On July 16, I wrote a column titled, “It’s Time to Turn the Economy Around.”
In that piece, I stated that it will only happen if we are prepared to pull it off ourselves; no government entity is going to flip a switch.
On Aug. 21, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan reduced the interest rate another quarter-percent, the seventh such rate cut this year. Experts predict another quarter-percent cut will occur in October.
Here is a government official doing all he can do to rev up the engine that is idling away in each of our driveways, waiting for the driver to put the pedal to the metal and get the economy on the right road.
The problem with Greenspan and those who are trying their best to move the economy forward is, none are attacking the right part of the problem. Sure, interest rates normally do the trick, but mortgage rates, for instance, have not responded to all the reductions. So while houses are selling in many markets, in other market sales are stagnant.
I see the major problem needing attention is FEAR or False Evidence Appearing Real. No matter what is being done, FEAR is not being dealt with. In my readings this week, I ran across this example of FEAR and dealing with it.
SURMOUNTING LIFE’S PEAKS
The next time you’re faced with a seemingly insurmountable task, consider the hurdles Erik Weihermayer has overcome. Erik has worked as a middle school teacher, run marathons and performed acrobatic skydiving stunts. He’s also a scuba diver, downhill skier and long-distance bicyclist. Those are impressive accomplishments for any 32-year-old. However, Erik has been blind since age 13, when a degenerative disease destroyed his retinas.
But being blind has not prevented him from embracing all life has to offer. Recently, Erik hit a new personal high by becoming the first blind climber to reach the top of Mt. Everest.
“I just kept telling myself, ‘Be focused,'” Erik explained to a CNN interviewer after his ascent.
“Be full of energy. Keep relaxed. Don’t let all those distractions , the fear and the doubt , creep into your brain, because that’s what ruins you up there.”
That’s good advice for climbing any kind of mountain, be it made of rock or something more personal.
As you can tell, Erik has not let FEAR enter his thinking whatsoever. I hope each of us can pick up a little more courage from him.
The second example is about a different approach to FEAR and its power.
DON’T TRAP YOURSELF BEHIND A ‘HOUDINI DOOR’
A story about legendary escape artist Harry Houdini, told by professional speaker Marcia Weider in “Is Fear Killing Your Dreams?” demonstrates the danger of mistaken assumptions. According to the tale, Houdini began his career by traveling throughout Europe, visiting small towns and challenging the local jailer to bind him in a straitjacket and lock him in a cell. He had no trouble until he reached a small Irish village.
In front of a crowd of townspeople and newspaper reporters, Houdini easily broke free of the straitjacket, but he failed to unlock the cell.
After everyone had left, Houdini admitted defeat and asked the jailer to release him. Then the jailer confessed his trick: He’d never locked the cell door. Houdini had succeeded only in locking himself in.
“Where’s the Houdini door in your life?” writes Weider. “Where is there an obstacle or an apparent reality that looks like it is stopping you, when all you need to do is act on your dream? This flings the door open, showing you and the people around you that you are more committed to your dream than you are to your fear.”
Both examples reinforces my premise that the only way to fix a broken economy is to tell FEAR to take a hike and set about putting yourself, your company and your product out in the limelight and let the customer know you’re needed by each and every one of them.
To the balance sheet.
Credit:
To the Oceanside American Little League All-Star team that is playing its heart out in the elimination rounds trying to represent our country in the Little League World Series.
In my opinion, win or lose, these kids are already huge winners. The experience they are living as I write this will stay with them all the rest of their lives. These young men are role models for kids around the world. They are all nationalities, races, sizes and shapes, which illustrate what desire and self-discipline can do for you.
It goes without saying that while there is FEAR in each of them, they are not letting it manage them. I salute the kids, coaches and parents of the Oceanside All-Stars for being winners and representing our region around the world.
Credit:
To William Rastetter, CEO of Idec Pharmaceuticals, for being selected as one of Fortune magazine’s Top 100 Fastest-Growing Public Companies in America list. Idec came in at No. 43 on this year’s list. With a sluggish economy and being a biotechnology company, it is doubly difficult to make any profitability list.
To get on this list, they had to have been publicly traded for at least three years and have revenue and market cap of $50 million. At a minimum, firms had to show 30 percent annual growth over three years in revenue, earnings per share and positive earnings in the latest quarter and for the last four quarters combined. None of the criteria is easy to attain, let alone all of them.
William and his 450 or so associates deserve big kudos for bringing recognition to them and our community with hard work and dedication.
