More than 5 Less than 7

John Corrigan

The six word story is something I became interested in as of yesterday. The six word story is that.. a story told in just six words. For fun go ahead and Google (love how this word is now a verb or even a word at all), six word story examples. You are in for a treat my friend.

The most famous six word story is a bit of a bummer and attributed to Ernest Hemmingway, not sure if he actually wrote it but here is the story;

“For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.”

Powerful but a complete bummer, right? I tried to remember a six word story that was more up beat and I came up with a lyric from a Jay Z song;

“I came, I saw I conquered”

I like that. I hope this can be said for your day today and mine to. I tired to think of a good six word story to encourage anyone reading this and I came up with this;

“Make Today Better for everyone meet”

Look I am no Hemmingway. I found a master class on six word stories and this gem was in the class;

Google: how to inflate a liferaft!

Ha, got to love dark humor! I think I like the idea of six word story because it is making an impression in six words. Less is always more. Words are wonderful but too many words are counter productive. Action for others service is what speaks the loudest and makes the biggest difference in your own life and your communities. On that note I will leave with my most recent six word story.

“Words; less than action be more”

The last two weeks

John Corrigan

For the last two week my wife and I were on vacation. My cousin, his wife and two kids let us stay in their spare bedroom and just have a great time. Thanks Tim and Stefania you two are the best!

The vacation gave my wife and I time to rest, recharge and reconnect.

In 1926 Henry Ford used labor and the automated assembly line to build cars. While his employees worked H4enry researched it was through this research that the 40 hour work week was discovered. That is right the forty hour work seek was optimal in 1926 for auto workers to be the most efficient employees and is now being used for almost every business sector in the world in 2023. That’s pretty wild when you think about it right?

With the changes to the modern workplace there is a movement underway for a 6 hour work day and in Sweden researchers have discovered that a six hour work day boosts the employees productivity, energy and happiness when compared with an 8 hour work day.

Maybe it is time for some big names like Henry Ford to work for getting a 30 hour work week instead of 40 hour work week. This new schedule should be a win win for everyone. I am however not holding my breath. In the United States of America there is a bill for the 32 hour work week, however this bill seems to be stalled. With knowledge and some empathy this bill may make it through.

Until we do get the 32 hour work week and even after I would certainly advise that everyone take at least one two week vacation a year.

Number three

John Corrigan
Daily writing prompt
How would you improve your community?
View all responses

During the week I wake up, perform my morning rituals and then drive into work. After work I usually spend a half hour at the gym, then the grocery store and finally I head home. I spend the majority of my time during the work week at home (my 1st place) and work (my 2nd place).

Ray Oldenburg coined the term 3rd place. Our 3rd places are where we come together as a community and exchange ideas, have a good time and build community. Today many of our 3rd locations have become digital, some may even argue that wordpress and facebook are 3rd places.

Photo by Ricky Esquivel on Pexels.com

My wife and I have worked at soup kitchens and my favorite part about the soup kitchen was meeting family and community members. I think that the soup kitchen functioned as a 3rd place for many of the community members.

I would love to develop for my community a third place that is safe, open, fun, and helps the community. I would imagine a place with a cafe and meal times (free meals). Then a lounge where the community can sit and talk play games watch tv. A true third place. A physical third place.

Growing up my third place was the local library. I would improve my community with a partnership with the local library. I would love to see the local library become more of a third place. I got to go now and donate some time and money to my local library.

Even the little ones

John Corrigan

Big ideas, big projects and new times. I have two ideas that today have become projects for me. Before today the projects were just ideas but I made two small steps that transformed those ideas into tangible items projects. I have a whole bunch of steps to take before the projects are fully manifested but.. I want to celebrate!

When you are involved in a project, it is important to celebrate the small steps. Small steps matter a lot. Small steps lead to bigger steps and then victory.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

Lao Tzu

Here is a great article that outlines the importance of the small steps.

The Real Value of Small Steps

Know this today is the day to take the first (even if it is small) step towards starting and completing the project that you will finish. One more thing to note, when you complete and while you are completing that first step on your major project I am cheering for you from the cheap seats.

Go insert your name here! You are crushing this!!

Me (in the cheap seats)

You are Awesome!!

John Corrigan

My wife and I have been watching the new NBC tv show Quantum Leap. The show is a reboot of the older NBC property and the show is amazing! On the tv show Quantum Leap there is a core team of protagonists and one protagonist that gets the most air time is Dr. Ben Song. Ben is traveling through time changing wrongs and helping the helpless. Almost every episode has Ben giving another character a pep talk. Last nights pep talk from Ben did not disappoint.

At some point, you have to get back off the mat and learn to trust other people again — learn to trust yourself. … If you trust yourself, you can do anything. 

Ben

Trust in yourself is often overlooked but a very powerful tool. Trusting yourself means looking after yourself, taking care of your own needs and safety. You have to treat yourself with love and compassion and grace. To trust yourself you have to know yourself. Here is a great psychology article on trusting yourself.

Life gets tough and you face life alone even when we have strong support structures we still are alone, but it’s ok no matter what you are facing you can do this!!

More and More and more

John Corrigan
Daily writing prompt
What’s something most people don’t understand?
View all responses

When I was younger the MSN website felt like it often showcased the current wealth of Bill Gates. I checked and Bill Gates is currently worth 107.8 billion dollars. Right now the richest person in the world is currently Bernard Arnault worth 202 billion dollars (technically the worth is the Arnault family not just Bernard.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

This year the United States will spend 1.22 trillion on Social Security and 767 billion on national defense. I see news stories with these totals of money and for the longest time I had no idea just how much money this actually was.

A million dollars is a lot of money, a billion dollars is a whole lot of money, and one trillion dollars is an almost unfathomable amount of money. As humans millions and billions and trillions are hard for all of us to understand.

The inability to understand the magnitude of big numbers is evolutionary. Even though it is hard to understand it is imperative that we develop this skill and that we do it quickly. Why is that? Because the human population has grown exponentially and the actions of this growth are having dire consequences on the earth.

Another major reason for understanding the magnitude of big numbers has to deal with social justice and wealth inequality.

Billionaires wealth provides tools that make it easy to create huge carbon footprints, the tools have also made it possible for a select few to commit egregious acts of injustice against many people. The quicker we understand orders of magnitude the quicker we can evolve into a better species and society.

That Gorilla called to me

John Corrigan

We all need it, and when we don’t have it we suffer. I love the ocean! The ocean is where life begins and has the largest biodiversity in the world! We all need a dose of the ocean. getting out on the water helps our attitudes.

The Ocean while live giving can be brutal on the human skin. Actually it is the sun that is brutal. Sun burns are terrible and can make someone feel sick and should be avoided at all cost. The best way to avoid sunburns is by staying out of the sun but that can be hard when you are near or in the ocean. One great way to avoid sun burn is through wearing sun screen.

I was at the local sporting good store when I saw the bottle of Sun Bum and I had to have it. The bottle had the look of a wooden board with the coolest graphic on it. A gorillas face! I bought the sun block and it worked and I was hooked. It is now and has been my favorite sun block.

The podcast How I Built This did an interview with the founder of the Sun Bum company, Tom Rinks. The interview was great and if you have the chance you should give it a listen. Sam Rinks explains how the simple design for the Sun bum brand came to be and it really struck a chord with me.

Some of the most complicated sophisticated ideas, brands and technologies start off simple like the branding for Sun Bum.

The older I get the more i believe that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. If you get the chance to do it you should definitely check out this writers blog.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/civil-services-preparation/simplicity-is-the-ultimate-sophistication-29677/

Out of the storm

John Corrigan

2008 – 2009 was a pretty tumultuous year for the financial world. The housing market bubble burst, many were homeless and jobless. The United Stats government had to step in and bailout the major banks with billions of dollars.

It was the beginning of the great recession. Since 1948 there have been 11 economic recessions. A recession is an era of economic decline A recession requires to consecutive quarters of decline if there is only one quarter of decline it is just a contraction. Most economies experience contractions and recessions.

Recessions are more notable in the history of an economy because, of the damage and unemployment that comes with recessions.

Photo by Daffa Rayhan Zein on Pexels.com

Employment provides much for the employer. Through employment people find, a salary to use money to feed their family, health benefits (at least in the United States), purpose and social interactions. To loose in one fell swoop money, health benefits, purpose and social interactions is jarring and traumatic and I think this is why comparing a recession to a storm is apt. Recessions are bleak and can lead to depression, during most recessions suicide rates rise! How can we weather these storms.

It is possible to not only survive recessions but some have come out of recessions even stronger, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, iRobot, Airbnb, Slack, WhatsAp, Square, Uber, Instagram and Pinterest were all founded during recessions.

The recession storms are not good but, if you can find a way to get money, health benefits, social interactions and purpose outside of your workplace you may discover that, surviving or even thriving during a recession is more likely what happens.

Most people spend forty hours a week at work, and it can be tempting and easy to use work to develop our social structures. When this is done however we run the risk of the storm taking away everything. It can be exhausting but rewarding now and in the future. Building a robust and fulfilling social life is and should be a big part of our mental health. Brunch with friends and rotary meetings are more than just alcohol breakfast and gossip sessions they are mental health work outs.

That’s nice

John Corrigan

Just the other day I finished a task that was assigned to me in one of the software programs used by my team at work. After finishing each task the software plays a gif that has confetti exploding and I have to admit it makes me feel kind of good. The software we use is Monday dot com. Monday is project management software and uses project boards and to do lists. To do lists are powerful hacks that, when used properly make us very productive.

The reason that lists are considered a hack is because of dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical that the brain releases and makes us feel good. Dopamine helps move signals in our nervous system. A healthy happy person will have an appropriate level of dopamine in their body. When we cross off a list item and see confetti we trigger a dopamine release in our brains. Other ways to trigger the release of dopamine are, eating foods that are high in magnesium and tyrosine as well as engaging in healthy habits that make us happy like exercise meditation family time and petting a happy pet. Checking off things from a to do list is probably one of the closet things we can do at work that resembles petting a happy well behaved dog.

Photo by bin Ziegler on Pexels.com

Besides dopamine, lists offer focus. So until we can bring our dogs to work I will stick with my to do list. No if they allow me I would bring in my four legged friend and keep the to do list.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels.com

Without them

John Corrigan

Women are the reason everyone is here on earth right now. It’s true through birth women bring human life to earth. Women rock, I was raised by a strong woman and have had the guidance and support of strong women in my family and friend group for my whole life.

Today is International Women’s day and we should of course take the time to celebrate and thank the women in our lives but we should also adhere to and promote this years IWD theme which is Embrace Equity.

Equity is fairness and impartiality. There is a major difference between equity and equality, equality provides men and woman equal pay (this is not currently happening) equity is providing every worker what they need to be successful. Often, women are the primary care care providers for families and because of this role many women may need (as well as equal pay) flexible schedules or childcare provisions and support and understanding from colleagues.

I am willing to bet that among my two readers of this post there is not a person who can change women’s pay in their workplace or their schedule however there are probably, among my tow readers, at least one person who works with a woman. As a colleague you can be a voice and an advocate and a help. For our women coworkers we should be willing to sacrifice and help bring equity to the workplace. Working around their schedules and in rare and extreme circumstances when we can sacrificing our personal time for women in the workplace.

These actions and advocacy will help influence the culture and ultimately change the workplace and maybe the nation. Do you believe it? I do, but let’s all work towards equity and see if it’s true.

Again happy IWD 23!!!