Make The World a Better Place By Contributing More!

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I've worked in the I.T. consulting field for most of my career. When I first started, we had these internal seminars where we would discuss the qualities of a good consultant. Perhaps what I retained the most about these training sessions is that consultants are hired on projects to provide value - a contribution which often goes beyond the original hired responsibilities.

During this time, I was also part of a network marketing business that put a lot of emphasis on making the world a better place. I remember being told that if I ever went somewhere, I should look for ways to make the place a little bit better upon me leaving it.

This quality is very much ingrained in me today yet I'm surprised how few people do this. Whether it be fear, or perceived lack of experience, lack of energy... some people are but dead fishes floating down a river providing nothing beyond their core responsibilities at what they do at work or otherwise.

All this wasted potential is a shame as there's only a limited window where someone has a chance to make a difference in any given endeavor. When that window closes... it's over. 

Will you look back and be proud at what you've accomplished or wonder if you could of done more?

Even if your contribution/added value doesn't get noticed, or approved, you still feel a sense of accomplishment/engagement from it. Most of what you contribute won't go anywhere but some will lead to bigger things that wouldn't of been possible without you and that's a nice feeling to have.

In any endeavor, pay attention, share your ideas for improvement and try to make things better than "when you first arrived".

Do we Really Not Know What Genders Are Anymore?"

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What I don't like about all these debates of "what is a man/woman" is that they're portrayed as being for intellectuals however, to me, they look the same as debates pertaining to whether or not the Earth is flat. What I mean by this is that we already have answers to these questions but we're trying to bend, or alternate, facts.

To some, these conversation are seen as "progress" but we're not progressing as a society when we allow men, that identifies as women, to compete in women's only sports. While there's nothing wrong with someone that makes the conscious decision to transition to another sex, it is wrong to compete at a sport, of a physical nature, of the sex you've transition to.

Recently, we've been seeing trans men breaking records at women's powerlifting competitions. Who, in their right minds, would acknowledge such records? What glory is there for a man that transition to womanhood in breaking women born records? Are we really going to dismiss the effort of all these women that have attempted to beat the records to someone that just transition into womanhood?

You want to transition or identify as something else? Fine!

You want to compete? Also Fine! How about we create another branch to these competitions for people that's been through similar transitions or gender identity changes? A fair space where you can show your true colors rather than try to invade someone else's space.

This issue also extend to our prison system where some men, that transition, are put into prisons with other women... raping and getting other inmates pregnant in the process.

It feels like we've pushed the acceptance enveloped too far in the wrong direction and stole things that rightfully belong to women in the process. 

Blood, Sweat and Steroids

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Having spent a lot of my 20s and early 30s at gyms, I've been exposed to people boasting superhuman physics while denying the use of performance enhancing drugs.

Amateur bodybuilders will go through 4 great plateaus. Those are:

• Posture/Muscle Physiology - The first plateau a bodybuilder will come across is related to muscle groups and how to work them out properly in order to make them grow.
• Nutrition - The second plateau a bodybuilder will hit is related to food. This is when the bodybuilder starts to understand the relationship between nutrition and fitness in order to progress through limitations.
• Supplement - Soon after the nutrition phase is figured out, the bodybuilder starts to understand the relationship between supplements and fitness. This is when protein powder, creatine, misc vitamins, pre/post workouts joins the diet.
• Drugs - After a while, the bodybuilder understands the limitations of food/supplement and may start looking for substances that are ultimately detrimental to health in order to move past further plateaus.

While it's possible to move beyond the body's limits, through the use of drugs, it defeats the purpose of working out to be "healthy". What I don't like about the fitness industry is that it's filled with people claiming that their physique are natural when it really isn't. 

This false advertising is only understood by those who spent a lot of time at the gym. Only those that workout, follow the proper diet with supplement, understands what is ultimately possible via these means and what is likely possible through the use of drugs. 

It's not possible to have 36inch arms without drugs, it's not possible to curl 300lbs without drugs, it's not possible to have 60inch chest without drugs...

The fitness influences are quick to show what they eat, what they do at the gym and everything else in-between EXCEPT the type of performance enhancing drugs that they're using.

Why the deception?

If fitness influencers were upfront about their drug use it's a little bit like they've admitted to cheating on a test. We all know these drugs are ultimately bad for you but we also want to believe that it's possible to achieve superhuman physique without them. We follow these influencers because we believe they have secrets that nobody else has.

Fitness has no secrets...

• You need to let your muscle rest on some days.
• You can't outwork a bad diet.
• It's about how you lift more so than how much you lift.
• It's about discipline/consistency.
• It's about paying attention to what you eat whether it be counting calories or grams of protein/vitamins.
• ...

Just go and do it! 

Work Experience is Better than Certifications

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My cousin, who works in the I.T. field, was asking me questions about which certifications she should be getting in order to advance her career. She was telling me that she wanted to build a mobile app and had no idea how to setup a database for it and how it could be a good opportunity for her to get a database related certification.

My advise to her was to just get the app done and not worry about the certifications.

While there's nothing wrong in working towards certifications, I would argue that building an app does a lot more for future potential work opportunities than the certifications alone. A certification is proof that you successfully completed a course but an app is proof that you were able to apply knowledge.

Certifications are useful for those looking to start a career. However, once you're years into these careers you should be able to use your past experiences to further your career. What employers are looking for are proof that you can do the work that will be given to you. That proof can certainly be a certification but it can also be based on previous work that you've done.

If you're looking to work for a company that builds mobile app then previous experience, like building your own mobile app, will definitely be valuable for it. The key is to figure out what you need to do, at the new position that you want, and get that experience (or certification).

All you need is to prove that you can do the job.

Debt Should be Illegal

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It's illegal in Canada to own slaves but it's not illegal for financial institutions to own someone else's finances. The difference between a slave and someone in debt is that the person in debt has a "choice". However what choice is there really for someone making 30k a year when a decent house cost 3-5 times more? What choice does someone have when the average car is also 30k? What choice does someone have when the average college/university degree is 100k?

Debt is no longer a choice...

Maybe at one point debt was a choice but we it can't really be considered as one anymore. We don't realize how bad the economy is because part of it is covered up by debt and makes it look better on the surface than it actually is. As long as we can maintain the illusion then all is good right?

No - all is not good... When my dad was in his 20s, he bought a brand new car for 3k and a bag of chips was 5cents. He built a family home for roughly 45k...

Folks there's a problem here and the solution isn't to "raise minimum wage". Every middle class employee in the world needs to make payments on their government's debt. Can the Canadian Government really offer "free" Ambulance service when each Canadian ow roughly 60k towards the Government's debt?

We need cutbacks, we need a government that says "no", we need debt to be restricted or downright illegal... we'll never see something like this because political parties want to buy votes and you can't "buy" votes by removing something. 

Debt will never be made illegal because some people are making money off of it. Nobody owns slaves but who ever owns someone's debt can still exercise a degree of control over them.