Comments for OverSuccess

Comment on American Men, Falling Behind Women … Fast by admin

admin — Fri, 28 May 2010 02:50:44 +0000

This response applies only to those who are beyond the pressures of below-subsistence life. The greater the extent to which one pursues goals beyond one’s capacity, the greater the psych pressure.

Comment on American Men, Falling Behind Women … Fast by Gary G

Gary G — Thu, 27 May 2010 20:11:18 +0000

I find it just a little ironic that all of this is being said by a very successful writer who doesn’t bear the “average man’s” pressures.

just sayin’

Comment on My Midwest Mag Feature by admin

admin — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:50:59 +0000

Bill:
Downshifting is not a simple decision. While I hope I’ve made the case that it is not healthy to set one’s highest life priority on the acquisition of success merit badges, we should also not fail to seek out endeavors for ourselves in the larger world that realize personal talents and create passionate purpose in living. Human progress stops if we all retreat to small self-satisfactions.

Comment on My Midwest Mag Feature by Bill

Bill — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:10:44 +0000

Hey Jim… everyone needs to read your book! It really does an awesome job explaining why we live in an insane world where the actions of the majority just don’t make sense. But there are obvious reasons for the frightening state we’re in. As you point out, our conditioned minds and status-hungry egos control us and have us doing things that are contrary to living a fulfilling and happy life and making the world a more peaceful place. We need to change our ways or the whole planet is at risk. That may sound alarmist and armageddon-like, but all I have to do is look around me…at the individuals obsessed with getting rich at any price and at the governments around the world more willing to sacrifice lives than to change cultures and invest in peace.

I am stepping back myself… working fewers hours, turning down senior executive positions and focusing on family and friends. But it’s hard. I’ve got my ego and obsessions under control but I can’t seem to get the support of my family and friends. The materialism of our culture is ingrained in everyone around me… we need to renovatete our kitchen, we to get a new SUV, our friends need to go to fancy restaturants, we need to send our kids to Harvard. I feel alone in this quest for simplicity and balance. People think I’m crazy, or lazy, or going through a mid-life crisis. Until we change the culture, I feel stuck on this hamster wheel. Let’s hope we evolve as a society and the human race realizes that we have created a world that is dominated by brainwashed minds with the wrong priorities. Unfortunuately, it seems to are going in the opposite direction – the enlightened people of China, India and Africa are now being conditioned with our American materialistic and social status ways. How sad.

Comment on American Men, Falling Behind Women … Fast by admin

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:35:49 +0000

Mike:
I stand corrected, but I wipe my brow by blaming my source for the data, the US Dept of ED and Secret Service which gathered the school shooter/violence data.

Grace:
Men’s problem is largely biological. We average men dont fit American as well as we did in, say, 1950, when abundant mfgring jobs paid a living wage enuf to support an entire family. Today’s collaborative economy is better for the average woman than the average man.

Comment on American Men, Falling Behind Women … Fast by Mike C

Mike C — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:16:56 +0000

Heard your interview on NPR today. Enjoyed it very much, which prompted me to look up your website. I found a mistake, though. Not all school shooters since 1974 have been male. On January 29, 1979, 16-year old Brenda Ann Spencer killed 2 people (a principal and a janitor) and wounded 8 children. Very famous, because her rationale (I don’t like Mondays) led to the famous Boomtown Rats song of the summer of 1979. just thought you’d like to know.

Comment on American Men, Falling Behind Women … Fast by Grace Kewl

Grace Kewl — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:32:36 +0000

Just as women have had to; this presents an opportunity for men to reinvent themselves. It could be that the predominant patriarchal hierarchy to which we all have been overwhelmingly subjected is shifting into a new paradigm towards a balance between the sexes. Or rather, as the statistics may point to, a greater increase in violence from men. The shallow perpetuation of male success equating to breadwinning abilities is a tragedy for the human male, and undervalues and degrades who men are as individuals. Men deserve the right to exist without the same types of stereotypes that have held women hostage for centuries – Namaste