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I'm Deborah, survivor of everything from multiple cancer battles to major business setbacks. Join my search for ways to move the mountains, big & small, that block your path to success.

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6 fun money-saving tips

Dog Wearing Sunglasses, Florida

Several years ago I worked for a company that was downsizing and my job was unexpectedly eliminated. It wasn’t a big deal because the economy was good, work was plentiful, my financial responsibilities were few, and that job was just something to do until I found what I really wanted. So the first thing I did after being laid off was head for the mall to do some shopping and celebrate being temporarily freed from my alarm clock. But at least I bought something “useful”: a cool pair of sunglasses.

These days I have a different perspective. I have many more financial responsibilities—and that means a lot more worries. As a freelancer, I’m vulnerable to the whims of a struggling economy. I’m trying to avoid spending money on anything nonessential. And that’s making me a little grumpy. So I’ve been searching for ways to have fun while still saving money during the recession. Here are a few of the suggestions I’ve heard:

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Quotes on planning for success

Jaws

You know how you sometimes get a song stuck in your head, and no matter how hard you try, you just can’t get rid of it? That’s been happening to me today, except instead of a song, I have the same movie scene running continual loops in my brain. The scene is from the original movie Jaws.

Police Chief Brody is tossing chum over the side of the Orca, the vessel he and his fellow hunters are using to track the great white shark that’s been menacing the beach resort of Amity Island. Suddenly the shark’s gigantic wide-stretched jaws emerge from the sea to snatch at the bait.

Stunned by the enormity of their prey, Brody backs into Orca’s cabin and tells its captain, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

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How to be a better leader

Lead

For me, working in corporate communications was a little like being the only sober person at a wild party. You learn a lot about what’s really going on behind people’s carefully scripted public personas when you sit on the sidelines watching them get falling-down drunk. And since I had no desire to climb the corporate ladder, my experience in Big Business was equally eye-opening. My long-term ambition was always to become a freelance writer. So with no personal stake in the game of jockeying for position, I was more or less free to sit back and watch the political maneuvering.

Are you the enemy?

Goldfinger

British agent James Bond lies strapped to a table as master criminal Goldfinger’s laser beam slowly inches forward, threatening to slice him in half lengthwise. “Do you expect me to talk?” Bond asks. Goldfinger laughs. “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.”

Every James Bond fan knows the classic scene from 1964’s Goldfinger, the film named for one of 007’s most memorable nemeses. But though the rest of us aren’t secret agents caught up in international intrigue, we still have to contend with an enemy who is just as ruthless as Bond’s gold-obsessed adversary. And unfortunately, our enemy can’t be dispatched in the time it takes to play out a movie script.

That’s because the enemy is us.

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How a disaster inspired a legend

Headless Horseman

Do you ever think about the ripple effect? You know … you toss a pebble into a pond and the ever-widening ripples keep spreading outward until they reach the shore. Most crises have their ripple effects. But we don’t always get to see what happens when the ripples reach the sand.

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Can an eye exam save your job?

Leroy Opticien, c.1938

Look around. Can you see clearly now? If not, can you pop on a pair of eyeglasses to bring your surroundings into focus? Yes? Congratulations. That puts you ahead of 158 million of your fellow citizens worldwide.

The Bulletin of the World Health Organization recently published the results of the first study to estimate the productivity loss from uncorrected refractive error—common vision problems that can easily be treated with eyeglasses, contact lenses, or laser surgery. But left untreated, these simple challenges can lead to virtual blindness for sufferers. And the researchers who conducted the study estimate these vision issues cost the world at least $269 billion in lost productivity each year.

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7 nutrients to improve your health

Close-up of Cut and Uncut Fresh Fruit

What do you have in common with a puppy who’s being housebroken? If you’re trying to lose weight or get healthy, it’s the vocabulary. The only words you hear are: No! Don’t! Bad!

No! processed white-flour and white-sugar products!

Don’t! drink sugary sodas or eat too much red meat!

Transfats are Bad!

If you read every diet book on the market, you’d probably conclude that, like a teething puppy, you’d be happiest—and maybe healthiest—if you just chewed on your slippers.

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Song lyrics to pick you up

Stroking the Keys

During a recent visit to my brother’s, my now eight-year-old nephew and I managed to drive him a little nuts.

“Gotta get-get,” my nephew would chime as we all played the card game Uno. “Gotta get-get,” I’d reply. We’d keep this up for a bit before shifting to our own butchered version of the remaining lyrics to “Boom Boom Pow”: “I like that boom boom pow. Them chickens jackin’ my style. They try to copy my swagger … I’m so three thousand and eight. You so two thousand and late … I be rockin’ them beats.” Then with our best bass voices we’d turn to each other and croak: “Let the beat rock!”

 We’d be quiet for a while before one of us would start again with “Gotta get-get.” Finally, my brother grumbled, “I’d be happy if I never heard that song again.”

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Find your passion after a layoff

Passion

If employers said what they really think, a few would admit they see some upside to the economic downturn. Bad times give companies an opportunity to clean house, to lay off—no questions asked—not only workers who aren’t pulling their weight, but also those who have seniority or fall into protected classes. “I understand you’re nearing retirement and about to start drawing your pension, but—so sorry—we’ve eliminated your position. Recession, you know. Ta-ta!”

But whether you’re a random victim of a declining economy or the target of diabolical executives, all you can do is wave good-bye as security escorts you to the door … then try to figure out how to make the best of your sudden unemployment. Fortunately, one good thing may come from losing your job: Now you have the chance to rethink what you want to do with the rest of your life.

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Roll with the punches like Ali

Muhammad Ali: Gloves

The third time I was diagnosed with cancer, it had spread beyond its initial boundaries and the early prognosis looked grim. The only thing I could manage to say was “I cannot do this again. I cannot do this again.” “Yes, you can,” answered all the encouraging, well-meaning people around me. “You just have to roll with it.”

 

They were right, of course. But when you take a hit like that, somewhere in the back of your brain, you can’t help thinking, “Yeah? How ’bout I whack you over the head and see how you roll with it?”

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