or person.”

Originally a battle cry of the Scottish clans, it drives a consumer’s attention, where otherwise it might not be noticed.

What Makes a Good Slogan

As a first impression, slogans are used to capture attention. With so many choices for buying a car, seeing a movie, what to eat or drink, etc., a business needs to use a tool to set them apart from their competition.

For a phrase to work it has to be identifiable with the product, which means it is used consistently and for a long period of time.  Another component required is being memorable, so simple is the key. The easier it is to instill into a brain the better chance it has of catching on.

The best catch phrases are ones you immediately name the product. We recognize “The Un-cola” as 7 UP, “M’m! M’m! Good!” is Campbell’s Soup, and “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight” used by Fed-X. They are successful since they contain the elements of great slogans. When the phrase is remembered years later, that’s a winning slogan.

Do you remember these? Fill in the blank:

See the USA in your ____________.

Please don’t squeeze the ___________.

With a name like ___________, it has to be good.

When was the last time you had a good shot of a ____________? Midwesterners will get this one.

To view more go to 101 slogans and taglines. When finished walking down memory lane, check out this tool by shopify that generates 1,076 slogans when you fill in a name, product, or service.

Remember These Slogans?

Taste the Rainbow

A little dab’ll do ya

The relentless pursuit of perfection

When you care enough to send the very best

You’re Doing Well if you Remember These Slogans

Does she or doesn’t she?

When it rains, it pours!

Let your fingers do the walking

You can trust your car to the man who wears the star

What slogans do you recall?

Why You Still Don’t Know What You Want to be When You Grow Up

I’m amazed when I hear people say they always knew what they wanted to be when they grow up. Some say it’s a calling, while others discover a profession and decide it’s for them. The careers they choose are firefighters, police officers, nurses, doctors, and teachers. I’m not like that, what’s wrong with me, and then I heard the word multipotentialite. Multipotentialwho?

When I Grow Up

Ask a child what they want to be and they will give you an answer. Growing up I wasn’t aware or had a calling for anything in particular. I idolized my father so I went into the field of science; majoring in chemistry.

Ask me today what I want to be when I grow up and I will say, I don’t know. Who goes through life and doesn’t know what they want to do.

TED Talks

TED Talks are amazing videos of top experts sharing their knowledge in 15 minutes. The topics range from business, health, technology, language, and more. One of the talks described me, revealing why I can’t define my calling.

By chance, I clicked on a TED Talk given by Emilie Wapnick, an award-winning author and artist. That’s where I heard the word, multipotentialite.

Don’t Know What to Be When I Grow Up

Multipotentialite, “a person with many interests and pursuits.”

I understand how Emilie arrived at the term by reading her bio: a musician/songwriter, web designer, filmmaker, writer, and entrepreneur who, as she states, moves “from interest to interest, building on my skills in different areas, and synthesizing the knowledge I acquire along the way.” Clearly, she knows what she’s talking about.

Emilie breaks down the meaning of multipotentialite; a person who takes two or more ideas and creates from it; learns quickly and applies it to the next project and; is adaptable to any situation. She explains that these people can’t answer the question, what do I want to be when I grow up because they have too many interests. That’s me, I work on something and proceed to lose interest.

What I Want to be When I Grow Up

Then writing materialized and I found a fit. Writing involves components I’m interested in: reading, learning, researching, put it down on paper. When I write I feel like this is what I should be doing, not feel guilty I should be doing something else. The components of writing fulfill my need to create, learn, apply it, and adapt to change.

I no longer wonder what’s wrong with me since I can’t describe or realize my path since it’s always changing.  Not knowing where or what I will be doing in six months is what makes fits me. Want to know what I want to be when I grow up? What I am right now, a multipotentialite.

What’s With all the Deranged Zombies

I promised myself I wouldn’t write about the Coronavirus. Everywhere you glance there is an article about it. I’ve decided to change it up by considering a result of COVID-19; hoarding. The pandemic turned us into deranged zombies snatching everything up.  Deranged since our actions were “insane and disordered.” Zombies, in view of how we acted on “no expert information,” we just believed some guy next to us, or the media, which is just as crazy.

What Happened?

At first people raced to the stores to score paper products like toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, pretty much all paper items. Remarkably, they bought up water, which when you think about it is ridiculous since water is available from the kitchen sink. This all started with a few people hoarding the paper products while others watched and decided to join in.

Nowhere were we told there was a shortage of these products. Acting without thinking, like a zombie, people generated a fear that resulted in hoarding, which led to a crisis, creating a paper shortage. All along we’ve had toilet paper, so why would people assume we wouldn’t.

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What Happens When You Twist Language

This Sounds Like the Beginning of a Joke

One of my favorite children’s book series is Amelia Bedelia. It involves a housekeeper named Amelia Bedelia who works for the Rogers family. She is always getting things wrong, even though Amelia does what she is told to do. The result is never what the Rogers family want, yet if you look at what Amelia did it is exactly what Mrs. Rogers said. When Mrs. Rogers asks Amelia to draw the drapes, she is asking Amelia to close the drapes. Amelia proceeds to draw a picture of the drapes, which is exactly what she is told to do.

The twist of words makes the story comical. It also shows how our language can be used for more than communicating one person to another. According to Webster’s First American Dictionary, language is defined as; “human speech; the use of words or sounds to articulate the thoughts of one person to another.”

Twists

Our language is one of our most used tools to convey a message. We are also able to maneuver the language for amusement to create jokes. It’s a fun and harmless way of interaction.  Words spoken with a funny anecdote produces laughter.

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