RickBlog

For the next book I hope to write, I've conducted a personal "dependency audit" to determine how free I really am, and what I can do to become more self-sufficient. This is my starting point for exploring the gap between the degree of freedom many people claim we ought to enjoy, and the dependency on systems, institutions and govenrment that is closer to the norm. It's an ongoing project and I don't know all the answers yet, but that, of course, is the point of researching the book. Meanwhile, here's my dependency audit:

RickNewmanDependencyAudit

For anybody who'd like to conduct their own dependency audit, here's a downloadable spreadsheet with the same categories I used in my assessment:

YourDependencyAudit

You can change the categories, add your own or even change the way you measure dependency. Once you've filled it out, you may want to sort the categories by degree of dependency, to see the parts of your life in which you're most self-sufficient, and the parts where you rely heavily upon others. The first column, labeled  "Original Order," lets you re-sort the categories after you've fiddled around with the spreadsheet, so you can return them to the same order you started out in.

I'm interested in what others might learn from conducting this exercise, so if you'd like to share insights, please email me at rick@rickjnewman.com.

I appeared on C-Span in December to talk about the most recent unemployment report and other trends in the economy. Host Pedro Eccheveria also gave me a chance to explain Rebounders, around the 9:00-minute mark in this video segment.

On Psychology Today's Web site, psychologist John Manni wrote a nice post explaining how people who are unemployed or struggling with some kind of setback can cope with it in productive ways rather than blaming themselves or dwelling on past decisions. He also offered a few nice words for Rebounders, which he described as a "great resource that examines resilience." Here's are a few pragmatic thoughts from the article, which are similar to some of the takeaways in the last chapter of Rebounders:

There are some common traits among individuals who quickly move past failure and indeed benefit from it. They are able to step back and evaluate their failure. Their evaluation helps them pinpoint the factors that contributed to the setback. They learn to plan for failure in the future. More simply stated: they always have a plan A and a plan B. (More ... )

If you’ve ever eaten in an airport, noshed on fried chicken, or snuck away for a cup of coffee and a donut, chances are Jon Luther had a role in your meal. But it took a late-in-the-game comeback for Luther to leave his mark on America’s palate.

At the age of 48, Luther left a safe corporate job with the Marriott hospitality firm to chase a longtime dream: Running his own restaurant chain. It would grow quickly, like the next Friday’s or Hard Rock Café, showcasing Luther’s talent for branding and marketing and earning him a generous windfall. (more...)

When I started researching my book Rebounders: How Winners Pivot From Setback To Success, I thought I’d have trouble finding high achievers who struggled before hitting the big time.

Wrong. One of the surprising insights I gained from writing this book is that most successful people have struggled along the way. Whether your favorite role model is a CEO, an entrepreneur, a sports star or an entertainer, odds are he or she failed at something or endured some unforeseen hardship on the way to the top. (more...)