One of the reasons I decided to write my book, iSucceed: secrets of the average joe and jane, was to be able to share my ideas and thoughts with people all over the world.
But my book just scratches the surface of what I know which is why I decided to create this site. Not only am I able to pass along even more knowledge but as a way for me to keeping things current.
At first I focused on lighter topics that I thought would be quick easy reads for everyone but as time went by and with all the changes happening in the world I find myself talking more and more about global issues.
The world is undergoing a great deal of change and I have a feeling that we’re just in for a heck of a lot more.
With any luck things will all work themselves out as they always have.
But in order to do so we need to understand the causes.
Here are what I see as the problems we face:
- Socialism
- Taxes
- Education
- Politics
- Government
While we often think of countries such as Greece, England and the US as democracies, their actions say otherwise. More and more people are becoming dependent on their governments for handouts which is never a good sign. The problem is that entitlement ideas are destructive. I think the quote that rings true is, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” We need to get away from giving fish away.
Life responds to effort, not laziness. And sadly when people are given things for free their drive to achieve often drops.
Taxes are crazy. I know many people who worked hard to get a raise only to have to pay that directly to the government – how does that encourage them to work harder? As the company increases their wages they also expect them to work hard and achieve more but if the government takes that reward away then it kills their desire to work hard. I have read numerous accounts of people saying that they’re rather not work hard and just get an OK salary because the rewards just aren’t worth it.
This has to change in my mind.
A promotion and a higher salary are the result of a person’s hard work. The government deserves their cut but a better system must be worked out to ensure that people are driven to achieve.
A wealthy individual here in Japan told my mentor that the biggest problem today with the youth is their lack of desire. I couldn’t agree more.
They are the future leaders of our countries so we need to create a better environment in which children can flourish.
Education. This is a sore spot for me having been a teacher for over half my life. In a nutshell, it’s much too slow. The world is moving at mach ten speed while our education system is playing catch up. We need to try and get ahead of the curve or at least keep up with it but as far as I can tell we are still using pretty much the same textbooks and studying the same things (for the most part) that I did as a child. That’s not enough.
I recently read in a book that the best thing our education system does is that it teaches us to READ.
The rest is then up to us. We can learn any subject under the sun once we have this foundation.
Sadly most of us choose not to use it. I know I didn’t for many years but I saw the error in my ways before it was too late. I only wish more kids would understand that all our education ever gets us is a base from which we can grow from. It is not the end but the beginning of our journey of education.
Politics. Another big problem. Just today I was discussing it with a client and I said we seem to have a problem when regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in office the problems that we face just seem to keep getting bigger. Why is that?! My take – just too big which makes making decisions slow.
On top of that politics has become a job that has allowed many politicians to get rich. I don’t get it. When the president of the United States earns $400,000 a year then I have to wonder why other government officials such as police captains and mayors make in the millions.
Something is wrong.
Finally we have governments that are “too big to fail.” Greece being the perfect example. I read somewhere that about 60% of the jobs there are government jobs. But governments need money to be able to pay their workers – where does that come from when you have more than half of the workforce on your payroll. Governments don’t create wealth, they use it which is why Greece is in an incredibly bad situation.
Despite all their efforts to avoid defaulting on their debts, it is my belief that sometime in 2012 Greece will finally be kicked out of the European Union. And when that happens the repercussions will be felt all across the globe.
These are what we face. It may not be rosy but there you have it.
I’m open to any ideas.
Adrian Shepherd