Day 2 of 2015

The first day of the year is always full of hope.  Day 2 is equally full of hope but it starts to get a little real as well.  This morning I started to think what can I do to support my goals.  I want to have better focus and create something awesome.

First thing I see in my inbox this morning was Ben Huberman’s article Make 2015 a Great Blogging Year.  I read it and I feel the power and support surge through my mind.  Why wouldn’t WordPress be the perfect place to look for support and encouragement?  Everyday we need support and encouragement and ironically it’s just a website away.

Something I have heard a lot is that you need to set time aside to do this thing you love.  The thing that I take away from this is you have to bring it down to the most basic components.  Many times people say there’s a shortcoming due to a lack of time.  Setting aside time is the easiest thing to do but we often don’t slice out the small amount of time that’s need to make ourselves happy.

Nothing inspires more than learning something new.  Ben mentions a Blogging 101 course that WordPress is going to offer.  I’m going to sign up for the 4 week course.  The course description talks about some pretty crucial pieces that I know I need to work on for successful.  I’ve always joked about how I wasn’t an English major in college but in today’s world I see how I need to improve my writing skills.

Something else I was thinking this morning is developing my skill at building a gratitude List.  I’ve been working on being more positive and nothing helps like a gratitude list.  I started doing it last year but I got away from it.  This year I’m going to renew that effort and try to find 2 or 3 things each day that I’m grateful for in my life.  It all starts with I’m grateful for…

I also believe that I need to read more.  Reading helps focus and calm the mind.  I’ve done it some but again I fell out of the habit.  Reading a blog post is the easiest thing to do.  Reading a blog post can take 15 minutes and give you inspiration and support.  I don’t know about you but I have a curious nature.  This would only feed and support this natural state for me.

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Something else I wanted to bring up and put out there into the internet is when we shop do we support American businesses.  Do you think about where a product is made?  I’ve thought more about that lately.  One of the things I’ve seen is that most Americans have this disposable attitude.  When I say disposable attitude I’m referring to buying the cheapest version of a product.  This means it wears out quickly and you end up throwing it in the trash.  It sounds pretty hippy dippy but we can see how this has changed the face of our nation.  So many companies have relocated their manufacturing overseas.  I understand that we’re living in a global market but we’re upside down when it comes to what we import vs what’s being exported.

Do you look for the Made in tag/label?  Again I’m curious by nature so I’ve been looking for the Made in information for years.  I’m sure you can list the top 5 countries that would be found.  I don’t want to take the negative attitude that it’s a conspiracy or anything so drastic.  I want to urge you to think about how buying something as crazy as your underwear could impact people here in the USA.

So funny story I thought to myself last month.  How easy would it be to find underwear made here in the USA?  WOW it was slightly more difficult than one might imagine.  I did find some companies making underwear here in the US after using Google to search the web.

The somewhat shocking thing was the cost.  A pair of underwear made here in the US cost about $25 PER PAIR.  I’m sure that would be jaw dropping to most Americans.  Unless you’re a person who buys high-end underwear because they are “made by” a particular designer that’s a lot of money for a pair of plain white briefs.  If you go to Amazon and search for Hanes underwear you’ll see a 7 pack of plain white briefs for $15.

At one time the US had all kinds of fabric mills producing fabric and clothing.  Yeah, not so much today.  Most of those buildings I imagine are sitting empty and rat infested.  As Americans we’ve become comfortable with buying the cheapest version of a product.  The thing we don’t think about is how each time we buy something made overseas there are hundreds of people doing the same thing. The effect is that these companies or plants move their manufacturing overseas and close down the plant here in the US.  The piece we follow through on is downstream this means people are out of work and on unemployment.  I’ve had family members in this situation as many of you reading this have as well.