Frey Freyday – Raise Your Standards

(Frey Freyday is simply a bunch of inspirational, motivational and other quotes meant to make you think, reflect, smile, even laugh a bit. Hopefully helpful, useful stuff….)

STANDARDS – [ˈstandərd]- a level of quality or attainment:

–

The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves. Ray Kroc
–

Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards – the things we live by and teach our children – are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings. Walt Disney
–

Let’s not be afraid to speak the common sense truth: you can’t have high standards without good discipline. William Hague

–

Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your standards. Tony Robbins
–

You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that. Michael Jordan
–

Set high standards and few limitations for yourself. Anthony J. D’Angelo
–

Let us be about setting high standards for life, love, creativity, and wisdom. If our expectations in these areas are low, we are not likely to experience wellness. Setting high standards makes every day and every decade worth looking forward to. Greg Anderson
–

WORDS TO LIVE BY:

RAISE YOUR STANDARDS-

We all become a little complacent one time or another. Sometimes we get satisfied where we are. Maybe improving seems like a little too much pain and staying where we are now is comfortable.

Once in a while we may even drift back a bit. I believe that either you’re growing/improving or you’re wilting/regressing.

We need to first be aware of ourselves – our current role, position in life, actions, and be realistic and honest. We need to also have some sort of goal, vision, or something to work towards….

All of this falls under the category of ‘what are our standards’? For a homeless person, they may have low standards of what is acceptable for a good night’s rest than what we do. We may have a different standard for relationships, health, wealth than our friends and co-workers.

From time to time, I think it is necessary to raise our own standards in order that we can change and improve. In other words, if you want to make a change, the first thing you need to do is to raise your standards.

When I look at my own struggles and challenges through the years (being downsized, loss of my parents, unemployment, changing jobs), and my own growth, I believe that the most important thing was changing what I demanded of myself. I wrote down all the things I would no longer accept in my life, all the things I would no longer tolerate, and all the things that I aspired to becoming.

Raise your standards, change your life.

–

Frey Freyday was actually born out of something I created called “Words To Live By” (WTLB). Going forward, I will now not only share the quotes, as you may be used to receiving, but also a related (WTLB). In 1999, when we had our first daughter, I was contemplating how I would raise my new beautiful child, and I was thinking about how I can best educate her and my other children about values, morals, and other key thoughts about life. School offers education. Religion offers some values and morals. Parents offer most of it, sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally.

So I created a (WTLB) book, like a dictionary, which lists things like honesty, love, persistence, etc. with a definition that I created, with my wife’s input. I then turned it into a workbook with one word per page and space below for notes. For years we would discuss with my two daughters and they would draw pictures and make notes in the blank space. I may share some of those images with you. As they got older, they were less inclined to draw and more open to quotes and references from adults, hence where Frey Freyday came from….

Why we do what we do

I’ve always been a ‘Tony’ fan…..

If you liked Tony Robbin’s 2006 TED Talk, you’ve got to listen to his podcast episode. [LISTEN] —> http://tonyr.co/2cPaq1Y

 

Arnold Palmer, Latrobe legend who reshaped golf, dies at 87

For many years I have looked up to Arnold Palmer, less so for his golfing record but for the life he lived – he was a business man, friend, community leader, philanthropist, and pioneer in many ways. When one looks at his life, in many ways, one feels very insignificant by all of his accomplishments and contributions. His life certainly was about success, business and wealth but certainly friendship, giving, helping others, leadership, and a whole lot more….

—

from the Tribune Review http://triblive.com/sports/golf/6688924-74/palmer-golf-arnold

Arnold Palmer, Latrobe legend who reshaped golf, dies at 87

• One of golf’s all-time greats, Palmer’s success didn’t stop on course

Email Newsletters

Sign up for one of our email newsletters.

Updated 17 hours ago

Arnold Palmer, a seven-time major champion who from a humble upbringing in Latrobe transformed professional golf with his charisma and daring style, died Sunday at UPMC Shadyside. He was 87.

Palmer’s death was confirmed by UPMC spokesman Paul Wood. Palmer had been in declining health in recent years.

No one could have imagined the widespread global impact Palmer would have on golf.

Palmer played golf with numerous presidents, but he will be remembered for bringing golf to the proletariat.

His charitable work impacted the country’s less fortunate, and he became the game’s goodwill ambassador, touching lives worldwide.

“Arnie’s life has always been about others,” said longtime friend Doc Giffin of Latrobe. “He never stopped giving or caring.”

Palmer became an endearing figure and an icon as the sport’s most respected diplomat. He was considered a renaissance man. Besides being hailed as one of the greatest golfers, Palmer was a philanthropist, pilot, golf course designer and author of several books, including “A Golfer’s Life” and “Kingdom: 80 Years of a Legend.”

Born Arnold Daniel Palmer on Sept. 10, 1929, Palmer came to prominence during the golden age of television. His aggressive, free-swinging approach combined with his handsome looks gained him a loyal following that became known as Arnie’s Army.

Nicknamed The King, Palmer won 92 professional tournaments, including four Masters, which ranks tied for second most.

“Arnold came along just at the right time with the advent of television,” said Larry Mize, a former Masters champion. “He had that swagger, and he interacted with the fans. Golf really took off when Arnold came in.”

For Palmer, golf was more than a game. It was a character builder, something instilled in him by his father, Deke Palmer, a former groundskeeper at Latrobe Country Club, a course his son later would own.

Like his life on the family farm in Latrobe, Palmer said repeatedly there are no shortcuts to success.

“I can spend the rest of my life being thankful that golf has given me the opportunities to make significant contributions throughout the world,” Palmer told the Tribune-Review in 2009.

Palmer was the pioneer of an authentically unique swing that defied the fundamentals of the game. He dared to do things differently. He gambled when the odds were stacked against him.

Sometimes, he won. Sometimes, he lost.

“I was always a big fan of Arnie’s game,” said professional golfer Rocco Mediate, a Greensburg native. “I think in many ways I tried to emulate what he did on the golf course. I think a lot of us did.”

Palmer was adored, in part, because he played like no other. His fans marched around the course with their hearts in their throats. They endured emotional ebbs and flows while an even-tempered Palmer often risked it all without flinching.

“Arnie knew no other way to play the game,” golf great Gary Player said. “We were rivals, and we wanted to promote the game.”

Palmer’s reach became even more expansive after his playing career ended. As an entrepreneur, he helped launched several businesses. He became synonymous with the half-lemonade, half-iced tea beverage: the Arnold Palmer. The Westmoreland County Airport was renamed Arnold Palmer Regional Airport on Palmer’s 70th birthday.

The USGA issued this statement Sunday night:

“We are deeply saddened by the death of Arnold Palmer, golf’s greatest ambassador, at age 87.

“Arnold Palmer will always be a champion, in every sense of the word. He inspired generations to love golf by sharing his competitive spirit, displaying sportsmanship, caring for golfers and golf fans, and serving as a lifelong ambassador for the sport. Our stories of him not only fill the pages of golf’s history books and the walls of the museum, but also our own personal golf memories. The game is indeed better because of him, and in so many ways, will never be the same.The United States Golf Association said Sunday night: Palmer was honored numerous times by several presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower to Barack Obama. Palmer was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States (in 2004 by President George W. Bush), and Congressional Gold Medal (in 2009), the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress.

He became only the fifth athlete to receive the Congressional Gold Medal when Obama signed the authorization. Palmer was the first athlete to receive all three of the country’s highest civilian honors (he received the National Sports Award — a one-time award — from former President Bill Clinton in 1993).

“I don’t know that I’ve done anything to deserve it, but I accept,” Palmer said when receiving the Congressional Gold Medal.

“Arnold Palmer democratized golf,” then-House Speaker John Boehner said. “(He) made us think that we, too, could go out and play, made us think we could really do anything. All we had to do was go out and try.”

In a statement, Archabbot Douglas R. Nowicki, O.S.B., wrote, “On behalf of the Saint Vincent Community, I offer my prayers and heartfelt condolences to Kit, Peggy and Amy Palmer and their families on the loss of a great person — Arnold Palmer — a Latrobe legend. I hope all of us will remember his courageous spirit as we strive in our various roles to make the world a better place.”

In 2013, Forbes magazine estimated Palmer’s net worth at about $675 million. His endorsements included Callaway, Ketel One and Rolex. The Arnold Palmer Design Co. has created hundreds of golf courses, and Palmer owned Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Fla., in addition to Latrobe Country Club.

Palmed also had stakes in automotive dealerships, clothing licensing, golf course design and consulting.

Palmer didn’t talk much about his wealth. Instead, he worked feverishly to raise money for charities.

In 1989, the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Women opened in Orlando days before his 60th birthday. Later, his charitable organization would meet its goal of raising $10 million for the hospital. The Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, named after his first wife who died of cancer in 1999, opened next door in 2006.

“The hospital project had grown to mean so much to both Winnie and me and our family — the ultimate pet project in some way,” he wrote in “Mentored by the King.”

Palmer leaves behind his wife, Kathleen, daughters Peggy and Amy, several grandchildren and, of course, Arnie’s Army.

The Legend of Latrobe also leaves endearing and lasting memories. Golf was a passion, but he carved out a place in history with a club of persimmon that he effortlessly swung like a maestro, orchestrating an unforgettable career, legacy and life.

Ralph N. Paulk is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at rpaulk@tribweb.com.

New Book Says Letting Kids Get Dirty Actually Makes Them Healthier

http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2016/09/22/let-them-eat-dirt

Stores are awash in antibacterial cleaning products and parents often demand antibiotics when their children have an ear infection or a bad cough.

But a new book argues that an emphasis on cleanliness and overuse of antibiotics deprive children of microbes that, among other benefits, help develop their immune systems.

Co-authors B. Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta join Here & Now‘s Meghna Chakrabarti to talk about “Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child from an Oversanitized World.”

• Read the clinical guide to probiotic product available in the U.S.
• Hear more author conversations from Here & Now

Interview Highlights: B. Brett Finlay & Marie-Claire Arrieta

On the importance of microbes for human health

Finlay: “Obviously we’re not suggesting you shovel a bucket of dirt on a poor newborn’s mouth. The concept is there and I think we all deep down know this. This is really a hanger we’ve had over the last century of cleaning up our world. In the 1900s, 30 percent of the kids in the U.S. cities died before the age of 1. Now, less than 0.1 percent die of infections… We have had a major success story and kids don’t die of infections anymore. That’s terrific.

But in the last 100 decades or so, we now start to realize that we’re not only killing our bad microbes, we’re killing the ones that actually we’re starting to realize that are good for us. And so this really hypervigilance to sanitation has wiped out a whole microbial generation really. And so our kids are no longer exposed to the kids that humans have developed with. They’re just not getting the bugs that Homo sapiens evolved with. And now this has real impact on what we called ‘western society diseases,’ like asthma, allergies, obesity, diabetes. These all have microbial links.”

On why bacteria are important

Arrieta: “One of the main tasks that bacteria do for us is mature our immune system. We are born without microbes, but as soon as we are born, we get millions of them. And our immune system relies on them to complete the maturation process. And if they skip, or get depleted of some microbes, the immune system becomes sloppy — it doesn’t do what it is supposed to do, which is trying to distinguish friend from foe. And later, it leads to these step of diseases like asthma.

Another thing that microbes do is that they’re key decision makers on how we store or burn fat. So it’s not surprising that these are the diseases that are growing so much in the society. “

On the balance between bacteria and cleanliness

Finlay: “There’s not data to say that having infectious diseases actually improves you. So we don’t have to infect our kids. But what we’re sort of pointing forward is you need a balance between the risk of exposing your kids to an infection versus to the risks of exposing them just to the good microbes.

A final point I want to make which I find is very scary is that each generation gets cleaner and cleaner. Each generation we have less and less microbes. That means that our great grandparents’s microbes are actually endangered species and we can’t have them anymore even if they want them. So there’s a lot of concern that each generation as we clean these up like any other endangered species, they’d go extinct, and we can’t go back to where we were, which is really scary I think.”

Book Excerpt: ‘Let Them Eat Dirt’

The cover of “Let Them Eat Dirt,” co-authored by B. Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta. (Courtesy Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)

By B. Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta

We all want what is best for our kids. The problem is that there is no perfect handbook on how to raise them, nor is there any one best way, either. We read books and articles, talk to friends, and try to remember (or forget!) how our parents raised us. Both of us have children and have struggled and muddled through the parenting process the same way everyone does. We are also scientists who have worked with microbes for many years, and we couldn’t help but consider how these ever-present microbes influence development as we raised our children. At first we studied microbes that cause disease, and we feared them just like anyone else. But more recently we began taking notice of all other the microbes that live in and on us — our “microbiota.” As we continue to study the microbiota of humans, it is becoming clear that our exposure to microbes is most important when we’re kids. At the same time, modern lifestyles have made childhood much cleaner than ever before in human history, and this is taking a huge toll on our microbiota — and our lifelong health.

The genesis of this book came from the realization that the studies in our lab — and the labs of several other researchers — prove that microbes really do impact a child’s health. What shocked us most was how early this starts — the first one hundred days of life are critical. We knew microbes played a role in well-being, but we had no idea how soon this role began.

Several other factors converged to help convince us to write this book. Claire has young children, and all of her young parent friends were extremely interested in the concept of microbes and how they might affect their kids. Whenever we tell other parents about our work, the questions never cease — Do I need to sterilize their bottles every time? What kind of soap should I use? We realized that there are many questions out there about microbes . . . and a lot of wrong information.

Brett is married to a pediatric infectious disease specialist (Jane) who was constantly suggesting articles and findings about how microbes affect kids, which led us to realize that since this was such a new field, there was no one source parents could turn to if they wanted to learn more. Not to mention that scientific articles are usually dry, terse things with lots of jargon and, frankly, are terribly boring. However, this new area of research has a lot to offer to people raising children who are not likely to get this important information from dense scientific papers or from studies often misinterpreted by the press. There is a lot of information being produced by some of the best scientists in the world, which we consider extremely useful for the day-to-day decisions we make while raising our children, so we felt compelled to gather it all in one book and make it accessible to the everyday parent.

We start off by explaining a bit about microbes, and then explore what happens to a pregnant woman’s body in terms of her microbiota and how it affects her child(ren) for life. We then discuss the delivery process, breastfeeding, solid foods, and the first years of life from a microbial perspective. In the middle of the book we cover lifestyle issues (Should I get a pet? What do I do with a dropped pacifier?) and the use of antibiotics. The latter part of the book features chapters dealing with specific diseases that are growing by leaps and bounds in our society, and the microbes that seem to affect them. These include obesity, asthma, diabetes, intestinal diseases, behavioral and mental health disorders such as autism, and a whole array of diseases in which, even five years ago, we had no clue microbes might be involved. Readers may want to skip over particular chapters if you feel that they are not applicable to you. However, each one is full of information that will educate you about the processes involved in these health issues. We think the section on the gut — brain connection is particularly interesting in its exploration of how microbes might affect the brain and mental disorders. We finish the book with a discussion on vaccines and a futuristic view of what we can expect in terms of new therapies and medical interventions in the next few years. Each chapter ends with a few Dos and Don’ts — these are not meant to be comprehensive medical advice, but suggestions about things to do (or not do) that are based on current scientific evidence.

What we have learned in writing this book, and what we hope to convince readers of, is that microbes play a very large part in our children’s lives. Even as scientists in the field, we were stunned to discover some of the profound roles these microscopic bugs have in normal childhood development. No doubt many of these findings, and many more to come, will have a major impact in how we think about raising our children.

Excerpted from the book LET THEM EAT DIRT by B. Brett Finlay, Ph.D., and Marie-Claire Arrieta, Ph.D. Copyright © 2016 by B. Brett Finlay, Ph.D., and Marie-Claire Arrieta, Ph.D. Reprinted by Permission of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

Guests

B. Brett Finlay, co-author of “Let Them Eat Dirt” and professor of microbiology at the University of Columbia. He tweets @finlaylab. The book tweets@kidsandmicrobes.

Marie-Claire Arrieta, co-author of “Let Them Eat Dirt” and assistant professor of physiology and pharmacology at the University of Calgary. She tweets@ArrietaLab.

Demonetizing Insurance

Subject: demonetizing insurance
Reply-To: peter@diamandis.com

By Peter Diamandis

Massive reductions in insurance costs are coming, along with a wave of disruption.

Traditionally, insurance premiums are determined by actuaries… a function of big numbers, statistics and probabilities.

That’s what you have to do when you don’t know what’s really going on.

You hope that the pool of insured individuals is big enough to account for the variation in your predictive model.

But exponential technologies — namely computation/digitization, artificial intelligence, machine learning, sensors, networks (especially social networks), and genomics — will change all of that.

This is a blog about the future of insurance…

Let’s dive in.

Disrupting Insurance

I have been advising and am a proud board member of a new company called Lemonade Insurance Company that is rebuilding the insurance model from the bottom up — it is the world’s first “peer-to-peer” (P2P) insurance company.

Imagine just 90 seconds to get insured, 3 minutes to get paid. Zero paperwork.

P2P reverses the traditional insurance model. They treat the premiums you pay as if it’s your money. With P2P, everything becomes simple and transparent. Lemonade takes a flat fee, pays claims really fast, and gives back what’s left to causes you care about.

This week Lemonade launched their service and announced that they’ve been licensed as a full-stack insurance carrier by New York State for homeowner and renter’s insurance.

The work they’ve been doing is brilliant, so I’ll be using them as a strong example of some of the following ideas.

Let’s talk about five exponential drivers of this upcoming insurance revolution…

1. Digitization

Fraud consumes as much as 38% of all the money in the traditional insurance system, inflating premiums by $1,300 and making the claims process protracted and unpleasant.

This happens because there is a lack of transparency in a largely analog (rather than digital) system with many humans in the loop.

If you could digitize the entire process – from signing up to submitting a claim – and give the insured individual full transparency over the status of their request, adding in automation and machine learning, you can dramatically reduce processing time and costs.

This is what Lemonade does at its core. “Technology drives everything at Lemonade,” said Shai Wininger, president and cofounder. “From signing up to submitting a claim, the entire experience is mobile, simple and remarkably fast. What used to take weeks or months now happens in minutes or seconds. It’s what you get when you replace brokers and paperwork with bots and machine learning. Zero paperwork and instant everything.”

2. Implications of Social Networks

Social networks will allow us to create true peer-to-peer insurance models.

Imagine finding a group of peers, who you trust and can vouch for, and coming together as a group to self-insure.

You skip the centralized, expensive middleman insurance carrier – instead, a technology stack (app, database, AI-bot) manages a decentralized network of people who pay premiums and file claims that the group approves.

This takes out an enormous percentage of the cost structure of traditional insurance. Instead of paying fees and insurance company salaries, your peer group will be able to decide what to do with the extra cash that wasn’t paid out.

At Lemonade, you actually have the option to donate underwriting profits to nonprofit organizations of your choosing. Their hope is to remake insurance as a social good, rather than a necessary evil.

3. Implications of Genomics

When talking about life insurance, it’s going to be difficult to ignore genomic data. Your DNA is your medical future. It’s predictive of what’s likely to inflict or kill you.

In 2008, a federal law called the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) was passed to protect people from genetic discrimination in health insurance and employment. The law states, “Genetic discrimination is the misuse of genetic information.”

However, life insurance companies are exempt from GINA.

I imagine that, soon, groups with great genes will coalesce and self-insure.

It’s in their best interest to do so. You’ll be able to upload your genomics data and find others in your peer group that have similar or better risk profiles than you do…

For life insurance companies, I believe there is a beautiful alignment of incentives coming soon. These life insurance companies will use genomics information to help their clients stay alive longer.

Why? Because the longer they are alive, the more premiums they can pay…

4. Implications of Sensors

Sensors will allow insurance policies to be based on actual data (e.g. usage, health), rather than general heuristics and rules.

As an analogy, check out Progressive Insurance’s SNAPSHOT Automotive Sensor package – it’s a sensor you put in your car that tracks how well you drive. (Do you brake hard? Speed? Take high-speed turns?)

When your insurance policy is based on how you actually drive, rather than just your age, gender and what kind of car you own, safer drivers win.

Sensors will have the biggest impact on health insurance, as hundreds of new health sensors are coming to market in the next 5-10 years.

Sensors tracking healthy behavior such as how much you exercise and what you eat, will get you low insurance costs.

A number of health insurance companies are already using health sensors in their policies.

One notable company called Oscar uses technology to simplify the entire health insurance experience.

You can use their app to talk to a doctor and get prescriptions without leaving home.

They built an app that helps you keep track of your health history with a timeline and you can earn rewards for staying active with a free Misfit step tracker.

In the near future, with the peer-to-peer model, you’ll soon upload everything from what you eat to the number of steps you take per day, and find a group with similar health profiles and self-insure.

5. Implications of A.I. & Sensors

The car insurance industry is about to get disrupted in a huge way.

Every major car company is working on full or partial autonomy, and since these cars are projected to reduce accidents by up to 90%, these cars are the beginning of the end for car insurance.

On top of that, why would I need a car insurance policy if I never drive? Or if I don’t own a car?

Accounting firm KPMG predicts that the motor insurance market may shrink by 60% by 2040. I think that number is a serious underestimate.

There is certainly a looming legislative battle coming for auto industry and auto insurance stakeholders. Does liability fall on car manufacturers? “Drivers”? Software engineers? AI’s? It remains to be seen.

Whatever the case may be, insurance, across the board, is ripe for disruption.

Join Me

This is the sort of conversation we explore at my 250-person executive mastermind group called Abundance 360.

The program is highly selective. If you’d like to be considered, apply here. Share this with your friends, especially if they are interested in any of the areas outlined above.

P.S. Every week I send out a “Tech Blog” like this one. If you want to sign up, go to Diamandis.com and sign up for this and Abundance Insider.

P.P.S. My dear friend Dan Sullivan and I have a podcast called Exponential Wisdom. Our conversations focus on the exponential technologies creating abundance, the human-technology collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Head here to listen and subscribe: a360.com/podcast

Frey Freyday- Contribute

(Frey Freyday is simply a bunch of inspirational, motivational and other quotes meant to make you think, reflect, smile, even laugh a bit. Hopefully helpful, useful stuff….)

–

CONTRIBUTE – [kənˈtribyo͞ot] – give (something, especially money) in order to help achieve or provide something:

–

Don’t underestimate the power of your vision to change the world. Whether that world is your office, your community, an industry or a global movement, you need to have a core belief that what you contribute can fundamentally change the paradigm or way of thinking about problems. Leroy Hood
–

If we’re destroying our trees and destroying our environment and hurting animals and hurting one another and all that stuff, there’s got to be a very powerful energy to fight that. I think we need more love in the world. We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that. Ellen DeGeneres
–

The promise of the American Dream requires that we are all provided an equal opportunity to participate in and contribute to our nation. Charles B. Rangel
–

Having a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing seems to me to be one of the most basic principles that you can adopt to contribute to individual and world peace. Wayne Dyer
–

I am convinced that material things can contribute somewhat to making one’s life pleasant, but, basically, if you do not have very good friends and relatives who matter to you, life will be really empty and sad and material things cease to be important. David Rockefeller
–

Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment. It is not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute… that gives meaning to our lives. Tony Robbins

–

People respond in accordance to how you relate to them. If you approach them on the basis of violence, that’s how they’ll react. But if you say, ‘We want peace, we want stability,’ we can then do a lot of things that will contribute towards the progress of our society. Nelson Mandela

–

WORD TO LIVE BY:
Contribute – By giving our time, resources, money we enrich others around us, our communities and ourselves.

There are many reasons why contributing to our world, society, community, loved ones, strangers should be a priority.

The Golden Rule or law of reciprocity is the principle of treating others as one would wish to be treated oneself. Multiple religions discuss this and atheists also often embrace it. Kharma – what goes around comes around.

Some people contribute to others in some way just because they think or feel that it’s the right thing to do.

Contributing to our communities, cities, organizations and to our world is actually self-serving, too. By contributing time, money, resources, things and people improve around us. Perhaps that person that was once struggling, now doing better, can now generate some tax base, do something productive, and contribute in some way. If we help others improve then the whole group/community/society improves.

Contributing gives us good stuff personally. When we contribute or give to others, we actually get a jolt of good endorphins and hormones in our brains and bodies as we do it. We get a good feeling from contributing. Contributing give us purpose, gives us meaning, gives us lots of good things that we need.

I recall a time when I wasn’t doing well in my career or with my personal finances. I decided to join a few organizations solely for the purpose of networking so I could get more business and improve things.

I got involved, started volunteering for things, and I became active in the actual activities. I stopped looking to receive “leads” or business and just got involved. I found that I began to enjoy life more, appreciate things more and I was in fact happier. I felt driven by a purpose and felt good about spending time/effort towards a cause. I even gave money despite being tight financially. Interestingly enough, when I wasn’t looking for leads, business and when I wasn’t concerned with receiving business referrals out of it and when I just did it for the right reasons, I then began to get referrals, get business. I believe that I acted differently and that attracted the right people and situations.

Now, whenever things get out of perspective or when I have a challenge in my life I try to reflect. Often it may be a lack of focus on my part or I’m being self-centered. Contributing in some way helps me to think outward, give and this gets me back on track in many ways.

Contributing helps us leave the scarcity mindset because we’re saying, “Hey, there’s enough time/resources/money in my life and I’m going to give some of it away….” When we contribute we act from an abundance mindset, regardless what our net worth is……

Regardless of our talents, resources, wealth and finances, we all can contribute in some way.

–

Frey Freyday was actually born out of something I created called “Words To Live By” (WTLB). Going forward, I will now not only share the quotes, as you may be used to receiving, but also a related (WTLB). In 1999, when we had our first daughter, I was contemplating how I would raise my new beautiful child, and I was thinking about how I can best educate her and my other children about values, morals, and other key thoughts about life. School offers education. Religion offers some values and morals. Parents offer most of it, sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally.

So I created a (WTLB) book, like a dictionary, which lists things like honesty, love, persistence, etc. with a definition that I created, with my wife’s input. I then turned it into a workbook with one word per page and space below for notes. For years we would discuss with my two daughters and they would draw pictures and make notes in the blank space. I may share some of those images with you. As they got older, they were less inclined to draw and more open to quotes and references from adults, hence where Frey Freyday came from….

(Frey Freyday is simply a bunch of inspirational, motivational and other quotes meant to make you think, reflect, smile, even laugh a bit. Hopefully helpful, useful stuff….)

–

CONTRIBUTE – [kənˈtribyo͞ot] – give (something, especially money) in order to help achieve or provide something:

–

Don’t underestimate the power of your vision to change the world. Whether that world is your office, your community, an industry or a global movement, you need to have a core belief that what you contribute can fundamentally change the paradigm or way of thinking about problems. Leroy Hood
–

If we’re destroying our trees and destroying our environment and hurting animals and hurting one another and all that stuff, there’s got to be a very powerful energy to fight that. I think we need more love in the world. We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that. Ellen DeGeneres
–

The promise of the American Dream requires that we are all provided an equal opportunity to participate in and contribute to our nation. Charles B. Rangel
–

Having a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing seems to me to be one of the most basic principles that you can adopt to contribute to individual and world peace. Wayne Dyer
–

I am convinced that material things can contribute somewhat to making one’s life pleasant, but, basically, if you do not have very good friends and relatives who matter to you, life will be really empty and sad and material things cease to be important. David Rockefeller
–

Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment. It is not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute… that gives meaning to our lives. Tony Robbins

–

People respond in accordance to how you relate to them. If you approach them on the basis of violence, that’s how they’ll react. But if you say, ‘We want peace, we want stability,’ we can then do a lot of things that will contribute towards the progress of our society. Nelson Mandela

–

WORD TO LIVE BY:
Contribute – By giving our time, resources, money we enrich others around us, our communities and ourselves.

There are many reasons why contributing to our world, society, community, loved ones, strangers should be a priority.

The Golden Rule or law of reciprocity is the principle of treating others as one would wish to be treated oneself. Multiple religions discuss this and atheists also often embrace it. Kharma – what goes around comes around.

Some people contribute to others in some way just because they think or feel that it’s the right thing to do.

Contributing to our communities, cities, organizations and to our world is actually self-serving, too. By contributing time, money, resources, things and people improve around us. Perhaps that person that was once struggling, now doing better, can now generate some tax base, do something productive, and contribute in some way. If we help others improve then the whole group/community/society improves.

Contributing gives us good stuff personally. When we contribute or give to others, we actually get a jolt of good endorphins and hormones in our brains and bodies as we do it. We get a good feeling from contributing. Contributing give us purpose, gives us meaning, gives us lots of good things that we need.

I recall a time when I wasn’t doing well in my career or with my personal finances. I decided to join a few organizations solely for the purpose of networking so I could get more business and improve things.

I got involved, started volunteering for things, and I became active in the actual activities. I stopped looking to receive “leads” or business and just got involved. I found that I began to enjoy life more, appreciate things more and I was in fact happier. I felt driven by a purpose and felt good about spending time/effort towards a cause. I even gave money despite being tight financially. Interestingly enough, when I wasn’t looking for leads, business and when I wasn’t concerned with receiving business referrals out of it and when I just did it for the right reasons, I then began to get referrals, get business. I believe that I acted differently and that attracted the right people and situations.

Now, whenever things get out of perspective or when I have a challenge in my life I try to reflect. Often it may be a lack of focus on my part or I’m being self-centered. Contributing in some way helps me to think outward, give and this gets me back on track in many ways.

Contributing helps us leave the scarcity mindset because we’re saying, “Hey, there’s enough time/resources/money in my life and I’m going to give some of it away….” When we contribute we act from an abundance mindset, regardless what our net worth is……

Regardless of our talents, resources, wealth and finances, we all can contribute in some way.

–

Frey Freyday was actually born out of something I created called “Words To Live By” (WTLB). Going forward, I will now not only share the quotes, as you may be used to receiving, but also a related (WTLB). In 1999, when we had our first daughter, I was contemplating how I would raise my new beautiful child, and I was thinking about how I can best educate her and my other children about values, morals, and other key thoughts about life. School offers education. Religion offers some values and morals. Parents offer most of it, sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally.

So I created a (WTLB) book, like a dictionary, which lists things like honesty, love, persistence, etc. with a definition that I created, with my wife’s input. I then turned it into a workbook with one word per page and space below for notes. For years we would discuss with my two daughters and they would draw pictures and make notes in the blank space. I may share some of those images with you. As they got older, they were less inclined to draw and more open to quotes and references from adults, hence where Frey Freyday came from….

 

100 Motivational Quotes

http://www.lifehack.org/444291/100-motivational-quotes-that-will-guide-you-to-massive-success

100 Motivational Quotes

Frey Freyday – Fulfillment

(Frey Freyday is simply a bunch of inspirational, motivational and other quotes meant to make you think, reflect, smile, even laugh a bit. Hopefully helpful, useful stuff….)

FULFILLMENT – [foo l-fil-muh nt] -the state or quality of being fulfilled; completion; realization:

–

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost. H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
–

I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle. Vince Lombardi
–

Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment. Tony Robbins
–

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone’s task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it. Viktor E. Frankl
–

An attitude to life which seeks fulfillment in the single-minded pursuit of wealth – in short, materialism – does not fit into this world, because it contains within itself no limiting principle, while the environment in which it is placed is strictly limited. E. F. Schumacher
–

If you so choose, even the unexpected setbacks can bring new and positive possibilities. If you so choose, you can find value and fulfillment in every circumstance. Ralph Marston
–

It’s OK to have a plan, to invest in your future – for your financial security, your love life, your personal fulfillment, and even your happiness. To have personal happiness as a stated goal doesn’t detract from it if you get there. Karen Finerman
–

Most of us have considerable prosperity in our lives. Often, we are so busy pursuing our unmet desires that we are unable to enjoy all that we already have. Allowing ourselves to really appreciate the prosperity we have created is a big step toward opening to even greater fulfillment. Shakti Gawain
–

It is not in the pursuit of happiness that we find fulfillment, it is in the happiness of pursuit. Denis Waitley
–

WORD TO LIVE BY:
Fulfillment – It is something that we sometimes chase yet we have it right inside of us and can find it whenever we really want. Fulfilling oneself often has little to do with thinking or doing for oneself but thinking or doing for another. Fulfillment is unique to all of us. Fulfillment is necessary for happiness, happiness is necessary for fulfillment.

What does fulfillment really mean? I think that’s up to us. I think about Robin Williams. People all over the world loved him. He made us laugh and cry. He was so talented. He wanted to achieve so many things in life, and he did so. He had a hit T.V. series, great stand-up comedy, he won awards for being a comedian and for being a serious actor. He made great movies. He had a loving family and personal wealth. He had friends and loved ones. He had all of these achievements but still he was not fulfilled.

Our society can push achievement, possessions, educational accomplishments, wealth, career…. Yet those things typically don’t lead us directly to fulfillment.

Contributing, helping others, finding and following a purpose in one’s life helps us closer to fulfillment.

Appreciating what we have, being happy now regardless of the circumstances, living in the moment and thoughts of gratitude are necessary for fulfillment.

Many of us are looking for that thing that will give us deep fulfilment. It isn’t outside of you. It’s not hiding in a job, in possessions, in a house, in a relationship, or anything else. There is nothing wrong with having those things and they are all nice things to have. But remember that deep fulfillment will not come from any of those sources. It comes from you, your actions, your thoughts, the meaning you assign to things……

You’re already a full and complete person.

–

Frey Freyday was actually born out of something I created called “Words To Live By” (WTLB). Going forward, I will now not only share the quotes, as you may be used to receiving, but also a related (WTLB). In 1999, when we had our first daughter, I was contemplating how I would raise my new beautiful child, and I was thinking about how I can best educate her and my other children about values, morals, and other key thoughts about life. School offers education. Religion offers some values and morals. Parents offer most of it, sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally.

So I created a (WTLB) book, like a dictionary, which lists things like honesty, love, persistence, etc. with a definition that I created, with my wife’s input. I then turned it into a workbook with one word per page and space below for notes. For years we would discuss with my two daughters and they would draw pictures and make notes in the blank space. I may share some of those images with you. As they got older, they were less inclined to draw and more open to quotes and references from adults, hence where Frey Freyday came from….

Frey Freyday – Needs

(Frey Freyday is simply a bunch of inspirational, motivational and other quotes meant to make you think, reflect, smile, even laugh a bit. Hopefully helpful, useful stuff….)

NEEDS – [needz] a lack of something wanted or deemed necessary

A friend is what the heart needs all the time. Henry Van Dyke
–

A home with a loving and loyal husband and wife is the supreme setting in which children can be reared in love and righteousness and in which the spiritual and physical needs of children can be met. David A. Bednar
–

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. John Muir
–

Communication is a continual balancing act, juggling the conflicting needs for intimacy and independence. To survive in the world, we have to act in concert with others, but to survive as ourselves, rather than simply as cogs in a wheel, we have to act alone. Deborah Tannen
–

Encouragement to others is something everyone can give. Somebody needs what you have to give. It may not be your money; it may be your time. It may be your listening ear. It may be your arms to encourage. It may be your smile to uplift. Who knows? Joel Osteen
–

Each person holds so much power within themselves that needs to be let out. Sometimes they just need a little nudge, a little direction, a little support, a little coaching, and the greatest things can happen. Pete Carroll
–

What a person needs to change is to change his awareness of himself. Abraham Maslow
–

WORD TO LIVE BY:

Needs – something we must fill or meet to grow

Abraham Harold Maslow was an American psychologist who was best known for creating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This was such a great insight for humanity. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, simply put, states that people are motivated to achieve certain needs, and that some needs take precedence over others. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on.

It is basically a five stage hierarchy and it can be divided into basic (deficiency) needs (including physiological, safety) and growth needs (such as love, esteem). These all relate to fulfilling our human potential which Maslow referred to as self-actualization.

Basic needs motivate people when they are not met. Also, people need to fulfill such needs and the need will become stronger the longer the duration they are denied. This is easy to understand if you consider a hunger person; the longer a person goes without food the more hungry they will become.

People must satisfy  these lower level needs before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs. When a basic need has been satisfied it will go away. Growth needs, on the other hand, remain and may even become stronger once they have been felt. If these growth needs have been reasonably satisfied, one may be able to reach the highest level called self-actualization.It has been stated that every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy of needs towards self-actualization.

Progress is often disrupted by failure to meet lower level needs – it is difficult to be creative, be accomplished, have strong relationships if you’re starving or if you don’t have security and safety. Death of a loved one, divorce, loss of job and other life experiences may cause an individual to fluctuate between levels of the hierarchy.

Most of us here in the U.S. have our basic needs met – food, water, warmth, rest, safety, security. Do you think we meet many of the others?

Probably because our basic needs are met, there are others that have a similar, yet shorter breakdown of needs; for instance Tony Robbins discusses Six Human Needs:

1. Certainty/Comfort. We all want comfort. And much of this comfort comes from certainty. Of course there is no absolute certainty, but we want certainty the car will start, the water will flow from the tap when we turn it on and the currency we use will hold its value.
2. Variety. At the same time we want certainty, we also crave variety. Paradoxically, there needs to be enough UNcertainty to provide spice and adventure in our lives.
3. Significance. Deep down, we all want to be important. We want our life to have meaning and significance.
4. Connection/Love. We all have some form of the need for love. We want to feel part of a community. We want to be cared for and cared about.
5. Growth. There could be some people who say they don’t want to grow, but I think they’re simply fearful of doing so—or perhaps not doing so – or making a mistake. Growth means to become better, to improve our skills, to stretch and to excel.
6. Contribution. The desire to contribute something of value—to help others, to make the world a better place than we found it.

Regardless which process, list or philosophy you prefer, Are you meeting all of your needs? Are you meeting the needs of your children? Of your spouse?

What one thing can you do to address a need for someone else? For yourself?

–

Frey Freyday was actually born out of something I created called “Words To Live By” (WTLB). Going forward, I will now not only share the quotes, as you may be used to receiving, but also a related (WTLB). In 1999, when we had our first daughter, I was contemplating how I would raise my new beautiful child, and I was thinking about how I can best educate her and my other children about values, morals, and other key thoughts about life. School offers education. Religion offers some values and morals. Parents offer most of it, sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally.

So I created a (WTLB) book, like a dictionary, which lists things like honesty, love, persistence, etc. with a definition that I created, with my wife’s input. I then turned it into a workbook with one word per page and space below for notes. For years we would discuss with my two daughters and they would draw pictures and make notes in the blank space. I may share some of those images with you. As they got older, they were less inclined to draw and more open to quotes and references from adults, hence where Frey Freyday came from….

10 Things You Absolutely Need To Know About Student Loans

By Maggie McGrath ,  http://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2016/01/05/10-things-you-absolutely-need-to-know-about-student-loans/#6689f7953a57 

FORBES 

 As is typically the case, the majority of Americans are professing that the new year will be “the year” they get their finances in order. Never mind the fact that an even larger majority reported that they had failed to follow-through on last year’s self-improvement quests; 2016 will be the one in which they finally prioritize paying off debt and building their savings.

These are certainly noble goals, and I wish everyone luck in their journey towards financial betterment. But goals are one thing; informed plans are another. So, if you’re a part of the 32% who say that paying off debt is your number one goal in 2016 – and if said debt is student debt – here are ten things you need to know as you embark on the road to debt-free living:

1. Organization is paramount. If you have multiple loans with multiple different servicers, it can be helpful to create a list of who you owe, the required minimum monthly payment (and due date), and the website you go to when you need to make a payment and view your account details. Not sure who you owe? Head to the National Student Loan Database at nslds.ed.gov to view all of your guaranteed loans (that includes “direct loans” from Uncle Sam and the guaranteed student loans that were made by private lenders through June 2010) and the contact info for those loans’ servicers. Note: prior to May of 2015, you needed a Federal Student Aid PIN to get into the NSLDS site, but as of May 10, 2015, the FSA ID replaced the Federal PIN. If it’s been awhile since you’ve logged into a federal student loan site (like fafsa.gov), you’ll need to create an FSA ID – which you can do here. Once you have your FSA ID, you’ll be able to log into nslds.ed.gov.

If you have private loans but aren’t sure where, pull your credit report atannualcreditreport.com to see who you owe. Once you have your list of loans and account info, be sure to log into each account and make sure your servicer has an up-to-date address, phone number and email address for you (or, if you’re a parent reading this, for your child). You would not believe the number of horror stories out there about people who gave a servicer a college address, moved away, never updated the account info, and fell behind on payments because they never received any “payment due” notifications at their new address.

2. There ARE federal alternative repayment options. If after making the above list of loans and monthly payments you find that your monthly obligation is just too much to bear — and, crucially, if some or all of your debt is federally guaranteed — consider entering into an income-driven repayment plan. Depending on what your monthly income is and when you originated your federally guaranteed loans, you could qualify to have your student loan payments capped at 10%, 15% or 20% of your discretionary income and payment period stretched to 20 or 25 years. You can find details on each plan at studentaid.ed.gov, and you can apply for one at studentloans.gov. Just note: the longer it takes you to pay off your loans, the more you’ll pay in interest.

3. There are also ways to get relief on your private student loans. The above alternative repayment plans are only for federally-guaranteed loans, but if you’re struggling to make payments on student loans held with a private servicer (like Discover or Citizens Bank), it is possible to call the servicer and see what relief they can provide. Banks like Wells Fargo and Discover offer loan modifications or interest rate reductions for struggling borrowers; some lenders also may temporarily postpone your payments while you get on your feet.

4. If you’re in good credit standing, you could qualify to refinance your student loans to better terms. Over the past several years, start-ups like SoFi, CommonBond and Earnest haveentered the student loan space and made it possible for borrowers with excellent credit to refinance their loans to better rates. The emphasis, though, is on the word “excellent”: folks with high incomes and a solid credit history have a better chance than most of qualifying for one of these loans. If you do qualify, the upside is tremendous: these companies can help borrowers save upwards of $14,000 over the life of their loans.

5. But don’t be swindled by student debt scams. All of the above options – income-based repayment plans listed on studentaid.ed.gov, refis with companies like SoFi, CommonBond and Earnest – are all perfectly legitimate and financially secure ways to repay your student debt. However, there are a number of sketchy players out there who are trying to take advantage of desperate debtors. These hucksters create websites that look like they belong to the U.S. Department of Education (spoiler alert: they don’t) and advertise “student debt forgiveness” or “student debt settlement.” All they ask in exchange for their “help” is a hefty up-front fee and monthly payments every month thereafter. How to know who to avoid? A list of some of the worst offenders can be found here; if you get a phone solicitation from one of these names – or any other company that is pressuring you into a repayment plan, and to pay for said plan – hang up the phone.

6. Put your payments on auto-debit. Like most things personal-finance, making student loan payments is easier if you can “set it and forget it.” Some lenders even offer a .25% reduction on your interest rate if you put your monthly payments on auto-pilot. One reason not to do this? If you’re on an extremely tight budget and risk over-drawing your account with automatic payments. If that’s the case, though, see the above points on alternative repayment options, and also be sure to set calendar alerts before each payment is due, just so you don’t forget.

7. The Fed just raised interest rates, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the rate on your loan will increase. As Iwrote at the time, if you have a student loan with a fixed interest rate — which you do if you borrowed from the federal government after July 1, 2006, or locked in a fixed-rate private student loan — the Fed’s decision means nothing to you. Your rate will stay the same. If you have a variable-rate loan, you will see your rate start to fluctuate. Whether or not this uncertainty scares you enough to refinance your loan into a fixed-rate depends on both your tolerance for risk and the duration of the loan you hold. (To see more about what the Fed’s rate hike means for your student loans, head here.)

8. If you’re still in school, it’s not too late to get a scholarship.Contrary to popular belief, scholarships aren’t just for incoming freshman – there are also grants available for rising sophomores, juniors and even seniors. You can search for scholarships through sites like Cappex.com, Fastweb.com and Scholarships.com.

9. If you’re about to enter college or still in college, it’s critical that you understand the financial aid “award” letter. There’s much that can be said about the financial aid award letters that arrive every spring – and for a comprehensive list of what to know, head here – but above all, know this: the number next to the term “financial aid award” is not necessarily entirely free money. In order to come up with the aid total, many colleges mix loans with grants and scholarships. Doing this makes your total “aid award” look bigger, but as you well know by now, loans are not gifts. They need to be repaid.

10. Your life is not over because you have debt. This, in my opinion, is the most important thing to keep in mind as you go about repaying your loans. Yes, some borrowers would sell an organ in order to get rid of their debt, but others have borrowed $50,000 or more (for an undergraduate degree) and don’t regret a single cent. Speaking as someone who is still repaying her own student loans, allow me to say: I get it, 100%. Life with student debt can be stressful; it can be frustrating to see hundreds of dollars go “out the window” every month when you’d rather save for a house, car or even family. But I’ve found that making those monthly payments can be a good way to learn how to budget, how to live below your means; critically, it can also help you build a solid credit history. Besides, if you have student loans, you have them because you got an education (ideally, you got a degree, but at the very least, you got an education). And that’s something that will last you a lifetime.

From taxes to employee benefits to life insurance, here are 100 Things You Absolutely Need To Know About Money Before You’re 35. #100MoneyTips