Peggy's Musings

Being Responsible Consumers

I’ve always prided myself on being frugal, mainly only buying what I needed. (Of course, our definition of what we “need” is often little more than only what we “want.”) Nevertheless, I have a long habit of looking for bargains and avoiding paying retail whenever possible. The bottom line is that I have considered myself a “responsible” consumer.

However, my pride in that appoach has been seriously tested lately – as I have noticed that I tend to be buying more (of all kinds of things – from books to shirts) than usual. I think it’s because I’ve identified several places with really amazing prices, which fools me into thinking I’m “saving” money. Of course, you’re not really saving money if you’re spending as much overall – even if you’re spending less for each item.

We do live in a consumer-oriented society where almost everyone (regardless of their income) has the “basics” – which, for instance, has come to include having a television set.
Here’s some recent data about TV in U.S. households:
--99 percent of households possess at least one television.
--The number of TV sets in the average U.S. household is 2.24.
--66 percent of households have three or more TV sets.

I use televisions only as an example of consumerism in the U.S. – but it’s easy to defend the “need” for a television in today’s world. While far too much time is spent watching TV (an average of 6 hours, 47 minutes per day in an average U.S. home), it’s also true that TV provides a lot of basic information needed to be a functioning part of society.

The bigger issue here is not the purchase of any one particular item, it’s the fact that most of us purchase so MUCH. We generally operate from a mentality that “more is better,” only to find that we accumulate so much “stuff” that we can’t find a place to put it all – AND we can’t find it when we want it.

I’ve written in the past about my efforts to simplify and rid myself of things that are not being used on an ongoing basis. But it seems that despite my effort to get rid of a lot of old stuff, I compensate by bringing in more new stuff. So I’m now committed to paying more attention to what I add, not just what I subtract – aimed at becoming what’s been referred to as a “conscious consumer.”

In the past year or so (focusing only on helping the U.S. economy grow), there’s been a need to hold up the level of consuming. But in the long term, it’s a recipe for disaster for the world as a whole. So it’s time to raise our awareness of the insatiable desire for “more” that drives us to be irresponsible consumers.

There are many efforts being made to help us focus on this issue and take steps to deal with it. So if you want to get some specific ideas about how to go about being a better consumer, here are some resources that might help:

One is a book called American Mania: When More is Not Enough.

Another book is Get Satisfied: How Twenty People Like You Found the Satisfaction of Enough.

Also, there a website, Postconsumers.com that offers an “Interactive Handbook” with questions to which you can respond to get a profile of your own personal patterns and desires as a consumer.

Ironically, all three of the above resources cost money – which involves continuing the pattern of consumption. But being wise and thoughtful about where we spend our money can certainly lead us toward becoming truly “responsible” consumers.

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NOTE: If you enjoy these blog posts, please check out the list of 107 similar 'musings' (and read 8 of them) included in my book Musings on Life.

Empowered to Do your Job

In these tough economic times, you may be far less likely to be concerned about being empowered to do your job – because you’re relieved if you simply HAVE a job. But even now (perhaps especially now) the best path to more job security is to force yourself beyond being paralyzed with fear and uncertainty to focus more on how you can stand out in a positive way – which is hard to do if you’re running scared.

While your company can establish a hierarchy of authority, it cannot bestow empowerment. Becoming empowered to do your job depends on your establishing both who you are and what you can do – which involves both your integrity and your assertiveness. Integrity reflects who you are – and assertiveness reflects what you do.

A person of integrity is real, credible, genuine, honest, authentic. (We recognize a person of integrity when we encounter them.) Having integrity involves being committed to fairness and equality, with no hidden agendas or ulterior motives. However, this does NOT mean just being “good” or “nice.” In fact, it takes real courage to be a person of integrity.

You’ll find that by displaying your integrity (being real and responsible), people are much more likely to trust you. And the confidence that comes from being trusted allows you to increase your ability to handle challenging situations.

Being recognized and appreciated for who you are creates a foundation from which to do what needs to be done. Your integrity as a person allows you to act in a way that is both responsible and assertive. It involves saying what needs to be said (whether or not it’s popular) and doing what’s needed, not what’s self-serving or expedient.

The bottom line is that empowerment is a process that starts with developing a new attitude, a new perspective – that job security is not enhanced by “playing it safe” or “holding back.” Although working in an empowered way doesn’t guarantee job security, it does provide a better chance of keeping your job – while also providing an important sense of personal satisfaction.

When people are empowered, they are energized.
When they’re energized, they’re motivated.
When they’re motivated, they’re more effective.
When they’re effective, they’re better satisfied and more productive.

It’s a win-win for everyone. So it’s important for every individual to become empowered to do their job.

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NOTE: If you enjoy these blog posts, please check out the list of 107 similar 'musings' (and read 8 of them) included in my book Musings on Life.

Money or Finances

Along with most people in the U.S., I’ve been thinking a lot about ‘money’ these days. Money has always been a difficult, emotional topic for me personally, based mainly on my upbringing in a family that had very little money. In fact, my earliest memory is of a period when my mother and I moved to another town to live with my grandmother while my daddy hopped freight trains to go in search of jobs to sustain us.

Then for the next 10 years, he worked in a stave mill, earning about $50 a week. We were ‘OK’ due to steps my parents took to deal with our situation. For instance, daddy had a garden where he raised most of our food, and mother ‘canned’ vegetables for us to eat during the winter. She also sewed all my clothes, with my first ‘store-bought’ dress being the one I wore for my high school graduation.

This was NOT a dire situation, and I’m not complaining. We ate well and my mother was such a skilled seamstress that my clothes were great - even winning me the title of ‘best dressed’ in high school.

While many people who struggle growing up go on to strive to make lots of money as adults, it had the opposite effect on me. Striving to make money has never been a goal for me. In fact, I’ve felt such a strong identification with those who struggle that I’ve only wanted to have ‘enough’ money, but haven’t even aspired to being financially successful.

My personal experience and resulting orientation to this whole issue led me to realize that the very term we use to talk about it reflects our personal relationship with it. For instance, while I call it ‘money issues,’ those in a higher income bracket are more likely to call it ‘financial issues.’

One way of understanding this difference is that people who talk about money view this issue as critical to their ability to cover their basic expenses and maybe a few ‘extras’ - while those who talk about their finances are usually not concerned about the basics, but about accumulating as much as possible.

The ‘money’ people are not likely to be involved in the stock market – while the ‘financial’ people are likely to closely follow the stock market. In a tough economy, the ‘money’ people are more likely to be unemployed (or to worry about what would happen if they lost their job) – while the ‘financial’ people are more likely to worry about lowering their standard of living. The ‘money’ people may see this as an issue of ‘fairness’ while the ‘financial’ people may see it only as an issue of ‘business’ where some succeed and others fail.

I suspect that it’s difficult for either group to fully comprehend what it’s like to be a part of the other group. I also suspect that each group in some way ‘looks down’ on the other group. The ‘haves’ may see the disparity as a straightforward reflection of the results of individual efforts – and look down on those who fail to do what’s necessary to succeed. And the ‘have-nots’ may see it as a bad game with a stacked deck where they don’t really have a chance – and look down on those who are successful as being greedy and uncaring.

I can suggest no resolution for these differing perceptions – and doubt whether there will ever be any final resolution. But I’ve been trying to think through my own attitudes and perceptions, and I want to encourage you to do likewise. In the final analysis, any steps taken by either side of this issue have an impact on the other side. So we need to keep in mind that we’re all in this together – regardless of whether we see it as being about money or finances.

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NOTE: If you enjoy these blog posts, please check out the list of 107 similar 'musings' (and read 8 of them) included in my book Musings on Life.

Multitasking

Do you find yourself attending to many different things at the same time? Most of us would say yes. In fact, we’ve developed a word for it: multitasking.

I consider myself a good ‘time manager.’ I’m very conscious of scheduling myself – even when it’s not necessary. I tend to organize my day in advance; I always try to be ‘on time’ for any activity; I plan out my route for errands in an order to maximize their efficiency; and, of course, I multitask!

Most of us take pride in our ability to multitask. However, our pride may not be warranted. Several recent unintended consequences of my multitasking have led me to rethink the value of doing so much of it.

Of course, I was already aware of some of the more obviously risky areas for multitasking – like cell phone use (or worse, texting) while driving. But many people, especially young people, still think they can safely do this despite the fact that the consequences can be tragic. Last year, a car full of teenage girls died in a head-on car crash when the driver tried to pass while texting.

Although I don’t consider my multitasking to be of a ‘dangerous’ nature, I’m beginning to see the ways in which it diminishes my awareness of whatever I’m doing, leading me to miss out on a lot of things. I’m talking about simple things; an example: tending to engage in some additional activity while eating – like reading or watching TV. This means I can’t fully appreciate the food (its look taste, texture) and thereby not only don’t fully enjoy the food, but also may eat too much or too fast. And I’m also not giving my full attention to whatever I’m reading or watching.

It should not have taken me so long to fully acknowledge the accumulation of all the little losses associated with multitasking – since back about 30 years ago I was presenting a concept called “The Awareness Cycle” in workshops I was conducting. The topic for the presentation was: “What’s the best use of your time right now?” and the premise behind it was “We can be fully present for only one awareness at a time.”

But as I’ve observed many times (both in myself and in others), it’s easier to intellectually ‘know’ something than to ‘put it into practice’ in your daily life. Not only had I not put it in practice, but I got progressively worse at trying to be ‘aware’ of several things at the same time.

Actually, this concept is something we intuitively know from an early age. Any child who is trying to get their parent’s attention knows full well just when their parent is ‘fully aware’ of them and their question – and when they are not. They immediately detect the lack of attention in the offhanded comments parents often make to put off dealing with the child at any given moment.

Recent brain research means we no longer have to rely on our intuition to determine whether people can actually multitask in an effective way.

Below is an excerpt from an NPR piece by Jon Hamilton titled “Think You're Multitasking? Think Again” that offers great insight into what’s actually happening when we try to multitask. According to this report, multitasking is a human delusion.

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Don't believe the multitasking hype, scientists say. New research shows that we humans aren't as good as we think we are at doing several things at once.

Technology allows people to do more tasks at the same time, the myth that we can multitask has never been stronger. But researchers say it's still a myth — and they have the data to prove it.

Humans, they say, don't do lots of things simultaneously. Instead, we switch our attention from task to task extremely quickly.

It's all part of life these days. We answer e-mails while yapping on the phone. We schedule appointments while driving and listening to the radio. And it seems as if we're focusing on all these tasks simultaneously, as if we've become true masters of doing 10 things at once.

But, brain researchers say, that's not really the case.

Multitasking: A Human Delusion?

"People can't multitask very well, and when people say they can, they're deluding themselves," said neuroscientist Earl Miller. And, he said, "The brain is very good at deluding itself."

Miller, a Picower professor of neuroscience at MIT, says that for the most part, we simply can't focus on more than one thing at a time.

What we can do, he said, is shift our focus from one thing to the next with astonishing speed. "Switching from task to task, you think you're actually paying attention to everything around you at the same time. But you're actually not," Miller said.

"You're not paying attention to one or two things simultaneously, but switching between them very rapidly."

To read the full NPR article, see: Think You're Multitasking? Think Again.

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NOTE: If you enjoy these blog posts, please check out the list of 107 similar 'musings' (and read 8 of them) included in my book Musings on Life.

Death and Taxes

The phrase ‘death and taxes’ usually refers to the two facts of life we can’t avoid, but they’re also two of the things in life that most people dread. In both instances, while we can’t change the inevitable, we CAN have some effect on both – because both are significantly impacted by our lifestyle choices.

When it comes to taxes… if we put work at the center of our priorities, we may wind up earning larger sums of money on which we are taxed - as well as putting us in a higher tax bracket. And the way we spend our money certainly affects our tax returns. Frivolous expenditures do nothing to contribute to our deductions, but paying attention to using more of our money for legitimate expenditures can lead to more deductions and less tax owed.

Of course, there are always people who try to cheat on their taxes. And, unfortunately, many (especially corporations) succeed in finding loopholes that allow them to avoid paying their fair share. But there’s a price to pay in other ways for ‘selling your soul’ in exchange for monetary gain.

The impact of our lifestyle on the taxes we pay, however, is nothing compared to the tremendous impact we can have on when and how we die. Naturally, we can’t avoid those unexpected accidents or unpredictable, random diseases that might strike. But by far the biggest impact on our health (and thus on our death) lies in our choice of lifestyle.

Those who overeat, smoke, avoid exercise, etc., are significantly hastening the date of their death – as well as the quality of their life during the years they live. While those who eat sensibly, avoid smoking, and engage in regular physical activity can have a much more enjoyable quality of life – while potentially expanding the number of years they will live to enjoy it.

There’s a great deal of discussion these days about the ‘obesity crisis’ – and the statistics are frightening. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), obesity affects 19.1% of men and women aged 18-29 years, and 31.7% and 30.2%, respectively, for men and women aged 50-59 years. Also, according to the CDC, over the past three decades the childhood obesity rate has more than doubled for preschool children aged 2-5 years and adolescents aged 12-19 years, and it has more than tripled for children aged 6-11 years.

In addition to the personal costs to the people who are obese, there’s a cost to the country as a whole in that the direct costs from obesity (according to obesity guru Eric Finklestein) is $147 billion per year. In many ways, death and taxes are related in that preventing the death of people in poor health due to obesity has an impact on the taxes necessary to underwrite the enormous medical costs. This is particularly true since there is more obesity among those with the least financial resources and the least insurance coverage, making it a financial (as well as a humanitarian) issue for all of us.

I have a very personal interest in the issue of obsesity and wellness. In fact, one of the motivating factors in my lifelong effort to maintain a normal weight is the fact that I watched my mother gain more and more weight every day of her life, until she died at age 71 (2 years younger than I am now) at a weight of about 270. For many years she had struggled with Type 2 diabetes and dealt with many of its ramifications, including blindness, finally dying of gangrene.

So while death (and taxes) are inevitable, you have the power to have SOME influence over the time of your death – at least the part that is affected by lifestyle. So while I don’t wish others to go through the experience of watching a loved one die the way my mother died, I do hope we can all take more responsibility for our own health – not only for our own sake, but for the sake of those who love us.

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NOTE: If you enjoy these blog posts, please check out the list of 107 similar 'musings' (and read 8 of them) included in my book Musings on Life.