Annual Memorial Day Post: To Honor Fallen Warriors, Stop Glorifying War & Become an Activist for Peace [with Links to Many Resources]

Cover image from the enlightening website,
"War is a Crime: A Blog About a Criminal Enterprise

As a “baby boomer” growing up in the United States, I’ve lived through many, many Memorial Day commemorations and solemn memorial services. And as the years pass, I’m growing less patient with our tolerance for war. For example, has anyone really noticed that we’ve been both killing and being killed for nearly 17 years in Afghanistan? Probably few US citizens could tell you how long we’ve been in that far-away land, why we are there and if we’re making any “progress,” despite all the death, destruction, and maimings. After all, there’s no military draft that reaches into all American households and pulls out soldiers, no “war taxes,” and generally no real “skin in the game” for most of us. Aside from having our airwaves a bit cluttered with Memorial Day speeches, we are mostly able to put this messy war stuff out of our minds.

Now most of the time I try to keep these articles positive, practical or uplifting. But here I’m going to stretch things a bit and include what we old liberals call “consciousness raising.” In that spirit I’m going to share some stuff here that will help you ponder why it is we can’t seem to quit fighting and then learn how you might take action to stop the senseless killing of our kids.

Acorn TV: Netflix for Grownups!

If you like the kind of smart, articulate dramas, mysteries, comedies and documentaries that we typically find on America's PBS stations, you'll love Acorn TV!  For just $4.99 a month (You can quit anytime...) Acorn TV will let you stream and binge-watch some of the best British, Australian, Canadian and Irish TV series and stand-alone films!  

Acorn by the Numbers

Here's a quick count of what's available on Acorn TV as of this date:  

Overwhelmed by chores? Spend more time in Quadrant 2!

[Note: You can download and listen to this entire article as an audio podcast from my Inspired Project Teams archives. However, you might want to refer to the grid below when listening.] 

Stephen Covey’s classic The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is one of the best selling business books of all time. Early in my career, I worked my way through this amazing text and also spent a substantial amount of time listening to the audio version, narrated by Covey himself. In these works, Stephen Covey describes a brilliantly simple grid for analyzing, and ultimately changing, the way you spend your time. Covey's grid may be the best time management tool ever invented!

Google Books listing: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Like millions of others working to become successful, I spent a substantial amount of time applying this grid to my own activities, sorting and re-prioritizing them to make the most of my time and efforts. So, on an individual and personal level, I know this tool really works!

But how about applying this grid to project management? After giving it some thought, I’ve come up with some suggestions for how you might use the grid to better focus the time and efforts of an individual team member or an entire project team. In this post, I’ll share these suggestions with you.

Four-Quadrant Grid Applied to Teams