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Lovely Weekend
Snow comes and snow goes. Right now, it’s going. We’ve got a lovely cool weekend ahead of us. No biting, single-digit temps for us. Just a lovely cruise in the mid-40s for the foreseeable future. That will be fine. We’ve had some lovely decorative snow, but we can get on with life now.
A little stretch of the legs
With the change in temperature comes an opportunity to get back outside and get some fresh air and sunshine. The health benefits of taking a brisk walk out in the sunshine are well worth the time. Allaying the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and even full-fledged depression is a key takeaway. As it turns out, it also can have a long-term preventive effect for senile dementia when matched with a diet low in meat and dairy. A brisk 30-minute walk each day can help reduce the risk of heart disease by 27%. It can also reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) while improving good cholesterol (HDL). Since you’re moving, it will also help to improve your circulation.
As they say at Nike: Just do it.
Likewise, I’m working on the various pieces and parts of my upcoming how-to course so I can get that up and running. The benefits of having your own product online in a field of study that’s of interest to you cannot be understated. When you bring value to the market, the market brings money in exchange. There are people making a living sharing their passion on so many topics. If you are already an expert in something, there’s money to be made sharing that expertise as an author, teacher, coach or consultant.
Some More Rules
Rule #121: Everything is for sale – even friendship
That’s cold, but typical for the Ferengi. Given their need to hold the edge over everyone at all times, it stands to reason that friendship is only ever a means to an end. That’s sad perspective, in my opinion.
Out here in the real world, this is unfortunately all too common. People want to be your friend when you’re famous or influential. Real friends are very hard to find. People have a way of letting each other down. With a bit of common sense and basic discernment, you can tell whether your friends are real friends or just opportunistic hangers-on. Real friends aren’t so interested in what you can do for them, but what you can do with them. Friends enjoy spending time together because they have things in common. Euripides said that “Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness“.
Rule #122: Not yet cited in Star Trek episodes, movies or novels
Just Do It
It’s good advice in many cases. When you have something that needs doing and you know the benefits of doing it are clear, just do it. Get it done. Tick the box.
Rule #123: Even a blind man can recognize the glow of Latinum
LOL, the Ferengi do love their proverbs.
Rule #124: Not yet cited in Star Trek episodes, movies or novels
We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.
Just because you don’t know how to do something doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Learning is the magic carpet that gets you to impossible places. You’d be surprised just how possible things can be if you just reach out to people and ask them if they know how to do it. The breadth of knowledge among your immediate circle of friends and relatives is generally more expansive than you’d give them credit for. If you ask and nobody knows, hit the library or the internet. Ask on Quora or Yahoo! Answers. Google it. Just beware of the answers. I used to search for code snippets. How do I ____? Sure, I’d get a dozen seemingly viable answers, but a lot of them didn’t actually work. Of course, you don’t know until you try. Like Edison and his thousands of ways not to make a lightbulb, the process of trying to make those non-answers work taught me how the process I was trying to implement actually wound up working in code. You learn as much from mistakes as you do from your successes. Don’t think of things as impossible. Think of it as, I don’t know how yet.
Rule #125: You can’t make a deal if you’re dead
Well, duh.
Funny thing is that in the excerpt above, Quark is trying to do exactly that. He thought he had a terminal disease and sold his desiccated remains (a Ferengi tradition, typically enacted by the family after they’re dead) on the Ferengi Futures Exchange.
The takeaway for us in the real world is that where there is life there is hope. No matter how far you have fallen, you can always come back and become greater than you ever were before. Whether that’s financially, emotionally or by any other measure, you can be whatever you’re willing to make of yourself. Make your decision and just do it.
Time to get out there and get my exercise. I’ll catch up with you later.