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Articles from H. Les Brown | Selfgrowth.com
- Begin with the End in Mind - by Submitted on Feb 16, 2010 from H. Les BrownI want to begin my article series for 2010 with the seemingly incongruous topic of 'death' for a number of very good reasons, the first of which would be having experienced the unexpected death of a favorite aunt only a few days ago on New Year's eve. We certainly had not planned on ringing in a ...
Views: 1257 - Life Is Coming At You - Are You Ready? - by Submitted on Apr 06, 2009 from H. Les BrownOur local Giant supermarket has introduced hand scanners so that you can just walk up and down the aisles, collecting your groceries, while scanning them and bagging them right in your cart. Checkout involves downloading the inventory from the hand scanner into a self-serve checkout station. ...
Views: 1392 - . . . The Wisdom to Know the Difference - by Submitted on Apr 06, 2009 from H. Les BrownOne of the most difficult virtues to attain is wisdom. Nobody becomes wise through an accident of birth or by osmosis. As has often been said, wisdom derives from good judgment, which, in turn, derives from bad judgment — and an awful lot of it. Jesus told his disciples, "By their fruits you ...
Views: 1575 - The Endangered Working Male - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2009 from H. Les BrownSeveral years ago, my friend, Dr. Jed Diamond explained how masculine acculturation was creating a huge obstacle for men in the workforce: both young and old. As the world moves from an industrial model to a "post-industrial" (or knowledge-based) economy, the skill sets most in demand evolve ...
Views: 1288 - Avoiding the 'Drop' One Day at a Time - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2009 from H. Les BrownYou may or may not recognize the 'drop,' depending on your age and what are of the country or the world you may be inhabiting. The 'drop' is that cataclysmic moment when the executioner pulls the lever, the trap door flops down, and the condemned plummets earthward . . . to an extent. Many ...
Views: 1372 - Diversions, Distractions, and Drama - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2009 from H. Les BrownI keep asking the same sorts of questions whenever I write: "How's 2009 working out for you?" If you're a 'boomer, you're in or beyond midlife, and what's going on in the world markets today are doubtless having a really negative impact on you, your family, and — evidently — your plans. Chances ...
Views: 1336 - The Boomer Survival Guide - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2009 from H. Les BrownWhat an absolutely amazing time to be a 'Boomer! If you're a person who likes a challenge, you'll absolutely love 2009! There's nothing quite like the fear of financial insecurity to stress every system in your life (your career, your relationships and your health) to within an inch of its ...
Views: 1536 - Don't Select the Route before You Know the Destination - by Submitted on Feb 23, 2009 from H. Les BrownAs a coach, I know very well how important goal-setting is. Also, as a coach, I know that goals aren't all that they're often cracked up to be. As critical a competency as goal-setting is, if misused, sometimes it can have some very unfortunate consequences. I want to take some time in this ...
Views: 1089 - When You Stand at the Turning Point - by Submitted on Feb 22, 2009 from H. Les BrownYou have competency. That's not enough. You have experience. So do a lot of other people. You have long-term loyalty. That's not relevant. You have a family, a mortgage, car payments, expenses, tuition. It's not even a consideration. You're over fifty; it's too late to start over for crying out ...
Views: 1409 - The Arrogance of Self-Destruction - by Submitted on Feb 20, 2009 from H. Les BrownYesterday evening, I was working away at my desk, prepping for my Thursday evening internet radio program, when up pops an e-mail announcing that I had been befriended by someone over at BlogCatalog.com. Curious (I have few friends over there, since I'm a recent member), I stopped by to view ...
Views: 1860 - Sliding Downhill from Commitment to Denial - by Submitted on Feb 16, 2009 from H. Les BrownYou see all those fancy letters after my name? The 'MA' (at least one of them) is the result of my fascination with Western (Greek) philosophy. These ancient brilliant minds, after all, laid the foundation for our entire cultural perspective. What to us 'sophisticated' contemporary thinkers ...
Views: 1033 - Commit or Die - by Submitted on Feb 09, 2009 from H. Les BrownLast Friday, I had an unsettling experience. I've been spending the past few months scouring the web, looking for places where men leave — and find — wisdom-droppings. You know what I mean by 'wisdom-droppings' don't you? They're those little sayings or stories or insights that you ...
Views: 1174 - Your Midlife Crisis: Transition or Transformation? - by Submitted on Feb 03, 2009 from H. Les BrownI've been away . . . yes I have. But all that's behind me now, and this month is shaping up to be a transitional one. I'm needing to take my business from a disappointing conclusion with the end of 2008 into something even more dynamic and transformational as we move more deeply into 2009. ...
Views: 1553 - The Only Way to Win the Battle of the Sexes - by Submitted on Jan 23, 2009 from H. Les BrownHere's a double spoiler for you, first for the 1983 movie, War Games, then for this article: as the computer, Joshua, comments at the end of this picture: "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play." It works as well for global thermonuclear war as it does for the age-old conflict ...
Views: 1022 - Are You a Midlife Entrepreneur? - by Submitted on Jan 16, 2009 from H. Les BrownHere's to a new beginning. You're off to a fresh start. You have new hope, new prospects, new horizons, a new vision. Your life is half over, you're dissatisfied with what you've accomplished, and here's your chance to get moving. No time like the present, you say. You look at what your boss ...
Views: 1132 - The Mystique of the New - by Submitted on Jan 16, 2009 from H. Les BrownThe year has changed . . . how about you? What changes are facing you in 2009? If you're a man in midlife, change has probably caught you like the incoming tide and is carrying you along with its often-understated power. Now, the question remains: what are you going to do about it? Your ...
Views: 1065 - Distracted by Life - by Submitted on Jan 16, 2009 from H. Les BrownWow! It's been a long time (almost a week) since I've been able to write about all things midlife! Sometimes, events conspire to take your attention off the duties of the day-to-day world and force you to focus on what's more pressing and immediate. That's one of the great stressors of life: ...
Views: 1241 - Repent! The End is Near! (Part 2) - by Submitted on Dec 30, 2008 from H. Les BrownOnce more, the Grim Reaper is coming up the pathway to visit the old year, 2008. The economic forces that were put in motion over the last ten years have finally tipped the scales, particularly over the last six months. Huge corporations are dropping like flies or are begging to be propped up by ...
Views: 989 - Repent! The End is Near! - by Submitted on Dec 29, 2008 from H. Les BrownWell . . . to be honest with you, the end is near whether or not you choose to repent: the end of the year 2008, that is. We humans have a particular affinity for the ending of things: like graduations and funerals (not that there's any other similarity between the two). Yet, we mark transitions ...
Views: 1099 - 'Twas the Night Before Christmas - by Submitted on Dec 24, 2008 from H. Les Brown...and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. There's not a person in our Western culture alive today who wasn't brought up hearing or reading Clement Clark Moore's poem from 1823, "A Visit from Saint Nicholas." Regardless of your religious beliefs and ...
Views: 1321 - What to Do When the Tables are Turned - by Submitted on Dec 22, 2008 from H. Les BrownRecently, I had a question from a man who was in serious pain because . . . his wife was going through a midlife crisis. In some ways, there's nothing odd or strange about that: women and men both experience the physical and emotional changes that signal the transition from adulthood to ...
Views: 901 - How Do I Avoid Thee? Let Me Count The Ways! - by Submitted on Dec 19, 2008 from H. Les BrownI think that one of the biggest differences between the way women approach the midlife transition and the way men do derives from the very strong tendency that men have toward avoidance of significant midlife issues. It's also one of the biggest dangers that men face going into midlife, because ...
Views: 1035 - Change Your Partners, Dos-à-Dos - by Submitted on Dec 16, 2008 from H. Les BrownWhen people think of the midlife transition, most often their minds go straight to the infamous midlife crisis and the radical changes that go along with it. People change their looks, they change their jobs and — way more than is necessary — they change partners. In fact, I ...
Views: 1027 - What's Happening to Your Husband? - by Submitted on Dec 15, 2008 from H. Les BrownAre you noticing that the signs of menopause are starting to show up? Can you feel the changes happening in your body? Is it one of the topics of conversation when you and your closest friends get together? Have you already started discussing it with your doctor? How are you feeling about these ...
Views: 1713 - Bah! Humbug! Here Come the Holidays! - by Submitted on Dec 15, 2008 from H. Les BrownThe downward spiral that does the most damage to men (and women) at midlife shows itself as a tailspin deeper and deeper into aggravation. It begins with the everyday frustrations of life. These seeds of midlife crisis begin to germinate under the combination of physical (hormonal) changes that ...
Views: 991 - Ravished by Midlife - by Submitted on Dec 10, 2008 from H. Les BrownAs I was considering a title for this article, I wanted to find a verb that would express what's on the 'other side' of the midlife transition. I guess that I'm in quite a good mental state right now, because before I knew it, I had found the perfect word: ravished. It's a word that touches a ...
Views: 1067 - Men Don't Know What They Don't Know - by Submitted on Dec 03, 2008 from H. Les BrownIn October of this year, the American Psychological Association issued a report on stress by gender. Here is some of what they said: In June 2008, more people reported physical and emotional symptoms due to stress than they did in 2007, and nearly half (47 percent) of adults reported that their ...
Views: 1214 - The World As You Never Saw It - by Submitted on Nov 30, 2008 from H. Les BrownWhen I was growing up, way back in the old days of black-and-white television (in the very early 1960's), the US Army produced a weekly half-hour program that they called The Big Picture, and it opened with a graphic depicting the globe. John Glenn had not yet taken his first manned orbital ride ...
Views: 934 - Anger and Gratitude Don't Mix - by Submitted on Nov 27, 2008 from H. Les BrownI wanted to write an article that somehow relates the midlife transition with the Thanksgiving Holiday (as I'm writing this, it's the day before US Thanksgiving). The answer that came to me was surprisingly simple: all that would be necessary would be for me to point out that you can't be angry ...
Views: 1163 - The Masculine Mystique - Field of Lost Dreams - by Submitted on Nov 26, 2008 from H. Les BrownEach of us begins his or her life at the center of a perfect 3-pronged conspiracy. Born into an established environment, you immediately commence your cultural formation. After the initial explosion of neural and synaptic formations, for the first three years of your life, your environment plays ...
Views: 1640 - The Male Brain - Hardwired to Fail? - by Submitted on Nov 25, 2008 from H. Les BrownAs if the emotional, social, cultural and hormonal changes that overtake a man during the midlife transition aren't severe enough, he also has to factor in a biologically-based uphill battle that he has to fight to maintain his place in the world. Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen from Cambridge University ...
Views: 1872 - No Little Pill Will Fix It - by Submitted on Nov 24, 2008 from H. Les BrownOver the past number of years, there has been an explosion of advertising around pharmaceuticals that are designed to alleviate problems with ED [erectile dysfunction] in men (for the drug companies and advertising agencies, the embarrassment of ED has apparently replaced the heartbreak of ...
Views: 983 - Turning Obligation into Celebration - by Submitted on Nov 23, 2008 from H. Les BrownRemember Charles Dickens' opening lines to A Tale of Two Cities? "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." These words apply to more than just Paris before the French Revolution. Welcome to the holidays! If you're older than 5, these are the days that we genuinely love to hate. ...
Views: 952 - Balancing Your Needs Against Your Wants - by Submitted on Nov 21, 2008 from H. Les BrownLet's assume for the sake of argument that you're going to pass through a number of careers in your lifetime (because you are). Let's also assume that retirement isn't in the picture for you (because it's not). That means that, sooner or later, you're going to be asking yourself some difficult ...
Views: 1381 - How Stuck Are You in Your Job? - by Submitted on Nov 20, 2008 from H. Les BrownDo you remember a time when your work was fun? Do you remember when you looked forward to going to wok? (If you don't remember these things, then you'd better start taking a closer look at the career you've chosen for yourself!) When you remember these good times, see if you can make a list ...
Views: 1006 - What Will Your Next Career Look Like? - by Submitted on Nov 19, 2008 from H. Les BrownThinking of retiring? If pundits are right (and it certainly looks that way from here), the concept of 'retirement' has been put to rest — permanently. Take a look at the recent history of employee benefits. Pensions were the first to go. They relied on a continuous growth model that has ...
Views: 1004 - How Powerful Is Your Denial? - by Submitted on Nov 18, 2008 from H. Les BrownThere's a qualitative difference between the male ego and the female ego. I've never heard of anyone demanding of any female that she prove that she's a 'real women.' It's just assumed. It's taken for granted. A woman is born a woman. That's exactly the opposite condition from the one that all ...
Views: 969 - Your Deadly Assumptions as a Man - by Submitted on Nov 17, 2008 from H. Les BrownHave you ever been traveling from one city to another, and you're in the airport at the gate, waiting for your flight to load? You look out the wall of glass at the workers moving around on the ramp, unloading and loading baggage while the plane disgorges its complement of arriving passengers. ...
Views: 1052 - A Sneak Peek at the Future - by Submitted on Nov 16, 2008 from H. Les BrownAs the world financial situation continues to unravel before our eyes, the last vestiges of that sense of security that we've all been led to believe in has been exposed as the fairy tale that it's always been. We've always had plenty of evidence all around us that 'security' was an illusion ...
Views: 825 - Barack Obama And The World At Midlife - by Submitted on Nov 14, 2008 from H. Les BrownNever fear: this is not a political exposé. Instead, it's a reflection on a fascinating conversation that I had with Dr. Jed Diamond last night on my internet radio program. As you may know, Dr. Jed is the author of the best-selling books, Male Menopause and The Irritable Male Syndrome. ...
Views: 1194 - The Most Terrible Feeling Of All - by Submitted on Nov 13, 2008 from H. Les BrownOne day my father, as a young man, came home from work to find the apartment cleaned out of furniture and swept clean. His wive (not my mother) was gone. Needless to say, reconciliation wasn't an option. I also know of a woman who was so alienated from her husband that, from time to time, he'd ...
Views: 1308 - Is The Man in the Mirror a Fraud? - by Submitted on Nov 09, 2008 from H. Les BrownFor the past few days, I've been reading Dr. Jed Diamond's newest book, The Irritable Male Syndrome with rapt attention (in advance of interviewing him on my upcoming internet radio program). In my estimation, this book is required reading for anyone in the helping professions. It explores a ...
Views: 1144 - Get Proactive Or Face The Consequences - by Submitted on Nov 06, 2008 from H. Les BrownI'm putting out a warning call that the wise (especially wise men) will want to pay attention to: get proactive about midlife or face the consequences. For almost 20 years, author Stephen R. Covey (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) has been trying to convince people that taking a ...
Views: 885 - Xenophobia And You - by Submitted on Nov 05, 2008 from H. Les Brown"Xenophobe: A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples" [Wikipedia]. Regardless of where you fall personal on the spectrum of political opinion, you have to be at least a little awestruck at the recent US presidential election. ...
Views: 950 - Circle Of Influence Vs Circle Of Concern - by Submitted on Nov 03, 2008 from H. Les BrownIn the middle of his chapter on his first habit ("Be Proactive"), Dr. Stephen R. Covey, in his famous Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, lays out two circles: the outer circle being your circle of concern, the inner circle representing your circle of influence. His point is that we are ...
Views: 6550(1 vote) - Willpower, The Only Cure For Gravity - by Submitted on Nov 03, 2008 from H. Les BrownI have a confession to make: as I get older, taking care of myself becomes more and more of a chore. Additionally, as andropause continues to take its toll, bodily maintenance keeps looking more and more like an uphill (and losing) battle. Add that to the cultural expectations that tell us men ...
Views: 1018 - Living Life On Life's Terms - by Submitted on Oct 31, 2008 from H. Les BrownOn last night's internet radio program, I interviewed rock musician and author, Steve Mayfield, about his new album and book, Afterlife Crisis. One of the principle themes (that became a song on his album) was that, even when we've gotten through the midlife transition, we still can't find a ...
Views: 968 - The Scariest Hallowe'en Ever - by Submitted on Oct 27, 2008 from H. Les BrownSaturday was the first (and the biggest) costume party of the Halloween season around here. I went as the scariest thing I could think of: the New York Stock Exchange. Sadly, I didn't win the 'Scariest Costume' prize . . . I lost out to a store-bought devil. I'm not sure whether this particular ...
Views: 944 - The Other Side Of The Mountain - by Submitted on Oct 26, 2008 from H. Les BrownJust because I've made it "over the hill" doesn't necessarily mean that it's smooth sailing from now on. As a matter of fact, think back to when you were a teenager still walking riding your bike everywhere you wanted to go. Couldn't you just taste the freedom and all the possibilities that were ...
Views: 1112 - Living a Life of Regret - by Submitted on Oct 24, 2008 from H. Les BrownEmily Dickinson wrote, "Remorse is cureless, the disease not even God can heal." 'Remorse' arises as a sorrow for past decisions that you've made, while 'regret' serves as a broader, more useful term, describing a wish that you'd made other choices in the past: choices either to avoid doing ...
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