Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to my dear, beautiful, and special mom!

Even though it’s been 6 years since you passed over to Heaven, I can still see you here with me today. 

The love and caring you showed for me, my sister, and Dad as well as the grandchildren filled all of our lives. 

You always worked hard for the family and to do your best. 

Life was not always easy especially coming with your parents from the Holocaust. 

Yet, I never doubted for a moment that our family was the world for you.

And both you and Dad still mean the world to me and I know you both are with me always. 

I can feel it!

Happy Mother’s Day–we love you!  😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Best Jobs 2020 and Beyond

 

So I saw a smart video about which are the best jobs.

They are not the ones that just pay the most!

Here are the three criteria to look for in your next dream job (aside from the money):

1) Autonomy – Work that is self-directed provides satisfaction that jobs that are closely or micro-managed do not. 

2) Mastery – Jobs that allow you get better at them over time  (technical proficiency) provide a sense of mastery and self-respect. 

3) Purpose – When you have a deep sense of purpose and meaning from your work there is simply no greater motivator and satisfier than this. 

I’d also add that the best places to work are the ones with:

• The best bosses and the nicest people
•  
• A solid balance for work and life

Overall, if we can reconnect the profit motive with the purpose motive then we have truly have the best jobs out there. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Good Things In Life Are Challenging

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “The Good Things In Life Are Challenging.”

“Everything truly pleasurable in life starts with considerable pain.” More colloquially in working out, we usually say: “No pain, no gain!” And there really is a lot of truth to this. If you think about it, this concept really applies to everything meaningful and ultimately valuable in life.

 

As we reflect this time of year, before Rosh Hashanah, it is good to ask ourselves, what are we chasing and working so hard for in our lives? Are we chasing vanity–more riches, power, and honor or are we striving to do good and make a difference? The latter is a life worth living and where our efforts and pain can bring true reward in this world and ultimately in the world to come.

 

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Reaping What You Sow

I liked this saying from the Kibbutz:

If you don’t say good morning to the tree, it won’t say happy new year to you.

Wow, that is pretty wise.

The love and care you put into something every day is what eventually you will get out of it. 

According to you work is your reward.

Yes, (generally-speaking) you reap what you sow…that’s the fruit of your labor. 

Consequences are real and they can be painful if you don’t see the connection between your actions and the reactions. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

What’s It Worth To You?

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “What’s It Worth To You.”

Certainly, passion for being your best, determination to succeed, and even some healthy competition are important factors in driving our own success as well as societal progress, but when keeping up with that scorecard against others becomes the essence of your own self-worth then things have gone too far and way off course.

We each have our mission, strengths, challenges, and so forth. It’s okay in life, if someone else has more of something (money, friends, honor, whatever). Everyone has their own “basket in life” as my father taught me, “and you wouldn’t want to change baskets with anyone else.”

(Photo Credit: Andy Blumenthal)

Excellence Vs. Mediocrity

So we all know how hard it can be to get ahead.  

The long hours, hard work, and grueling repetition to try to reach near-perfection. 

Even then, of course, we need G-d’s mercy and blessings and a measure of good luck to succeed. 

Also, by definition, not everyone can be “the best” at everything. 

I suppose the expectation for most people is that they try at least to excel at the things that they need to do or are most important to them, as well as maintain work-life balance. 

In this light, it was interesting to hear a story recently about mediocrity (and not excellence). 

When asked to step up on the job, one person responded in the negative saying:

C’s get degrees (too)!

Of course, this must have sounded pretty shocking and off-putting. 

In other words, they weren’t going for the “A” or even a “B”.  A “C” grade was fine for them–as long as they didn’t completely fail with a big “F”.

Who knows what circumstances may have led this person to settle for mediocrity–just wanting to pass.

Perhaps they had serious personal or family issues–and had good reason to be taking a step back (for a while). 

But I think there could also be more tactful ways to say it too–like explaining if there were mitigating or challenging circumstances in their life right now. 

If there really wasn’t mitigating circumstances and the person was just “slacking off” or didn’t care, one has to wonder why–are they just “milking the system” or is there something more fundamentally wrong?

C’s get degrees, but to me the real question is: Are you doing your best given your particular life circumstances?  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Take Responsibility

I thought it was an interesting sign in the office.

Responsibility: At the end of the day, you are solely responsible for your success and your failure. And the sooner you realize that, you accept that, and integrate that into your work ethic, you will start to be successful.  As long as you blame others for the reason you aren’t where you want to be, you will always be a failure.  – Erin Cummins

While I agree that we have to take responsibility for our lives and do the work hard to achieve success, at the same time, we obviously aren’t in control of everything. 

We have to play the hand we’re dealt in life and make the very best of it.  Whatever challenges that we have, they are there for us to learn from, grow from, and become better human beings from. 

Also, success means different things to different people–for some it’s money, power and honer; for others it’s physical fitness and dashing good looks; still some care more about travel, experiences, partying, and having a good time; and yet for others it’s about G-d, family, country, and good deeds.

Whatever we want to achieve requires dedication and hard work from our end, but also a generous dose of prayer and good fortune for “the stars to align.”  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

You Ended Up In Hell City

So a friend told me something funny.

It was about being given what appears to be a wonderful opportunity, but in reality it’s not all roses. 

In short, it went something like this:

There was an exciting competition and a prize at the end. 
Everyone prepared and worked hard to win it. 
But when the competition was over, what was the prize?
The 2nd place was two weeks in Philadelphia. 
The 1st place was one week in Philadelphia. 

I had to think about that for a second, but that is really pretty funny and true. 

No not about Philadelphia, but about life–that what we often mistakenly want so badly and strive for with all our energies, and then only to find out that it really wasn’t as good or amazing for us and our families as we imagined. 

Yes, very often you set your sights on certain goals to win the competition, but then you find out that the BIG prize (“first place”) is really not something to get excited about, because it’s in Philadelphia!  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Blood Libels Unabated

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel, called “The Jews Control It.”

Unfortunately, the anti-Semites continue their refrain of “The Jews control the world” from Wall Street to Main Street to K Street.

But what they are completely missing are the true secrets of Jewish creativity and thought.

I hope you will read the article to learn about Jewish values and our faith. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Be Strong!

Just a saying about inner strength that I liked:

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”

(Source Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)