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The Borovkoff Blog

“Neo-Pagan Modern Thoughts On Society”

Category Archives: Philosophy

August 1, 2012 Required Reading for All Corporate Decision Makers – Linchpin

Cover image for Linchpin by Seth Godin

Cover image for Linchpin by Seth Godin

“Do your job. Show up. Work hard. Listen to the boss. Stick it out. Be part of the system. You’ll be rewarded.
That’s the scam. Strong words, but true. You’ve been scammed. You traded years of your life to be part of a giant con in which you are most definitely not the winner.
If you’ve been playing that game, it’s no wonder you’re frustrated. That game is over.
There are no longer any great jobs where someone else tells you precisely what to do.”

Seth Godin – Linchpin

The world has been changing from a left-brained, number crunching, factory worker mentality to a new right-brained, artistic, think outside the box, innovative one. Seth Godin lays out his plan of action to re-find yourself and mold yourself as the marketable right-brained person that is needed to swing our world’s economy back around. I just started reading his book, “Linchpin” and can only say that I agree with him 110% so far. He has his finger on the pulse in this book and its nice to see it written out in English before my eyes. This book should be absolutely mandatory for all corporate/agency decision makers. It will help you save your business and help your employees become more productive, happier, and more of an asset to your company.

We need to celebrate the end of the factory worker mindset. We need to place greater pride and value on the creatives in our culture. That time is now. We see it all around us with the advent of the tech startup in full swing again and thinking constantly outside the box to achieve rewards. If done right, this will herald the coming of a golden age. Perhaps the Aztec doom day calendar is actually summarizing Seth’s opinions hundreds of years before him?

A Whole New Mind cover by Daniel Pink

A Whole New Mind cover by Daniel Pink

In like mind, Daniel Pink’s marvelous book “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future” sets out the change in our society clearly and precisely. I gobbled this book up so fast, and craved more. The resource sections in this book are worth the price tag alone! A small, easy to read book, Daniel’s philosophy is that we must balance out the left and right brain and realize that the previous era of mathematical, non-emotion is going away, and a new breed of valued employee is emerging from the mist, one that can do almost anything, with little schooling needed, and a fearless inner strength to battle against the mass idiot making machines of the corrupted and disqualified American school systems.

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July 14, 2012 And the Trouble with the Economy is???

It's been awhile since I have blogged, as I have been working my way through the tough parts of life. But I feel like the current state of the US economy is pulling me back into action. The common factor on most Americans minds is “what is the trouble with our economy?”

You really don't have to look that far to find some answers:

  1. A current presidential, millionaire candidate that has been outsourcing work to other countries in order that his golden pockets get heavier?
  2. A clothing designer who has US Olympic team uniforms made overseas? Yah, that makes sense!
  3. A city mayor, ex basketball player, who thinks the solution to a city's financial woes is building ANOTHER arena for basketball?
  4. A state governor who thinks the solution to rapidly declining funds is to increase taxes on local business and cut much needed services to the needy?
  5. A population of older parents who think ALL successful kids must graduate college with an unending debt of school loans before they even make money or know how to do anything productive at all?
  6. Education officials that need $200k jobs to do…. What exactly? While the teachers and students struggle.
  7. Checkout lines that are robotically controlled by the patrons themselves, while previous cashiers lose their jobs?
  8. A population of prisoners that continues to increase and grow more dangerous but not be valued by anyone at all?
  9. Allowing religious institutions to play politics, own property, devalue opposing populations and yet pay 0 taxes?
  10. A small percentage of Americans controlling most of the money?
  11. Banks being saved by the government for making crooked decisions?
  12. Athletes who make more money than entrepreneurs?

And the problem with the economy is what again???

 

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March 10, 2012 A New Life, A Cat, and a Review of Simply Clean Litter Box

Many of you who know me, realize that I have entered one of the toughest depressions of my life. In October I ended a very unhealthy, poisonous relationship with my partner and began a new chapter of my life. One alone.

The holidays were tough to get through. But I made them. The loneliness was unbearable, but I live with it daily. And with the loneliness has come a new freedom and a new desire to find myself again. Don’t we ever get too old to find ourselves? It seems like every so many years, we all go through a self revitalization once again. I thought I knew who I was at this point in my life, but I am finding that I have no idea who I am, what I like, and where I am going. That is a scary feeling.

Image of PyewackittOne of my solutions to help with my depression and my fear of coming home to an empty house was to get a pet. In December, the SPCA ran a special to adopt any pet at 70% off the costs. I figured the fates were telling me that this was the time to do just that. I needed a friend who would give me unconditional love and be there for me when I got home. I lost all faith in humans after the most painful and gutter ugly break up of my life. I went with two friends to the SPCA and a cat chose me. A wonderful seal point Siamese named “Pyewackitt” after the witches familiar in “Bell, Book and Candle”. Its a great movie with Jimmy Stewert, Kim Novak, Jack Lemon and a host of other notable actors and actresses. If you have not seen it, I recommend it highly. If not just for the vision of Kim Novak and her beautiful face and wonderfully styled costumes. Anyway, Pyewackitt looks just like the cat familiar in the movies, so it was an easy name choice.

A pet brings a love and fullness to your life that is hard to come by with other people. They depend on you. They look forward to seeing you always. They entertain you. And they sense when you are feeling low or not so chipper. And Pye is no exception to that. Very often he lays on my chest and licks the tears off my eyes, or just presses his mouth up against mine and purrs. A native American friend of mine said that cats have the ability to suck the darkness from our souls. That is why they purr and put their faces in our face. They are the animal healer. And truth to be told, Pye has made me feel a whole lot better. I enjoy coming home to him now. I look forward to waking up a little more each day. And I love watching Pye grow and bond more and more to me. He was the best investment I have ever made in my health.

Simply Clean auto litter boxLastly for today’s post I wanted to review a automatic litter box that I bought for Pyewackitt. Its called Simply Clean and its a complete waste of time and money. The basis of the litter box is that the kitty does their business in this round box that is slowly turning. The waste gets taken up a conveyer belt and deposited in a receptacle ready for disposal. No fuss, no muss. Right? WRONG. First thing is first, automatic litter boxes are expensive! This thing cost almost $90 and it was the cheaper of my choices. Its made of solid plastic and is based on an interesting idea, but not worth $90. Actually its not even really worth $20. The thing is noisy. The thing is very smelly and seems to attract odors way more than a standard littler box. And the conveyer belt gets jammed sometimes which means you have to mess with it to get it to work again. I would caution anyone to avoid this thing. Save your money for a good clumping litter and just use the normal litter boxes that depend on manual cleaning.

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October 24, 2011 There is skin picking and then there is Dermatillomania!

Many people pick their skin. Its part of normal maintenance to remove dead skin, tear off a hang nail that is bothering you, pull off a white head the is irritating you, or picking that scab that is dry and itchy. Its a normal part of human cleanup.

But in some cases, about 4% of the population, 8 women to 1 man, suffer from dermatillomania. Where picking takes on a different meaning. Where the person picks until they reach bone, blood, or in some cases a major artery. There are cases of people suffereing from this mental illness who pick holes so deep in their face that they must undergo extensive surgery to rebuild their face.

I am here to stand as a token man who suffers from dermatillomania. Finally I know its name and finally I know I am not entirely alone. For me, the obsessive compulsive act is brought on by stress or depression. But sometimes it just comes for no apparent reason.

My earliest memory of self mutilation is when I was in first grade. I was sent to the school nurse at recess because my hands were bleeding as if I had cut myself on the playground. Little did the staff know that I actually had picked the skin off my hands so deeply that I almost reached the muslce tissue below. Only when the pain was so bad and the blood so wet on my hands that I could not longer pick, did I stop.

My tools have always been my fingers and sometimes finger nails. (I try to keep them short to try and avoid the tendency). And my targets have usually been my hands. Out of nervousness or depression or anxiety, or all of the above. The pain seems to snap me back into reality. When my hands were too ripped apart to pick anymore, I would move to my feet. And then I would only stop when I could no longe walk because the pain of having no skin on the bottom of my feet was unbearable.

I am here to tell you that you are not alone. There are others who do this and there is help. Every day of my life I battle with this illness and every day of my life forever I will continue to battle with it. If you suffer from it please talk about it with friends or family and get help. As I type now, the pain of my bleeding fingers striking keys reminds me that it is part of me and something that I will always need to be aware of and work on. You should not feel alone, nor feel ashamed. Many people have dermatillomania and many people live productive lives still. If you know someone who suffers from this illness like I do, don’t let it get so far that they become hospitilized, give them this article or send them the links below and let them know there are many other people who suffer just like them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermatillomania

http://www.stoppickingonme.com/

http://www.skinpick.com/compulsive-skin-picking

 

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October 7, 2011 Steve Jobs: A Role Model for Leaders, Followers and all People

Image of Steve Jobs with Apple logo behind.There are rare people that impact the world. They come and go so quickly sometimes. We wish they stayed awhile longer. But they leave their legacy and move on to a higher plane of existence, or maybe they come back in another life to try and teach us again. Steve Jobs was one of those rare people.

The last day and a half I have walked around like in a dream. We all knew he was struggling with his health, but I think we were all hoping he would win the fight in the end and prove everyone wrong. But instead we are left with broken hearts and a deep hole in our universe. He left so much to us. He gave so much to us. He changed our world forever. He reinvented Apple and desktop computing. He created a world of tablet and mobile computing and communication that has never been before him. He was innovation. He was creation. He was strength. He was a wonderful soul in this world.

Like so many others lamenting this loss, I didn’t know him personally, but for some reason I feel like I lost one of my closest family members or friends. Few leaders have that effect on me. Very few people even do. I do not feel that the world is as great a place minus this miracle maker. How many more innovations would Steve have come up with? How many advancements for people with disabilities to stay even with the rest of the world? How many wonderful venues for artists to show off their wares?

If all leaders could be like Steve, our country and probably our entire world’s economy would be golden and reaping benefits more wonderful than we can imagine.

If all people could be like Steve, there would most likely be no war, no poverty no predjudice.

If all followers could be like Steve, we would have more free thinkers. And we would not be afraid to think for ourselves.

Life is suffering. We battle attachment and try to overcome it in order to overcome suffering. Let’s all learn a lesson from this wonderful soul and strive to be just an iota like Steve.

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