If you are a pensive otter-type person, then I would like to point out a website that you should check out.  The website is www.careerandbusinessmentor.com.

This website is for creatives (artistic people, sensitive people, highly thoughtful people) to find some help with their business and with their careers.  The owner of this website seems to understand that creatives want to spend their time on the creative side of their lives/business and not on the business side.  But also that to stay in business, you have to bring in the revenue.

It looks like he has found some ways to minimize the time and effort spent on the business side so you can spend more time on the fun side.

Do yourself a favor and check it out.

“My child is an honor student at (fill in the elementary, middle school, high school name here).”

I am sure that you have seen one of those bumper stickers if you live in the USA (certain inner-urban areas possibly excepted due to traffic restrictions.) No surprise. And perfectly understandable that proud parents want to proclaim their children’s achievements to the world. I did the same for my kids.

(Except that I had a no-bumper-sticker rule. No bumper stickers of any stripe–clever, cute, proud… whatever. There was a principle/philosophy involved here. And I broke that rule the day my older son became an Eagle Scout. I put his “Ask me about my Eagle Scout” bumper sticker on my car. And I did the same (other side of the bumper) when my younger son did the same. Those are no small accomplishments and similar accomplishments *ought* to be advertised to the world.)

Perhaps you’ve seen the parents who are desperately looking for something to be proud of in their kid. So they sport a bumper sticker that says “My kid can beat up your honor student.” Talk about striking a blow for education.

And today, in the company parking lot, I saw an SUV with this bumper sticker: “Your kid is an honor student, mine is a Marine!” And it has the US Marines emblem on it. I suspect it was purchased in the BX. Does it have the US Marine Corps endorsement? Did the PR arm of the Marines approve this?

I am not sure they would be in full agreement of the implication… there are honor students… and there are Marines. I know in the ’90s the Marine Corps was working hard to improve their image. They wanted to be seen as both tough AND smart. I don’t think this particular phrase reinforces that message. (But, maybe, with the troop levels as they are, and the difficulties recruiting for a shooting war, just maybe, that implication is an accurate representation. I don’t know.)

So, is it better to be tough or to be smart? (For that is what this bumper sticker implies… that tougher is better than smarter.) In specific, it depends on the situation. Some things just plain require toughness and strength.

But in general, as an HSP, I will say that I think that smarter is better than tougher. In lots of situations, smarter helps you avoid the need for tougher. And levers can allow you to multiply small amounts of strength (or force) to accomplish what would otherwise take massive amounts of strength. And I think it is smart to use levers when you can.

In fact, smartness is what has brought us a higher standard of living – and greater civilization. It is what has allowed us to not have to spend every minute of our day trying to catch enough food to keep us alive another day. And while we often complain about the stresses that our civilized life brings us, very few people are really willing to trade it for a tougher living.

But maybe we can apply our smartness to civilization and live smarter, not harder. (I wonder if I could trademark that phrase?)

What do you think? Use the comments and let’s have a dialog about this.

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“Most of the money I spent on liquor and women… the rest I just wasted.”

I love that quote. I love it because it is in many ways like myself… not what is expected when first going in. I think that many of us are that way.

We seem one thing at first meeting but are less than, or more than, (or possibly just “other than”) what we seemed after people get to know us.

Society has norms and expectations. They vary from society to society and culture to culture, but they are the ironclad. Certain things are expected and must be done that way and if you deviate from them, then you are… well… deviant. And society knows how to deal with deviants. (Usually very harshly.)

I could explore why this is but sociologist have done that in much greater depth than I could. And philosophers have acknowledged and pointed out the contradictions in the societies for millennia. Many, of course, were persecuted for it by those same societies.

Back to the quote. The society I live in has expectations for spending money wisely and properly. (In fact, it doesn’t mind spending money rather than saving it – it just wants us to spend it on material things such as newer cars, fashionable clothes, movies, soft drinks, and other ephemera.) It doesn’t mind us spending it on things that are here today and gone tomorrow. That in and of itself is not a waste. But spending it on certain things (such as liquor or women) is a huge waste.

The funny thing is that this society isn’t against spending on pleasurable things. In fact it encourages vacations, trips to Disney World, pleasure cruises, eating comfort foods, finding escape in movies, television, and video games. I am sure that a whole host of other pleasures come to mind that society allows, even encourages spending on. But definitely not liquor and women.

I know. Someone is going to say that the liquor and romance industry is a huge one, thus refuting my contention. Ah, but does society reward an individual for spending money on liquor or women? It certainly rewards us for spending on other things. I would ask that we not confuse tolerance with acceptance.

I think that the liquor and romance industry thrive, not because society accepts or encourages it, but rather because it provides for basic human needs. I often tell those who come for advice “don’t bet against human nature.” If your business depends on humans cleaning up their act or going against their natures, then don’t expect to get rich… or even stay in business.

And the quote? (Remember the quote?) I love it because it turns our expectations upside down. It causes us to examine (if only momentarily) our values, our expectations, and ourselves.

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Welcome to The Pensive Otter!

Be sure and check out the About page to find out more about me.

First, a pensive otter is someone who is a thought-full, analytical, periodically introspective person who has a playful streak that is exhibited by creative, artistic, and joyful endeavors. He/she will try to talk you into something (or make it attractive to you) — usually after having given it much thought and consideration.

Where does the term Pensive Otter come from?

In the William Marston model of personality (DISC), the I stands for Inducer. For me, the I is the dominant characteristic of the four. Gary Smalley and John Trent took Marston’s model and applied animal representations to evoke each of the DISC characteristics. The otter is their representation for I. Hence, an otter. (For the curious, they picked the Lion to represent the D (dominance), the Beaver for the S (steadiness), and the Golden Retriever for the C (compliance).)

And the Pensive? This comes from the classical view of temperament (or humours). They were, of course, melancholic, sanguine, phlegmatic, and choleric. Each of these humours had characteristics associated with them. They were:

• melancholic – gloomy, pensive
• sanguine – headstrong, passionate
• phlegmatic – unemotional, passive
• choleric – bad-tempered, angry

In temperament studies, I come out as a melancholic.
Hence, we have an incongruous juxtaposition of a playful otter with a gloomy, pensive, thinking individual.

I think it’s better than a Melancholy Jester, which is also incongruous. (By the way, if I use words that you are unfamiliar with, may I suggest Wikipedia, Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, and/or several other online reference works. If you use Firefox as your browser (and you should for security reasons) you can have them in a search bar for convenience… just cut and paste the word in question into the bar…. BUT, open a new tab for the search so you don’t lose your place in these posts.)

Of course, the Melancholy Jester is not a new idea. It has been a theme in art and literature for hundreds of years. So, if I were to take on that “euphonious appellation” (to quote W. C. Fields) it would just be doing what others have done before.

But how many Pensive Otters have you run across?

Besides me, I mean?