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Clay

I have a legitimate introduction coming your way. Before I get to that, I hope you’ll to watch the vomit-inducing video below, produced by The Secret’s author.

Highlights from the Video: “I am a money magnet” “Everything I touch turns to gold” “I have more riches than King Solomon’s mines” “Money falls like an avalanche over me” “There is more money being printed for me right now” “I have the best of everything” “I know that when I ask for what I want, no matter what it is that I want, the answer must be, “your wish is my command.”

OK, done? Cool. We’ll be getting back to this video later. In the meantime, let’s talk about how . . .

Goals Can be Our Worst Enemies

You know how it goes. Back in the day you were excited about your goal.

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"Don’t worry about what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive."
-Howard Thurman

In the song "My Roller Coaster," singer/songwriter Kimya Dawson recalls her mom saying "I hope someday you get paid for being Kimya Dawson."  Here’s the song if you want to listen:

Given how some parents encourage children to adopt unwanted professions or identities, Kimya’s mother’s statement is powerful.  Kimya’s mother hoped she would get paid just for being Kimya.  Kimya now gets paid for playing anti-folk concerts across the U.S. and for being her beautifully quirky and authentic self (you may have heard her 6 songs on the Juno soundtrack).

In a world of increasing competition and economic downturns, we’re working more hours for less pay, taking fewer vacation hours, and generally burning out.  Perhaps this explains the popularity of alternative career books, stay-at-home jobs, and psychiatric medications.  The societally scripted routes to success are failing us.

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Yesterday I submitted a guest post to Dumb Little Man called How to Score Free Airline Vouchers by Reserving Overbooked Flights.  The article describes how to leverage airline overbooking — the practice of selling more tickets than available seats on a given flight — to gain free travel vouchers and roundtrip tickets.  If you’re a frequent traveler it might help out.

Because it hit Digg’s front page, the article received a lot of comments.  So if you want to see a real smackdown, as opposed to yesterday’s fake one, I’d head there (I was on the receiving end of the “smack”).

"If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting."
-Benjamin Franklin

Today in Madison, Wisconsin, it was -35 °F degrees; needless to say, the heating bills for this ol’ home-on-an-isthmus have been excruciating.  Here are eight killer tips from J.V. Endres: they’ve helped him reduce his annual heating bills from $1,000 to $500 in a 35-year-old house! Check ‘em out.

1. Do not heat any unnecessary rooms. Close and seal heat registers and air returns. Be sure to whether-strip doors to these less-heated areas.

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