{"id":454,"date":"2007-10-27T22:53:58","date_gmt":"2007-10-28T02:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/example.org\/playing-a-bet-5"},"modified":"2007-10-27T22:53:58","modified_gmt":"2007-10-28T02:53:58","slug":"playing-a-bet-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/?p=454","title":{"rendered":"Playing a better game of life – part 6 – finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is not the end – This is where you take over and change the game to one of your liking.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Warning: This is not a warm, fuzzy conclusion with softly swelling
\ninspirational music. It is more like a klaxon signaling another round
\nof hostile activity. <\/p>\n

It’s time to move from the theoretical
\ncontemplation of life as a game to getting on with it and applying what
\nyou know.<\/p>\n

Life is all about survival and doing things that lead to increased
\nsurvival for self, family and the greater community in which we live.<\/p>\n

Most of us understand this fairly well because we have done things
\nwhich have actually threatened our survival at some time. If we
\nsurvived, we tend to look for ways to improve survival, not risk it
\nneedlessly.<\/p>\n

Some people lead such protected lives that the idea of "survival" is
\nsomehow repugnant, something that only happens in a third-world
\nsociety. They have so little knowledge of the real world that they can
\nscarcely imagine bad things happening to them. <\/p>\n

This can be seen in
\nthose whose good fortune comes from wealthy parents who protect them
\nfrom the realities of life. Even as adults, these people are
\n"protected" by their parents influence or wealth against the results of
\ntheir own mistakes.<\/p>\n

We live in a rapidly changing world and parents\/protectors find less
\nand less stability in their own lives these days. <\/p>\n

Whether it is a
\nnatural disaster, tsunami, hurricane or just the end of a bad financial
\nquarter, more and more people are finding that their personal survival
\ndepends on a certain minimum level of preparedness and not on what
\n"Daddy" can pull off for them.<\/p>\n

We who have experienced financial disasters or who have
\nlived from paycheck to paycheck know that it doesn’t take much to go
\nfrom living well to finding oneself in dire straits. <\/em><\/p>\n

When I see men
\nalmost my age busing tables in Paneras, it gives me pause and I
\nredouble my efforts to make a go of my business enterprises. <\/p>\n

I see many well-kept older men and women working the checkout
\nstations in food chains and retail establishments. These are often
\npeople who held good-paying jobs and expected to retire comfortably
\nuntil their company off-loaded them in an effort to stay afloat in an
\nincreasingly competitive world. These people have refashioned their lives and
\nhave adapted to the realities of 21st century employment instability.<\/p>\n

Most of the people I see working the craft shows are former business
\nprofessionals who have become artisans and artists. They were able to
\nbe more selective in their occupations because they prepared themselves
\nfor self-employment.<\/p>\n

There are others who used their corporate time well and gave
\nthemselves a running start when they became self-employed. They became
\nconsultants or small suppliers to industry and they prosper
\nbecause they identified a niche and prepared well enough to deliver a
\nservice that is needed and wanted.<\/p>\n

I am bringing this series to a close because the game goes through
\nrepetitive cycles and we are coming to the end of another financial year. Some of you are at risk and you need to prepare yourself as
\nbest as you can, not necessarily by working harder.<\/p>\n

If you are finding that your new boss is being unduly critical of
\nyou these last few weeks, it may be because she is planning to get rid
\nof you in an effort to save her own job. If the company has not been
\ndoing well, this second or fourth quarter is when efforts are
\nmade to lighten the ship in hopes that it will weather the storm to
\ncome. <\/p>\n

Your work output is rarely a consideration when it comes to
\ndeciding who goes and who stays. In far too many cases, the people who
\nare kept are those who are in tight with management.<\/p>\n

You know who you are, and if you are reading this you are probably
\nnot one of the insiders. Instead, you have been trying to get your job
\ndone in the midst of too many meetings and too much micro-management by
\nthe clueless.<\/p>\n

Do not slacken your efforts to get your job done, but network as
\nnever before because this is a time when you need friends who have
\nfriends who are hiring.
<\/em><\/p>\n

There is always someone who is hiring.<\/em> <\/p>\n

Your job is to find the one who is right for you. <\/p>\n

If this person doesn’t seem to be available, hire yourself and get
\non with your own business. It’s all part of finding a game that you can
\nwin at. You may find yourself playing the best game of your life when
\nyou are self-employed. <\/p>\n

Give it your best and you will find that there are brighter days ahead.<\/p>\n

Good luck. <\/p>\n

(This was first published on September 8, 2005 and it still applies.)<\/p>\n

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This is not the end – This is where you take over and change the game to one of your liking. Warning: This is not a warm, fuzzy conclusion with softly swelling inspirational music. It is more like a klaxon … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1805],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3R4iK-7k","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}