“If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn’t thinking.”

George S. Patton, General U. S. Army

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

Mark Twain

"The ancestor of every action is thought."

Emerson

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought."

Buddha

"When you are not told what to do you begin to think what to do."

Roger Cohen, Op-Ed Columnist New York Times

"No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking."

Voltaire

"Never be afraid to sit awhile and think."

Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

"You and I are not what we eat; we are what we think."

Walter Anderson, The Confidence Course

"Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?"

Winnie the Pooh

"Time to think matters ─ at least if we’re interested in getting the answers right."

Stephen L. Carter

"Thinking is always out of order, interrupts all ordinary activities and is interrupted by them."

Hannah Arendt, Life of the Mind

"Too often we…enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

John F. Kennedy

"The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds."

Will Durant

"Thinking is like living and dying. Each of us must do it for himself."

Josiah Royce

"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar territory."

G. Behn

"The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking."

Albert Einstein

"Pursuing our thoughts in silent contemplation takes an investment in time that few can spare."

Stephen L. Carter

"A moment’s thinking is an hour in words."

Thomas Hood

"Sometimes I think and other times I am."

Paul, Variete: Cantiques spirituels 192

"To think is to differ."

Darrow

"To think is to live."

Cicero

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."

William Jones

"What we think, we become."

Buddha

"Our job is not to make up anybody’s mind, but to open minds and to make the agony of the decision-making so intense you can escape only by thinking."

Anonymous

"The person who thinks before he speaks is silent most of the time."

Anonymous

"Think ─ and you will be very lonely."

Anonymous

"Thought is action in rehearsal."

Anonymous

"We live in a world that leaves very little time to contemplate."

Anonymous

"Don’t worry too much about what people think because they seldom do."

Anonymous

"Invest a few moments in thinking. It will pay good interest."

Anonymous

"One cannot think crooked and walk straight."

Anonymous

"Think Differently + Do Things Differently = Better Results"

Anonymous

April 08, 2014

Working Class Americans

Tags: Business,

Employment website Glassdoor released a survey last week that reported only 1 in 4 employees took 100% of their eligible vacation time last year. What possesses a person to choose work over touring the great capitals of Europe or reorganizing their closets? But when is a vacation not a vacation? One in 10 employees used vacation time to look for another job. And don’t get me started on those pathetic people who work during vacation. That would be most of us.

You gotta love the Italians. They know how to live. Their citizens win the prize for most paid annual vacation days: Forty-two in all. And you know they’re using every one of them and then some. (La Dolce Vita is more than just a movie title.)

France and Germany are not far behind; 37 and 35 paid days off respectively. But considering how beautiful both countries are, you really do need the time to explore them…

Then there’s us, the U.S. We average a paltry 13 paid vacation days annually and maybe more disheartening, almost 22 percent of workers don’t get any paid vacation or time off at all.

We are the only highly developed nation that doesn’t require employers to offer paid vacation time.

Even so, we continue to leave valuable paid time on the table.

Why is that?

Because we’re going for bragging rights.

Everyone knows that no one works harder than Americans and we prove it year-after-year by working ourselves to death.

But we’re also scared (tough as we may be). Especially now.

We’re afraid we’ll book that trip to Disney World and come back broke only to see the dreaded corrugated carton on our desk with all of our award trophies peeking out from the top.

“Fear of being replaced” and “too much work” top the main reasons Americans are using two fewer paid vacation days than last year.

The Travel Industry Association (TIA) claims that an inability to take a break can lead to “stress, burnout and a greater likelihood of feeling betrayed and angry when things don’t go well at work” (I think they have another motivation for their deep concern but it does ring true).

I’m a big Stephen Covey fan. In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,
Covey makes a compelling case for the need to “sharpen the saw” - to take time away from work, exercise, read, meditate – “to balance and renew your resources and create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle. “

For the past 20 years I have been taking off most Mondays, from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

I’ve come to the conclusion that a four-day work week is the ideal. Having three personal days in a row seems to strike the right chord.

I’m also fortunate to be able to take home-and-away vacations throughout the year.

I, for one, don’t leave a crumb on the table.

The only bad habit I have left to conquer is checking and responding to emails while on hiatus.

I’m in good company.

Sixty one percent of us admit working “some” while on vacation.

Twenty-five percent report being contacted by a (jealous?) colleague while trying to get away from it all.

Worse yet, 20 percent say their (clueless?) bosses contact them on vacation. Not nice.

Every time I leave for vacation I say to my co-workers, “Don’t call me unless someone dies.”

But I don’t mean it, and they know it.

But at least give me credit for taking my earned time off.

Anita Alvare (bio) /Alvare Associates/610-520-6140

Glassdoor Business Paid Vacation Time

Since establishing Alvaré in 1981, Anita has guided the agency through 38 years of steady growth and success. A marketing communications entrepreneur who has done it all, she remains deeply involved in strategic planning and creative direction, bringing extensive knowledge and insight to each client project.

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