economicmultipliers_13

Economic Multipliers (13)

Do you know what these are?

They help CREATE wealth in systems.

YOU are an economic multiplier IF you use your time and energy well.

In contrast to some of the other text on social problems, this is going to seem really mellow: This probably will seem so ridiculous to bring up and yet I personally think that THIS will have the greatest impact on your life on a day-to-day basis. It may even determine whether your marriage will survive someday.

Social Problem No. 4 is NOT knowing what to ignore when you post ‘stuff’ on the Internet or send text messages to friends.

Think about this statement when you read this text: HOW people filter information defines any community’s ability to create positive economic multipliers … and that ability changes the world … for good … or for bad ...

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Next door neighbors just edged their sidewalk. For me, that meant I had some work to do. Grass and weeds growing in sidewalk and driveway cracks annoy me: I know the roots are strong and will break down the pavement quicker if they are not removed … so I make an effort to remove them. But grass also has a tendency to ‘creep’ over the edges. I ignore it until a neighbor does edging and then as a courtesy to them, even up the edges a bit. My edging jobs are never as ‘complete’ but my goal is for the job to ‘blend in’ with the neighbor’s.

It’s not hard to imagine a sidewalk that has been maintained adjacent to one that needs some work but I included a photo anyway (OPEN). I’m going to tell you what’s behind the photo because it makes a difference.

People have all sorts of ways they prioritize. The family with the perfect sidewalk has an amazing yard but so does the other family – in a different way. During the summertime, they have an amazing and extraordinarily well maintained garden. They prioritize on that.

It would be easy for any person to get on the Internet and complain about this sidewalk (or anything else) but would that make them a good neighbor? I believe that if the family that routinely does edging came over and asked if they could edge, the gardeners would say yes. I also believe that if the ‘edging’ family ever sold their house, the gardeners would do everything possible to ‘spiff up’ their yard … they just seem like those kind of people and are always working on upgrading something. And the gardeners will get to weeding and edging their sidewalk eventually: When they do it, it will be done extraordinarily well. That’s just how they do things when they do them.

The ‘gardeners’ snowblow out the bottoms of other people’s driveways during heavy snowstorms. They responded to a neighborhood emergency a year or two ago. They ‘accumulate’ grandkids' friends during the daytime to make sure ALL the kids stay out of trouble.

Those are the people behind the photo — the people you wouldn’t ‘see’ just walking down the sidewalk. Imagine yourself taking the time to complain about some weeds in their sidewalk if they were your neighbors.

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Lots of things will annoy you as you go through your life … almost all of them are NOT terribly important.

IF you spend your time creating a WRITTEN record of a LOT of NOT terribly important stuff that annoys you about other people, you’ll have wasted your time and energy (because you will let it annoy you AGAIN and your written record (if posted on the Internet) will endure) AND you’ll probably never have the opportunity to find out what’s behind their ‘photo’ because you will have been a lousy neighbor (or friend or colleague).

Since most of life is about the ‘small stuff,’ find the ‘small stuff’ that’s good about people. If you want good neighbors and you want to be a good neighbor, make your NEED to post something on the Internet MAKE that happen. You’ll never lose a good neighbor (or friend or colleague) by knowing good things about them … and good neighbors (and friends and colleagues) are YOUR economic multipliers.

If you get to know the people behind your ‘photos,’ you’ll probably be amazed at what you find.

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Now, as I write this, know that I wrote the word ‘entropy’ on the photo because I do want you to remember that ‘houses get messy.’ Every single thing that you’ll own in your life requires maintenance. If you don’t intend to maintain something, try NOT to buy it or accumulate it.

Remember that if you own property, you help maintain your neighbors' property values by maintaining your own. If you rent property, you (and your landlord) should feel an obligation to keep it well maintained. All things that are well maintained in communities are the communities ‘bases’ of wealth.

The above neighbors maintain their property … they just haven’t gotten around to weeding and edging their sidewalk recently: They have other priorities.

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