Good Morning, Good Evening

Hans Holbein The Younger, Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam Writing 1523

Good Morning

Library journal has a nice short article on personal finance books. I think I will add some of the titles which I have not ordered yet to my financial literacy order.

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6608058.html?nid=4683&rid=#reg_visitor_id_2#&source=title

A large portion of this morning has been spent going through my desk throwing out old things and sorting things into files. The piles are slowly disappearing from my desk. I also am clearing some old work, mostly discards which I hadn't made the final decision on. My desk should be cleaned out by tomorrow or the next day.

I also have been clearing things from the reference desk. There is some older material than needs to be put away or discarded. It might take me a little while to look through everything.

There was a pile of magazines Publishers Weekly, New York Times Book Review, and Library Journal which had been routed to me this morning. I spent a portion of my lunch time reading through them. There wasn't anything particularly striking in the library news today.

I am still working on doing more discards in the social science books. It is a job which will take me a very long time to do.

Good Evening

Today was one of those days where nothing went quite the way I expected it to go. I got a chance to work a little more on cleaning up my desk, but did not get far. I still have quite a bit to do. I'll have to work on it some more tomorrow.

I compiled a list of films for my boss to order of animation, anime, and martial arts films. There are a couple of films that I really want to see which I ordered, Ong Bak, Once Upon A Time In China, some early popeye cartoons, and a collected Max Fleischer Superman.

Some books came in for to read through the interchange, Winning by Jack Welch with Suzy Welch. I am on the second chapter of the book. I stopped reading Winning, and finished reading Dororo Volume 3 by Osamu Tezuka. The finish of the story is excellent. My favorite part of the story is when Hyakimaru fights the shark demon. The Van Rijn Method by Poul Anderson also came in. I am going to read it after I finish reading Winning.

I rather like reading practical books sometimes. I still have not finished using Organizing for Dummies. I think of books as tools for self-education. That is one of the primary purposes of libraries. I am still doing the simple yoga exercises from Yoga RX as well.

I never did get a chance to order any of the personal finance books. I was too busy. Sometimes work gets like that. There were a couple other things which I did not finish as well.

Winning The Answers Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions In Business Today by Jack and Suzy Welch

Winning The Answers Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions In Business Today by Jack and Suzy Welch

This book consists of 74 chapters. Each chapter is headed by question related to business and success. The questions cover all aspects of business from resistance to a new boss, what to do if you are promoted, when you should leave a company, and how to win in the world. Here is an example question.

"Do tough bosses get more out of people? Of course they get short term results -- but do they really help a company win in the long run?" The answer is complicated, the Welch's ask what is tough? Being tough can make things go wrong if it is purely spiteful or pushy.

Some of the answers are not what you would expect. There is a consistent theme about resistance to change and complaining a lot being very bad for your career. In any career people prefer people who are positive and upbeat.

I definitely do not meet the Welch's definition of what a good salesperson or entrepreneur is. I don't have an incredible new idea or am constantly seeking new ways to expand my market share. Well, I sort of am with this blog. I also realize that I have to improve my organization and scheduling skills before I go anywhere else.

There are some excellent tips on goal setting in this book. The Welch's believe in incremental goal setting. Setting goals which you can reach in a practical, systematic manner. This is what separates the winners from the losers. Being able to reach life goals in a clear consistent way whatever they are is what makes a winner. It does not matter whether it is helping the homeless, becoming a published poet, or starting a successful business. Those who win set goals and achieve them consistently.

This book is a useful, practical book. It is very easy to read. The writing is very direct. There is no obfuscation or jargon. I recognized some of my own strengths and weaknesses in many of the questions. Many of the questions are universal in nature and would be useful to people anywhere in the world.

I didn't focus on the questions on China, Russia, and international business which I am sure would help some people. I focused on the questions which would help me in my own career. The book makes me want read the first book, Winning by Jack.

Morning Thoughts

Paul Cezanne, Porträt Gustave Geffroy, 1895 . I think the painting looks timeless, it could be a professors or an academics office today.

Morning Thoughts

This morning I walked up to my local library. It was drizzling outside. I got there at 9:50 a.m. and the library was closed so I walked down to the fruit market and bought some cuccumbers, plum tomatos, plums, and a piece of watermelon. I also bought some shaving razors. I almost got caught in a downpour on the way back to the library. It left me standing outside Walgreens for about fifteen minutes waiting for the rain to stop.

When I got to the library, I looked around for books on scheduling. I thought it would be part of time management books in the management section of the library. I found out it was in books on organizational skills. I picked up a copy of Organizing For Dummies by Eileen Roth and Elizabeth Miles. I am not incredibly organized. I like organizing other peoples things more than I like organizing my own things. I've noticed this is a common trait among librarians.

I also picked up two other books, Iron Man Demon In A Bottle by David Micheline, Bob Layton, and John Romita Jr. and Winning: The Answers Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions In Business Today, Jack & Suzy Welch. Jack Welch was known as "Neutron Jack" because between 1981-1985 he fired over 100,000 people at General Electric.

I have started reading the Winning: The Answers. Each chapter begins with a question, followed by a short discussion of the answer to the question. I like the book so far because it is very straightforward.