Wednesday Wisdom Worth Sharing

In the world of business and in the social interactive areas of organizations, we very often are constrained from saying whatever is on our mind, or responding to the actions of others how ever we might like. As a result, euphemisms came about to take the place of what we might want to say, with just a word or two.

The power of the euphemism is that a great deal can be said with just a few words, validating Shakespeare's "Brevity is the soul of wit...". Here are some euphemisms compiled from personal experience, as well as web locations. You may find them appropriate for use in your next conversation, but be sure to listen for them as well!

404: Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error message "404 Not Found," meaning that the requested document could not be located.

Adminisphere: The rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve.

Blamestorming: Sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible (typically the person missing from the discussion).

Categorical Inaccuracies: False reports

Cost Contained: When overtime is not an available option.

Cube Farm (also Cubeville): An office filled with cubicles.

Edutainment: Content with a high degree of both educational and entertainment value is known as edutainment.. The 1970’s School House Rock and Grammar Rock for example.

Generica: Features of the American landscape that are exactly the same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls, subdivisions.

Irritainment: Entertainment and media spectacles that are annoying but you find yourself unable to stop watching them.

Liquidity Crisis: The severe shortage of expendable funds

Mouse Potato: The 21^st century on-line individual’s answer to the couch potato.

OhNoSecond: That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a BIG mistake.

Percussive Maintenance: The fine art of whacking the heck out of an electronic device to get it to work again.

Prairie Dogging: When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on.

Seagull Manager: A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything and then leaves.

SITCOM: Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What yuppies turn into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids.

Starter Marriage: A short-lived first marriage that ends in divorce with no kids, no property and no regrets.

Stress Puppy: A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiny.

Swipeout: An ATM or credit card that has been rendered useless because the magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use.

WOOFYS: Well Off Older Folks

XEROX Subsidy: Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one's workplace.

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Contributions to this page are recognized from: 

Hamlet Act 2, scene 2, 86–92

http://www.linkydinky.com/newwords.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org

Wasting Time is not What you Might Think. (From The Headscratcher Post)

June 2013  The Headscratcher Post ©  Headscratchers LLC

Wasting Time ... not what you might think. When thinking about productivity, "Time" of course is a variable, so we starting thinking more about time, how we use it, and how we waste it. We discovered something very interesting about wasting time.   Just about everyone would agree that we just don't have enough time, therefore it is prudent to spend a few minutes thinking about how to avoid wasting it. We use our time in a variety of activities, mainly in a few categories;   - Time to Learn - Time we use to learn something.   - Time to Do - Time we use to get something accomplished (off your "to-do" list)   - Time for Nature - Sleeping, eating, hygiene, exercise, etc.   - Time for others - Time we devote to others.   - Time for self - Time we use for ourself; watching re-runs of "Friends", reading a fiction book, relaxing, vacations, going to a basketball game, hobbies, etc. The average person will spend at least half the day due to Nature. While you can reduce how much sleep you get, or occasionally skip a meal, in the long term, you can't do much about this average. This leaves less than half the day available for other things. The time you allocate to the other four categories will vary,each day, week, and season. If you're taking care of someone who is ill, your "Time for others" will increase. If you're exceptionally busy at work, or you're ready to host a party at home, then the time for "Do" might increase. If you're lucky enough to vacation at a beach hotel in Hawaii, then you'll spend more time for "self". If you're trying to figure out how to refinish a piece of furniture, you might spend more time in "Learning", so the time you spend "doing" is not going into "redoing". Two time slots that seem to get sacrificed the most are Time for Learning and Time for Self. These take self discipline to allocate time for. This is a shame, because time for Learning is critically important for staying healthy and productive, as is time for self. If we didn't waste time, we might have more for these activities. So what is wasting time? Is it playing a game on a smart phone, watching a You-tube video, reading the comics in the newspaper, taking the long, but scenic route, as you drive, having a conversation with a friend about a meal you had together six years ago? NO .. this is not wasting time, this is time spent in those five categories. Wasting time is not about what you're spending time on, but if it has value. Mind you, the value might be in relaxing, or maintaining a relationship, or satisfying your curiosity, or feeling good after a laugh. The value is up to you, it's your time.   However, when you don't consciously think about what value an activity has, and it ends up having no value to you, then you have wasted your time. For example; when there is a news item, we might watch TV, or browse the internet, and listen to the same news, several times. OK, we're curious. What if you were to stop for a moment and ask "what is the value for me to spend 10 minutes listening to yet another report on the same news item, possibly with one or two added pieces of information". Is there value? If so, then go ahead and watch, call it "self time", or "learning time", or whatever. But if there is no value, and you've recognized that prior to using the time, then you have saved time, and not wasted it.   You only waste it if you spend time on something that has no value, and you haven't recognized that prior to spending the time. How much time do you spend at home, play or work that, in retrospect, didn't have any value? Remember, the value could be to learn, or for self, or for others. It doesn't have to be a "to-do". It doesn't have to be valuable to others. It is a waste, if it didn't have any value to you, and you didn't recognize it before spending the time on it. The Takeway: Our time is one of the most valuable assets we have. It's limited, it continues to move forward, and you can't get it back, so chose how you use Time wisely.  Think about what you're using your time for, and ask, "Is there value here". If so, go for it, if not, you've saved time for something that does have value.

Wednesday Wisdom Worth Sharing

Peace is a Choice! 
Every waking moment we are presented with options and opportunities to choose to do with as we will. Once the choice is made, we have the option to walk forward into the choice, or look backward at the choice we did not make. When we choose to look backward we create anxiety within ourselves, as we second and third guess what might have happened, and what could have been.

However, when we square our shoulders and walk forward, we do so with the full knowledge that we made the decision, it wasn't made for us; and in doing so we have an opportunity to be at peace with ourselves.

So where does the anxiety stem from? 

Occasionally from within, but more often than not, it is pressed upon us from without! What we watch, what we listen to, who we talk with, and who we allow to speak into our lives can dramatically increase or decrease our opportunities for peace. Therefore guard your mind against negativity and you can experience greater, and more fulfilling peace!
by E. Matthews