The Greatest Publicity Stunt of All Time?

This is  the greatest publicity stunt I've ever seen! I believe WestJet will reap 1,000 times its cost in new business---and as far as I'm concerned, it's just fine. When deciding among two similarly priced and scheduled flights, this would make me choose WestJet.

What Would You Like to Occur at Your Memorial?

I just saw the play The Dining Room. In one scene, an older man told his son what he wants to occur at his memorial.

My mom is in hospice now. She has not said what she'd like and now isn't in good enough shape to tell me. That's unfortunate.

So I thought I'd write this blog post encouraging you to let your closest person(s) know what you'd like for your memorial get-together.

To encourage your thinking on this, I thought it might be helpful if I shared what I'd want:

I don't want a funeral home or even cemetery involved, nor a cleric. I've signed up for cryonics so my body will be frozen and taken to Alcor for storage in hopes of reviving me if at some point, medical science has advanced enough for that to be possible. Despite such recent discoveries that there may be a true way to dramatically reverse aging, I'm well aware that it's a very long shot but there was little to lose in signing up. It gives me a little peace of mind knowing there's at least some possibility I might come back.

I'd want a very simple memorial get-together. My wife or, if she's gone, whoever, would invite 10 or 20 people who knew me to come to their place or mine for a bite to eat and a glass of wine, and to share, honestly, how I've affected them, for better or worse. The truth. It wouldn't be a drawn-out affair. An hour or two, no more. End of story.

May it be 30 years from now.

So, do you want to make known your desires for your memorial? Feel free to post it as a comment on this blog post.

My Musical and Storytelling Holiday E-Card for You

Here's the holiday e-card I sent to my friends, clients, and colleagues. I thought you might enjoy it too. 

Dear Friends, Clients, and Colleagues,

I'm grateful for another good year: I continue to enjoy career coaching, writing weekly for USNews.com, hosting my NPR-San Francisco radio show, my marriage to my dear Barbara, and my canine love-muffin, Einstein.

HERE is my friend, Jeffrie Givens, singing Silent Night with me accompanying on the piano.

And HERE is the  link to a video of me reading the children's story I just finished writing: Venus and Iris: A Children’s Story…But Not Really.

May you have a rewarding holiday season.

Marty

Work-Life Balance is Overrated

Work/life balance is overrated. That's the contention of my USNews.com post today.

Some of the most contented, contributory and not-burned-out people I know have worked 60+ hours a week for a lifetime.

HERE is the link.

Should You Stop Trying to Change Yourself?

Change is much harder than the change industry would have us believe. Many shrinks, how-to writers, and TV exhorters from Oprah to Suze Orman to Rick Warren make it sound easy: "Just do what I say."

It ain't that easy, at least for my clients and for me:

My cold-call reluctant clients rarely get comfortable cold-calling. My math-challenged clients rarely become good at math. My shy clients rarely become social.

I know I should eat broccoli not cheese, be laid-back not intense, cheerful not dour, but I can't make myself do any of them for very long. Nothing helps: reminders, accountability, looking at supposed childhood roots, nothing.

We are mainly a function of our genes and early environment. Defying those ain't easy. So might we all be wiser to  accept ourselves basically as-is and simply find the work, relationships, and recreations that don't require us to make major changes?

You can tune-up a Prius all you like but it will never win a race against a Porsche.  But a Prius, in its context, is most worthy in itself.

On Boredom

This morning, a couple of my clients rescheduled last-minute so I found myself with a rare not-busy few hours. Boredom set in instantly.

So I decided to pace the room and see what thoughts emerged. Here's what emanated. Perhaps you might find something of use:

• It's amazing how important being needed and busy is, at least for some people. 
• Relaxing and smelling the roses for more than a little time feels like a waste, not restorative, a waste. Life feels like it should, as much as possible, be about productivity, contribution.
• Busy people contemplating retirement, beware. It may be enticing to envision mornings lingering over a cup of coffee, reading the news, and organizing your living space, but that well may get old. Retirement tends to be like the roach motel: you can check in but you can't check out. 
•  Do I want to write another how-to book? No. I think people get more benefit per hour from reading article-length advice.
•  Do I want to do more volunteer work? No. My seeing pro-bono clients, speaking for free to groups of unemployed people, and significant cash donations feel like enough. 
• I worry that my charitable donations won't do enough good. I like funding unpopular causes that hold promise of making a huge difference, like education for the gifted and understanding the biological basis of intelligence. But my money is merely a drop of water into an ocean. Is there a better use of my money? 
• Is there something new I want to do? No, I just want to do a good job at what I already do: career and personal coaching, writing my USNews.com column and this blog, my radio show, being a good husband, answering all my email, being kind where I can, direct when it's wiser. Yes, that's enough.
• The New York Times reported yesterday that hospitals kill 440,000 people a year. In a few years when all those millions of high-need, low-paying people join the health care rolls thanks to ObamaCare, including the 11 million illegals when they become legal through "comprehensive immigration reform," many more will die--not just from the hospitals being overwhelmed but from lack of access to doctors, MRI machines, operating rooms, etc. Ironic that not only am I subsidizing their health care, I have a greater chance of dying because masses of people came to the U.S. illegally.
• Despite being so disciplined about everything else, why I can I not stop overeating? I really should lose those 20 pounds, dammit.

Those are my musings during today's boring few hours. Care to share yours?

(Some) Employees: Bah, Humbug!

My last week's contribution to USNews.com was (Some) Employers, Bah Humbug!  This week, it's (Some) Employees: Bah Humbug!