HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.

So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Mark Twain

The Power of Negative Thinking

New Year’s is a time for looking ahead, making resolutions and setting goals. Surely the “power of positive” thinking, goal setting and business plans are necessary ingredients for realizing our dreams in 2013…right?  Well, yes and no. Some researchers and successful entrepreneurs and executives are embracing both goal setting and “defensive pessimism.” By doing so, they suggest we can avoid “over pursuit of goals” (which can lead to cutting corners or ignoring other important aspects of our lives). There is value in taking stock of where we are now and imagining possible outcomes as an adjunct to setting goals and working backwards. Plus knowing we can live with the worst possible outcome can help us move forward.

Learn more about “The Power of Negative Thinking” before you begin working on your resolutions!

Meet Your Replacement

In 1900, 70% of us worked on the farm. Today only 1% are farmers. This shift from the farm to industry was due to the incredible agriculture productivity made possible by the mechanized advances of the tractor, the reaper, the combine and other inventions. Many economic and technology watchers believe the same thing is happening again. A century ago, most of the displaced agricultural workers found higher paying job in the new industries such as automobile production that were springing up at the same time.

Will history repeat itself with those displaced by the technological advances of the past decade finding new and better employment in the new industries being created? Maybe not. White collar jobs thought to be safe, such as accounting and software development have in many cases been replaced by computers and/or information technology has permitted the off-shoring of them to the dismay of those who once held them.

A quick overview of this  can be found in a recent New Yorker article  “Will a Robot Take Your Job?”

 Econ Recon:  2013:  Opportunity and Challenge

With the debate about the fiscal cliff raging, Vistage Staff Economist Alan Beaulieu looks ahead and says that the leading indicators that he follows promise a  2013 that  will provide both opportunity and challenge.  Click for more on 2013….and a warning about 2014.

13 Criminals You Might Want to Meet…..and 13 Who Came Back from the Gutter

New Year’s is a time for second chances and the thirteen people you’re about to meet made the best of theirs. This baker’s dozen of folks you might have once feared or avoided took another look at their lives and decided to become someone different. Click here for one paragraph thumbnail  introductions to these ‘turnaround artists.”

For even more inspiration check out these 11 famous persons who were once homeless  and 15 incredible rags to riches stories. These links will take you to others that may help you think differently about success in the year ahead.