Med Jones

One question can make all the difference between your success or failure. A winner asks how it will be done. A loser asks why it cannot be done. Asking how to succeed, helps you find a way. Asking why you will fail, gives you an excuse to stay.

Take care of the success of those who work with you and they will take care of your success. Honor and respect those who support your success, including the ones who manage you and the ones you manage.

We over praise leaders when organizations succeed and over blame them when organizations fail. Success or failure depends on the environment as much as or even more than the leader. Effective leaders navigate and influence the environment to enable key success factors for their followers

The four columns of success are motivation, education, actions and relations

The pursuit of happiness" is an American myth. The ideologies and governments of this century that promised happiness, have left people with more material possessions, but less psychological well being. Many of the citizens are emotionally bankrupt and unhappy. The demands of life in our current socioeconomic system require that we keep running and running with little or no breaks....Like their parents, most of the young professionals will drift through life racing for the "American Dream", going through very expensive trial and error lessons and struggling to achieve happiness and fulfillment.

In the Internet age, information is cheap. Education is expensive.

Countries that quit producing real products, spend more than they produce, lag in education, burden their middle class with higher taxes, and continue to import billions from other countries, bail out failed businesses and reward bad behavior instead of investing in good businesses, will eventually lose their leadership and wealth

Over the long term, if government revenues continue to be more than expenditures (surplus), then the economic health of the country is good, because the government can afford to invest in development projects such as research and development, education and infrastructure. With more income, the government can also afford to lower taxes, which increase corporate profits and attracts more foreign investors, resulting in more economic activities, creating more jobs and enlarging the consumer spending and government revenues overall despite income tax cuts. It is what I call a virtuous economic cycle.

Over the long term, if government revenues continue to be more than expenditures (surplus), then the economic health of the country improves, because the government can afford to invest in development projects such as research and development, education and infrastructure. With more income, the government can also afford to lower taxes, which increases corporate profits and attracts more foreign investors, resulting in more economic activities, creating more jobs and enlarging consumer spending and government revenues despite income tax cuts. It is what I call a virtuous economic cycle.

In life, we have three choices; to lead, follow or resist the change. The last choice is the usually the most expensive one.

Work for life and life will work for you!

A simple lifestyle gives you freedom. An expensive lifestyle enslaves you. Create a simple lifestyle, regardless of how much money you earn. Simple living will remove unnecessary demands on your life and free your mind to make the right choices. Simplicity will reduces your stress and make you happier

Although the protesters in Egypt and neighboring countries are calling for democratic reforms, in reality they are calling for better economic life. Democracy is only a means to an end. I believe the driving forces behind the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings are economical. A chronic high unemployment combined with an inflation in food prices is a volatile mix that can lead to major civic outbursts.

Contrary to popular belief, transformation cannot be based on a single event, advice, book, or seminar. These things may lead to a new insight or even a temporary change, however, real transformation requires the formation of new thinking patterns and behavioral habits. Transformation requires consistent action and time to reinforce new learned values and drop old ones. Once the process of transformation is completed, it will change who you are, your life and the lives of the people around you.

From a psychological point of view, when people go under pressure in life, be it economically or otherwise, they seek support from the people closest to them, usually religious or ethnic groups. They also start blaming other groups who have more control over the national resources. If the gap of power is wide, this will eventually create deep divisions in the nation. The divisions can take on new forms of conflict such as class warfare, ethnic, religious, political unrest and sometime civil war. The only effective protection against national divisions is an open socioeconomic system with a large and growing middle class