Costa Rica Guy

Will This Make Me Wealthy?

June 13, 2015 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

I have long been infected with the entrepreneurial virus. I guess it’s like an STD that never goes away…

Not sure exactly where the infection originated. My grandfather and father were both similarly afflicted.

For many years any idea that popped into my head about starting a business would immediately give rise to the following question…

Will this make me wealthy?

Because if not…why bother?

I mean, that’s the capitalistic way to think, right?

It’s funny, but this little pueblo that we call Perez Zeledon…where I currently* reside…is a hotbed for entrepreneurial endeavors.

It is the veritable “Silicon Valley” of Costa Rica…

without the silicon, of course.

But for a different reason than the one up north.

I seriously doubt if there was ever a Silicon “start-up” whose founder did not ponder that same question…

Will this start-up idea make me filthy rich?

Of course, in their case “wealthy” would surely conjure up figures with more zeroes than my brain could ever envision.

Down here in the valle de El General, the motive is different.

People start businesses because, quite simply, there are no jobs to be had…period.

Actually, that’s becoming a phenomenon in the U.S. as well, which could be a topic for another post.

The entrepreneurial exploits here might be limited to a small neighborhood store (pulperias, as we call them), or a small restaurant (sodas, as we call those)…or simply selling “empanadas” door to door…

The goal is not to be “weal-thy”, but to just be well…

That is, folks here look at business as a vehicle for a life well lived, rather than life as a vehicle for a business well managed. Tweet it Out!

Get it?

I’ve never heard of an entrepreneur down here taking his or her life because his soda failed.

Lately, my mind has been probing business ideas. And I immediately caught myself falling back to the same old question…

Will this make me wealthy?

And then I asked myself…

Why does it really matter?

You see, I’m trying to approach life (and business) from a different perspective.

I prefer that the emphasis be, no, that the entire impetus be…

impact.

Wealth…or economic self-interest…shouldn’t necessarily be the focal point of my entrepreneurial imagination.

Oh for sure, we’ve all got to live, pay the bills and all that stuff…

But we don’t HAVE TO BE wealthy.

In fact, there are many ideas that could have far reaching impacts, but that would never make one wealthy.

So should those be screened out?

Of course not!

I shouldn’t play the role of the typical vulture capitalist against myself. That is, screening out any idea that doesn’t have the potential to “go public”, or “viral.”

Instead I can think of two much better standards by which to judge an idea…

1) am I truly passionate about it?

and

2) does it have the potential for impact?

If both can be answered in the positive, why not go for it?

I’m just plain sick and tired of the tendency to judge everything by dollars…by profit.

I’m more inclined these days to imbue my entrepreneurial ideas with the metaphysical and quasi-spiritual notion or belief that if it has the capacity for impact…then the universe will respond with a required degree of profit to keep it growing…

I know that sounds a little bit “fugazi,” but what the hell…

It makes me happier.

image credit: fpsurgeon via Compfight cc

*I moved to Portland, Oregon in February of this year (2015). I feel I’ve lost a bit of the make impact the impetus mindset that inspired posts like this one. So, I’m reposting it as a gentle reminder to myself…

Endemic versus Reactionary Racism

June 9, 2015 by costaricaguy 4 Comments

My last post was a rant against the tendency of some on the right to use a sort of “reverse political correctness” against throwing down the “race card.”

In this post I want to make the case that not only should playing the race card be legitimate because it’s still in the deck…

but also because it’s a necessary move towards making it (race) obsolete as a factor in our society.

And I am talking about endemic versus reactionary racism. I will explain shortly.

When events transpire that are tinged with even the faintest scent of racism, the card should appear…every time.

Why?

Because racism is a problem so pernicious that it must be rooted out and eradicated from every facet of our lives.

It is one of the ultimate evils in our (and any) society.

But let’s get straight on what I am referring to by racism.

Every time there is a race eruption, you hear the specious argument that attempts to delegitimize use of the race card since it (racism) exists on both sides of the equation.

But there’s a big difference between black racial attitudes against whites, which I’ll call reactionary racism, and the endemic racism that is the prevalent evil in our society.

Do some blacks (well more than some perhaps) harbor negative attitudes towards whites?

Certainly.

But it’s not because of immutable traits like color, physical characteristics or culture…it’s a reaction to suffering the first 100 years of their involuntary presence in this country as chattel…

and the next 100 being socially, politically and economically oppressed.

That would tend to make one a bit suspicious, perhaps even pissed off.

Attempting to accuse blacks of the same brand of racism as that of the Aryan Nation is like condemning a Jew for hating a Nazi. They don’t hate them because of their blonde hair and blue eyes, Colonel Klink-ish accent or tendency towards anal retentiveness…

they hate them because those assholes tried to exterminate the Jewish race!

You see, it’s reactionary.

I grew up in the South during desegregation and was intimately exposed to racism. I knew very clearly (then, as well as now) that whites didn’t harbor negative racial attitudes against blacks as a reaction to the incendiary political views of the Black Panther party. They hated them because of immutable traits that they (the black people) were born with and could not change.

And that’s where the real evil lies.

So, it appals me when Bill (the bloviator) O’Reilly delivers a spitting venomous diatribe blaming the totality of problems blacks face in our society on their taste in music, or because they tend to be hornier than he would prefer them to be…while completely dismissing the fact that there has been systematic societal oppression against the black race for over 200 years!

The race card, as ugly as it might be, is a necessary tool to eradicate racism. Tweet it Out!

If an event in our society occurs as a possible result of race, it should be thoroughly investigated, prosecuted (if truly present) and bold steps taken to insure against racism’s future presence in a similar situation, so that real endemic racism has a chance of being eliminated as a pernicious societal sin.

That’s what I would term legitimate use of “the race card.”

I could envision that when that happens consistently, the reactionary “racism” that whites often lament will rapidly evaporate.

image credit: Brittany Anwender via Compfight cc

Wisdom in the Weeds

June 5, 2015 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

Why did I start this blog?

Believe me that’s a question I ask myself all too frequently. But I sort of realize that’s just the resistance messing with me.

Because the answer is simple…

I had to!

A while back I heard a soul-stirring BlogcastFM interview with a 50+ year-old lady by the name of Jennifer Boykin. She has a blog called Life After Tampons.

Imagine that!

And how on earth did she have the audacity to start such a blog?

Because she had to!

Check out this quote from this superb Srinivas Rao interview:

A person who insists on making his or her lessons matter…that’s what grows wisdom.

Now get this…here’s a tweetable for you that just might get at the core of my intention…my why…

Fame and fortune are fleeting and fickle, but legacy leaving lingers. Tweet it Out!

or, as I often suggest…prioritize impact over interest.

I hear lots of people saying this (certainly heard it from Jennifer Boykin)…just not exactly like I say it.

The impetus for impact making is not (or should not be) fame and fortune.

It’s like Jennifer said during the interview…not everyone can be a Chris Guillebeau. And truth be told, the world does not need more Chris Guillebeaus.

It needs YOU and the impact that only YOU can make.

Why you?

Well I can only say that in my case, even though the field of my life is strewn with some pretty wicked weeds…wisdom is nevertheless lurking therein.

Even though the field of my life is strewn with some pretty wicked weeds…wisdom is nevertheless lurking therein.

The impact that I alone can make is in large part a product of the weeds.

Oh for sure the weeds can choke the life out of you…if you let them.

Or, you can stoop to the back-breaking task of pulling them up and clearing the pathway for a beautiful garden to grow.

I can’t say my garden is all that stellar, but I’ve certainly done my share of weed pulling…

And making those life lessons in weed pulling matter is what will allow that wisdom gleaned to impact the world in a positive way.

Only I can do that.

You see, there’s good deal of wisdom in the weeds!

As Jennifer alluded, making my life lessons matter should be something that I insist upon…that should be my impetus for impact…not Guillebeau-ish popularity (sorry to pick on Chris so much…he is one of my favorite superstar bloggers).

Shouldn’t you insist on the same?

There has never been a better time in the history of mankind to insist on making your life lessons matter.

photo credit: Levels Nature via Compfight cc

Memorials and Manifestos

May 25, 2015 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

My E – “book” is now on sale. Well actually right now it’s FREE…for a few more days.

You can get it here.

I realize that there are some pretty radical concepts contained in the few pages of that “book.”

I put book in quotes because it’s not really a book at all…it’s a “manifesto” of about 11,000 words and some 65 pages, or so.

But hopefully words that will have an impact on someone who dares to actually read them.

Now I know that for some those words will be like fingernails scraping across the blackboard of your consciousness.

And that’s OK.

They are what I believe and I don’t pretend to present them as a gospel that you must also subscribe to in order to be greeted fondly by Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates.

So, if you hate it…by all means let me have it…leave a 1 star review.

If you love it…4 stars and up are certainly welcome too!

OK, enough with the self-promotion.

There is a little concept divulged in the, uh, Manifesto that is dubbed The Big US…

Now if that’s confusing, here’s a bit more elaboration.

Today is Memorial Day in the U.S.A.

That’s a time when we remember those who have died fighting in wars that our politicians deemed necessary for some real or imagined (possibly contrived) national interest.

And we certainly should celebrate and remember those lives.

But… there is a flip-side to that.

And it has a lot to do with that Big US that Revolutionary Misfit often alludes to.

You see, as many as have fallen on our side, an even greater amount of loss has occurred on the other.

Can we all agree for a second that ALL human life is sacred…even those of our enemies?

Didn’t Jesus say as much?

About 4500 U.S. soldiers were killed in the Iraq War.

The data is less reliable on casualties of Iraqis, both military and civilian, but the numbers I am seeing are well above 100,000.

Now think about the run of the mill Iraqi military recruit. He’s probably just a guy with a family, who needs a job and decides the military is a great option to both provide for his family and give him a sense of national pride…the honour of sacrificing for his country…

Sound familiar?

I don’t mean to poo poo on Memorial Day.

I read a post yesterday by James Altucher as to why he hates Memorial Day. I certainly won’t go that far.

James said that he received an inordinate amount of hate mail due to that post…

an inordinate amount?

I would think just the headline itself would generate enough hatred to fuel an atomic reactor. (Actually I notice that he changed the headline to Why Memorial Day Makes Me Sad)

No, I won’t say that at all and hopefully this post won’t be taken that way.

But I will say that while we are remembering our slain it would be appropriate to remember those on the other side of the equation.

Do you think their grief is any less…genuine or deserved?

But they are not us, you might say. They are our enemies…we should rejoice that they are no more.

I don’t believe that. And I hope you don’t either.

I hope you can recognize that us as being the small one.

Here’s something I’m pretty sure about…

War is shit.

And while Memorial Day should be a remembrance of the fallen, it should not be a celebration of war. Tweet it Out!

There is hardly a justification for the mass slaughtering of people and the rampant destruction of our planet that is generated by war.

It sucks!

It would be better if it never did nor never would exist and that those valiant soldiers could have been engaged in more productive professions and possibly still be among us.

So, while we remember our fallen heroes, let’s also remember that hopefully their deaths will bring us closer to a situation in which we don’t have to remember any future casualties of war…on either side.

To coin an already too familiar cliche that represents the Big US quite succinctly…

We’re all in this boat together.

image credit: Ken Lund via Compfight cc

On Being a Worry Wart

May 23, 2015 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

Of all the debilitating emotions one can experience on a day to day basis, I suggest the most insidious is worry.

Jesus himself even chimed in on the subject once saying, and I paraphrase,

don’t worry…

See those brightly colored birds?…

They don’t worry…

and neither should you!

But, why shouldn’t we worry?

There’s certainly a crap-load of stuff to worry about: like health, relationships, loved ones, hated ones, the competition, global warming, Obama, ISIS, ebola, the coming apocalypse…I could of course go on.

When you step back and think about it, worry is a pretty useless pursuit.

Getting back to Jesus, I believe he also said that no short person ever grew an inch taller by worrying about it…or something to that effect.

And isn’t it so true?

Worry never, repeat, never, accomplishes a thing…except anxiety, depression, or perhaps an early grave.

So why do we do it?

In my case at least, I always seem to worry about me. The focal point of worrying might seem at its surface to be otherwise directed, but it usually all comes back to me.

If I am worried about, say, my marriage…it is about how a potential split-up might affect me.

If I am worried about the health of some person near and dear to me, at the heart of that worry is not them, but how losing them might make me feel.

If I were genuinely concerned, then I would stop worrying and take some type of action that might benefit them. But I don’t because my incessant worrying isn’t about them at all, it’s about me.

You’ll never make an impact by worrying about it.

Worry is self-indulgence.

It’s a state in which we become literally paralyzed with nail-biting self-concern.

Yet it feels a little self-comforting because we rationalize that it’s not about us…it’s about being concerned over something or some person. But again, what makes you think that spending time worrying about them is really about them?

Is it doing them any good?

Will it solve their problem? Will it cure the cancer, help them out of a financial disaster, or help their kid get off of drugs?

No…it won’t do any of those things. All it will do is slightly appease your sense of dutiful concern.

If you’ve acknowledged that there’s a problem and you’re sincerely concerned, spend time thinking about what you could actually do, then the rest of the time doing it and not one second of time worrying about it.

You might not be able to solve the problem, but you can do a lot more to make some positive impact by selfless action than you can by selfish worrying.

You can do a lot more to make some positive impact by selfless action than you can by selfish worrying.

To stop being a worry wart and start doing is to prioritize impact over self-interest.

Don’t believe me?…just ask Jesus.

Oh, he also said that worrying implies an absence of faith.

That’s another big problem with being a worry wart.

The Universe won’t conspire with you unless you have faith. And worry is an utterly faithless pursuit.

So, don’t worry about it!

The Spine of Atticus Finch

May 20, 2015 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

An old post I wrote back when I was trying to figure out why…

…

In a past life I was a business lawyer, as opposed to a trial lawyer. However, I did go to a respected trial lawyer-oriented school, where we got to “play lawyer” frequently. And I did a bit of courtroom work in my earliest years of practice.

So, I have an appreciation for courtroom theatrics.

The most dramatic part of any trial, generally, is the closing argument. It’s where the lawyer supplies the why for the jury. The arguments that work best are the ones that are more than just a rehashing of the facts. They inspire the jury to come to the conclusion that the lawyer is paid to produce. The guilty or not guilty verdict, in the case of a criminal trial, or the nice fat damage award, in case of a civil one.

Even though fictitious, my favorite jury argument of all time is the one made by Atticus Finch in the classic film, To Kill a Mockingbird. Not only is it great courtroom drama, but it is one of the most inspirational Hollywood moments of all time…in my opinion.

I recently read Twyla Tharp’s book, The Creative Habit. One thing that really stood out to me is her insistence that every creative work have a “spine.” What’s that? Well, although it’s hard for me to describe succinctly, I believe it’s sort of like a therapeutic metaphor, or an object, activity, or idea that is used as a symbol for deeper meaning.

I’m not altogether cetain what Harper Lee’s spine was for her Pulitzer Prize winning book, but I would venture to say, perhaps, youthful innocence, contrasted with the evil of prejudicial hate.

Perhaps her spine was a call to innocence.

Tharp clearly states that the creator’s “spine” is not always revealed to the consumer. But it’s always at the forefront of the creator’s mind throughout the creation process.

I was thinking yesterday about what could or should serve as the spine for this creative undertaking upon which I have embarked, the blog Revolutionary Misfit.

First off, I want the content to inspire…to supply the why…much like a trial lawyer in a jury trial closing argument.

Since that’s what Atticus was attempting to do and since his attempt was deeply inspirational to me, perhaps that should be my spine for Revolutionary Misfit.

I want the content delivered within this blog to inspire…to supply the why…much like a trial lawyer in a jury trial closing argument.

It has all the elements I need. His argument pitted the impact of doing the right thing (what Atticus did by taking on the case to begin with) against the prejudicial inclinations of the accusers and of the jury.

It certainly dramatized the mindset of the small us with the attempt by Atticus to inspire Big US thinking…an attempt that failed to achieve its intended result, but was inspirational nonetheless.

Finally, Atticus tried hard to remove the impact blinders the jury was wearing that would prevent them from seeing the path to a positive impact (for Tom Robinson, cetainly, but also for the general idea of racial equality).

The climatic moment was when he delivered the emotionally gripping line, “in the name of God, do your duty…in the name of God, believe Tom Robinson.”

That pretty much sums it up for me. That line supplies the why. The why for impact.

And what is that why?

Our god-given duty to bring good into this world. We do that via our impacts, as varied as they might be.

The why for impact in my opinion is the why for our very existence. We were created for that reason…to bring about the unique good that motivated God to breathe life into us in the first place.

The why for impact in my opinion is the why for our very existence. We were created for that reason…to bring about the unique good that motivated God to breathe life into us in the first place.

So, what does that mean, practically, for Revolutionary Misfit going forward?

It means that the great Atticus Argument meets all requirements for supplying the why of this blog, especially that climactic moment…

in which his powerful words moved me towards the god-given duty for positive impact.

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