Are you effective or ineffective in your life?

 

Are you effective or ineffective in your life?

Word Count:
797

Summary:
Multi-tasking and saying "yes" to too many things can dilute your effectiveness. Find out if you are naturally suited to go deep or wide and you can exponentially increase your effectiveness at work - in life.

Keywords:
self-improvement, self-growth, personal development, life coaching, career coaching, spiritual coaching, professional development, natural talents, career

Article Body:
Copyright 2006 Robin Harris, DesignerLife

Multi-tasking and saying "yes" to too many things can dilute your effectiveness. People who are generalists, by design, can manage the broad sweeping details of several related or unrelated projects. But those who are more inclined to be specialists are naturally designed to go deep not wide.

The generalist will go stir crazy trying to play the role of the specialist and the specialist will lose access to their own competencies and strengths when trying to play the role of the generalist.

We live in a society that tends to make rules and create models for preferred behavioral traits without understanding how they correspond to innate abilities. Everyone is not meant to multi-task and everyone is not meant to specialize. Get it wrong and you have someone who can fall into the spectrum ranging from slightly frustrated and discontent all the way to grossly incompetent and angry.

To cultivate a career that has any hope of yielding its full potential, it needs to build on natural talents, abilities, and gifts (TAG). Talent and ability are the minimum requirements, gifts that find their way into our work life is a bonus. When all three are properly placed in a suitable role and environment, that is where people will rise to the tops of their fields, have the greatest impact, and contribute the most. Not only will their career shine but it makes a perfect segue for a totally satisfying life.

Work that undervalues or under-utilizes our natural abilities dilutes the over all quality of life. It leads to that elusive feeling that something is missing no matter how grand everything else appears to be. It doesn't matter if you command a 7-figure income; money cannot replace the human desire for purposeful and satisfying work.

It is fair to say that most businesses are still operating under an old assumption that talent and abilities are the same as learned skills and knowledge. When it comes to the subject of gifts, this rarely finds it's way into a professional development program. Talents only shine when they are built on a foundation of natural ability or unnatural determination. Abilities are not learned they are innate and raw qualities they make it possible to excel in certain tasks and environments while making it difficult to excel in others.

If you are waiting for a corporate career development path that leverages your TAG, you will likely be disappointed unless you are on the executive development path. Many corporations are much more intentional when it comes to identifying and cultivating a match for executive talent than for the rank-and-file. Well, talented executives without a highly talented and committed team aren't very effective, now are they? Still, it is up to the individual to take ownership of these personal treasures and find ways to integrate them into well-suited careers and work environments.

As the path of evolution closes off once viable options, we approach a daunting crossroad. We have to decide if we are going to be pruned from the vine, wither slowly, or thrive by making new and wiser choices that will force us out of our comfort zone. If we cannot cross over into the new emerging paradigm of work and we are still in our working years, the consequences will separate us from the life of comfort we have grown accustomed to. Companies and whole industries will continue to disappear from the economic playing field and many will attempt to survive change by downsizing and leveraging a global workforce. This strategy may be wise but often leaves the root cause of the problem unresolved and so the problem continues to sprout new symptoms that downsizing and global workforces cannot relieve. Meanwhile, the individual player stands hoping someone will rescue them and just like a deer frozen in the headlights, this reaction to personal threat of survival is often problematic. What are you preparing yourself to do to mitigate such risks? Do you have a financial cushion? Have you invested in keeping yourself marketable even in changing economies? Do you have multiple streams of income? Or is waiting for the storm to pass and hoping it will your only plan of action?

Your natural talents, abilities, and gifts are God-given and they extend beyond industries, local, national, global economies, and emerging technologies that make workers in certain fields obsolete. They are timeless and it is by becoming a good steward of your TAG that you will be guided to take the action that will allow you to begin to play a bigger game with far better outcomes. Winning on the economic playing field is important but winning at a soul-level is all-inclusive because that means you get the privileged experiences that money can and cannot buy.

 

Are You Feeling Paranoid?

 

Are You Feeling Paranoid?

Word Count:
447

Summary:
I have never been a person that is constantly afraid of something going wrong with my health or of dying. In fact, I have spent most of my life without fears about health or death. My wife, on the other hand, has always been really concerned about issues relating to her health and to the health of the ones she loves most. I guess some would call her paranoid about health issues.

I had never met someone so paranoid about health issues until I met my wife. It took me a few y...

Keywords:
paranoid

Article Body:
I have never been a person that is constantly afraid of something going wrong with my health or of dying. In fact, I have spent most of my life without fears about health or death. My wife, on the other hand, has always been really concerned about issues relating to her health and to the health of the ones she loves most. I guess some would call her paranoid about health issues.

I had never met someone so paranoid about health issues until I met my wife. It took me a few years to really understand where she was coming from when she would urge me to the doctor at the first sign of a cough or cold. I spent the first years of my married life quite frustrated by her and her constant paranoid ideas about our health and life.

My wife decided to begin going to counseling to discuss her issues of being paranoid about health and disease and dying. She asked me to accompany her and I agreed with great joy. I wanted to take every opportunity I could not only to understand my wife, but also to learn how I could better partner with her and understand her needs. I had no idea just how paranoid she was about sickness and death, nor do I think she knew, until we walked away from her first counseling session a few years ago.

The counselor quickly pointed out that her extremely paranoid thoughts and feelings about every symptom that may be abnormal were directly tied to losing her mother suddenly when she was a young girl. Of course, both of us had thought about the possibility of that connection, but never before had we so seriously thought through the implications of a small child losing her mother without warning.

Of course losing a parent unexpectedly would create the atmosphere for possible paranoid thoughts and feelings about death. If your mother had no symptoms of sickness and then she suddenly died, why wouldn't you be paranoid that one day you would just die as well? My wife's paranoid thoughts and feelings were being explained to her and to myself in ways we had never thought of before.

She has been able to find almost total freedom from her paranoid thoughts of death and dying as she has come to grips with the fact that her mother's death was not her fault and that sometimes sickness and death gets the best of us. If you or someone you know struggles with paranoid thoughts as well, I'd urge you to get into a counselor as soon as possible. You do not have to live that way any longer.

 

Basic Mortgage Terms

 

Basic Mortgage Terms

Word Count:
612

Summary:
If it is your first time applying for a mortgage, there are a number of terms you should know. Educating yourself on the various mortgage terms you will run into will help you make better decisions when deciding which home you want to purchase

Keywords:
loans, mortgages, terms, charges, fees, principal, amortization, taxes

Article Body:
If it is your first time applying for a mortgage, there are a number of terms you should know. Educating yourself on the various mortgage terms you will run into will help you make better decisions when deciding which home you want to purchase. When you sign a mortgage contract, your home is used for collateral and it is your responsibility to make sure your payments are made on time each month.

The first term you should know is principal. The principal is basically defined as the amount of money you borrow for your home. Before the principal is provided you will need to make a down payment. A down payment is the percentage you will put towards the principal. The amount of the down payment will often depend on the cost of the home. Once you pay off the principal, the home is yours.

The next term you will need to know is interest. Interest is a percentage that you are charged to borrow a certain amount of money. Along with the interest rate, lenders may also charge you points. A point is a portion of the total funds financed. The principal and interest makes up the majority of your monthly payments, and this is a method that is called amortization. Amortization is the method by which your loan is reduced over a given period of time. Your payments for the first few years will cover the interest, while payments made later will be applied towards the principal.

A portion of your mortgage payments can be placed in an escrow account in order to go towards insurance, taxes, or other expenses. The next term you will hear a lot is taxes. Taxes are the amount of money that you have to pay to your state or government. When it comes to your home, these are known as property taxes. These taxes are used to build roads, schools, and other public projects. All homeowners must pay property taxes.

Insurance is another important term that you will hear in the real estate community. You will not be allowed to close on your mortgage if you don't have insurance for your home. Home insurance covers your home against floods, fire, theft, or other problems. Unless you can afford to repair your home if it is damaged, it is usually a good idea to get insurance for your home. If your home is located within a zone that is known for having floods, federal laws may require you to have flood insurance.

If the down payment you put towards your home is less than 20% of the total value, you will often be charged additional premiums on your insurance by the lender. This is done to protect you in the event that you default on your loans and fail to make payments. Without this, many people would not be able to afford a house. Once you have paid off about 78% of the home, the lender will stop charging you insurance premiums.

These are the basic terms you will need to know before your purchase a home. Understanding these things will allow you to avoid many of the pitfalls that exist in the real estate field. You want an interest rate that is low, and you should always try to get a fixed interest rate if possible. This will allow you to focus your income on making payments towards the principal, and this will help you pay off the loan faster. A mortgage is an important part of your financial picture, and you want to make sure you pick a home that you can afford. If you fail to make your payments, you may lose your house.

 

Be Careful With 125 Loans

 

Be Careful With 125 Loans

Word Count:
546

Summary:
Many borrowers think they have found the perfect loan -- the 125. But you should be cautious when considering this product.

Keywords:
125 loans, mortgage

Article Body:
Many borrowers think they have found the perfect loan -- the 125. But you should be cautious when considering this product.

A 125 loan is named for the amount of equity you can pull out of your home, which is usually 125%. Some of the loan is secured by your home and some of it isn't, making it a mixed loan type. The portion that is unsecured causes your interest rate to be higher than with a fully secured home equity loan.

Many borrowers turn to 125 loans because they can simply make one payment to their lender instead of several payments to many lenders. The single payment is often lower than the total of all the payments it replace, due to differences in interest rates. The rates are often much better than credit card rates, but if you roll other loans in, such as student loans, you may actually be raising some rates on your debt.

For example, you may have a car loan with a balance of $11,000. You have an interest rate of 8.5% and 4 years left of payments. You roll the note into your 125 loan, which has a rate of 11.5%. You've actually raised your interest rate.

If you roll in a credit card with a $12,000 balance and an interest rate of 19%, you are lowering your rate. But you will be looking at upwards of ten years of payments.

The real danger comes in when borrowers take out a 125, roll over their credit card debt and then go out and max out those cards again. This is called reloading. You now have double the debt to repay. You are in a worse situation now and are risking losing your home.

When you take out a 125, you have to be dedicated enough to cut up each credit card right then and there. This will help you avoid temptation.

You may be saying, but wait -- I get to deduct the interest on a 125 on my income taxes. Yes, you are saving 28 cents for every dollar you spend. Doesn't make a lot of sense. Plus, the amount of interest on the loan above the value of your home is not tax deductible. If you deduct it, it will bite you in the taxes.

You are also now upside down in your home equity. You owe more than your home is worth. You can't sell it until the value of the house increases or you pay off the loan enough to reduce the balance below the value of the house. That takes around five to 10 years in most cases.

If you are forced to sell your home, you will probably have to pay money at closing just to get it off your hands. You are paying to sell your home. If you plan to stay in your home for a long time, you may not need to worry about this as much.

But keep in mind that the unexpected happens. When you open yourself up to a lot of debt, you are putting your future at risk. Taking out a 125 loan to get rid of the debt isn't necessarily your best option. It certainly isn't the easy way out, as you may have been told. It is the same debt, just new place. Be very careful, it's your house on the line this time.