I wrote a segment a while back about ‘Corporate Responsibility’ highlighting corporations that I felt where doing a responsible job at their business, and thus, were worth shopping at. Since then, I now do a monthly Corporate Responsibility segment on a world-famous podcast. It’s important to have a chance to educate others on where to shop, because so often the excuse for not buying responsibly is a plea of ignorance.

However, even after you get educated about ‘fair trade’, ‘eco-friendly’, socially responsible options, you still have to make a decision and make that purchase. Capitalism is a system that is run by your purchases, much like a democracy functions through peoples votes. Boycotts in a basic sense are simply using your purchasing power as a vote, banding enough people together to ‘vote’ a particular corporation to make a decision. On a smaller scale, every purchase you make, as it aligns with your values, is a small vote toward a particular business and value system and/or away from another. What’s my point? Though your purchasing decisions can be a powerful tool to enact the kind of global justice you’d like to see in the world, if you do not have firm values, that purchasing power can become worthless. Let me illustrate.

This past week I need to paint. Not something you do every day, but definitely a very common and frequently purchased item. As I thought about the idea of purchasing paint, three values came to mind: environmental concerns, supporting local businesses and price. I’d noticed a local coop that advertised non-toxic paint and gave them a call. To purchase a 5 gallon bucket of non-toxic paint I’d have to pre-order and the cost would be somewhere around $200. Sounded expensive, but this would support my value concerning the environment. A quick call to Home Depot revealed that I could purchase a 5 gallon bucket of white paint for about $50. This definitely fit into the price value, allowing more money to go toward debts and others needs. Finally, I stopped by my local hardware store, 5 gallons= $80. Three different options, each supporting three values of mine, but seemingly in conflict. So, what was I supposed to choose?

The problem with the way I went about this purchasing decision is that I was vague on my values. Had I waited, thought through what values was most important in this decision and then stuck to that, the decision for what paint to buy wouldn’t have been a difficult decision. Not only would it not have been difficult, but I believe it would have given me more purchasing power.

Businesses don’t necessarily recognize this on an individual scale, but when they look at the big picture they can see the trends. They can see that people like me, who might tout the environment on my blog, but when it comes down to making a decision, I’m going to go with the cheaper option. When they look and see where the ‘votes’ really are, they recognize whats really important for their business, and my ability to sway them with my purchasing decisions grows weaker and weaker.

The point of this story is to help us recognize the importance of being clear on our values. Especially, when it comes to any collective efforts. The decision to shop locally, if done by an entire community can have an incredible impact on the well being of that community, but only if it is done consistently and collectively. The decision to purchase environmentally friendly products can have a great impact on the planet and you and your household, but again it should be done consistently (non-toxic paint, cleaned with toxic cleaners might balance each other out). I’m not advocating always buying the cheapest possible thing, but I want to encourage you to think through your values before you begin considering your purchases, which should help you both make your decision and promote your values.

The habit of sitting down and writing every day is a good habit to be in. It’s also a good habit to read every day. Both are positive things, and I think in a large degree can be positive no matter how you go about them. If you just read Sports Illustrated and just write on your friends facebook wall, that is better then nothing at all. However, if you really want to be intentional about those skills keeping you sharp, educated and continually thinking, it’s good to refine them every once in a while.

This blog is, has been, and will continue to be a useful tool for me to express my thoughts through writing. Based on the feedback of those reading, I’ve continued to try and write one post a day, hopefully interesting and engage. My intention is to continue to do that. At the same time, I’ve found my best writing and thoughts, which is what I try and present you with, don’t often come at that small window of time that I sit down at my computer, while the kiddo is napping, and attempt to have a deep thought. That being said, lately, writing things I felt were post worthy has become more difficult. Thus, the need for the title, What you Are About to Read is a Recording.

Here’s how I plan to refine my writing. I’m going to continue to write, a lot. But, there are certain, non-bloggable avenues I want to pursue with my writing, trying my hand at a children’s book, some spoken word experimenting, trying to get into a magazine or two. I also really want to comb through the hundreds of random text files and notebooks and other pages of writing I’ve written in years past, a time consuming, but hopefully thought provoking task for myself. All that to say, my goal for this blog is as follows. I’ll try to continue to make routine posts, and hopefully still thought provoking and engaging, but I’m going to try and pull away from current events, linking to other blogs, etc.

As to reading, this is the other area that needs refining. I love reading others thoughts, blogs are a great way to do that, and I love keeping up with the blogs of others who happen to read my blog, but I need a break. I’m still on track with reading a book a week, which has been a great habit for me, but it’s also caused me to feel sort of overwhelmed due to a backlog of unread blog posts in my rss reader. What I’d love to do instead is have more direct communication, friends and others reading what I write who email me links to blog posts they’ve written or read that they think I’ll enjoy. Rather then personally combing through 100+ blog posts every Monday as I’ve been in the habit of doing, I’d love to just get a handful of emails from friends who think I’d be greatly encouraged by this blog post or that. Maybe that’s what Thursdays will be, rather then linking it will be a day to call for worthwhile online reading material. (that’s what I get for thinking out loud).

Oh, and I think I’m going to be writing short pieces. I want to work on my writing, and writing short will force me to be more creative and engaging with my language, and hopefully make it easier for me to edit and improve. That’s what’s up with me.

Last week I read The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss. Considering I currently don’t have any ‘workweek’ to speak of, I figure 4 hours might be a step in the right direction, especially if he’s suggesting that’s all you need to work. It was a decent read.

Like many of these self-help, get-rich types of book, most of his ideas could have been summed up much more concisely, but then he wouldn’t of had a book to publish, sell and hit the top sellers list with. It did have some unique ideas in it as well though.

The reality that interruptions, from email, phone calls, and meetings, seriously hamper ones work productivity, is nothing new. Ferriss, however, suggests you radically cut down on those distractions. Not just limiting your email and phone checking to once a week (or less), but even how to avoid meetings in the corporate world. The reason is the ultimate goal is to work remotely, thus being able to travel and anywhere.

After cutting back on your communication channels you’ll be way more productive and thus can suggest to your boss that you work at home a couple days a week, proving during a trial run that your way more productive that way, and eventually, cutting back to nearly complete remote work. I’m sure there is a lot of jobs this could work for, but none of my previous ones, or my wife’s current one fall into that category.

The last unique idea was to get a personal assistant for yourself, basically to do all the boring and time consuming things you have to do for both work and personal life. The idea is to ‘outsource’ and thus free up your time to do what you really want. Your Man In India is one of the sites to find a virtual assistant.

All that to say, the book was a decent read, but nothing phenomenal. If your ultimate goal is to work 4 hours a week and make enough money to travel the world on mini-retirements while doing so, then you might want to pick this book up, but it certainly isn’t a full proof guide.

His website, The Four Hour Workweek has some bonus chapters you might find interesting. I’ll leave the password in the comments