Author Archives: Frank Borelli

Is There a Difference Between Insulting and Offensive?

Not that long ago I had an experience that made me think about the difference between “being insulted” and “being offended.” In today’s society where it seems like there is always someone offended by something, no matter how innocuous or harmless the “something” might be, it’s almost become fashionable to be offended. What’s worse, the idea that being offended seems to mean someone owes you something in reparation for having caused that feeling. Here we get to where people who have been “triggered” feel they are owed something (and that “something” can be truly ridiculous) simply because someone did something that was offensive to them. If you have this conversation long enough, terms like “snowflake” and “pansy” start getting thrown around and then we’ve moved from the realm of offensive to the realm of insulting. They are far from the same thing but in today’s world the difference has been all but lost. Continue reading →

Who Defines You?

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“What follows ‘I am’ is far more important than what follows ‘You are’.” I put that quote up on Facebook a while back and got a LOT of traction with it. It seems so simple a concept – what you think and say about yourself matters more than what others think and say about you. Right? There shouldn’t be any argument about that. But in reality, we spend a lot of time thinking and worrying about how others perceive us; what they think of us; how they view us; what our reputation is and so on. I’m as guilty as the rest. And then something will happen, or I’ll ready something or hear something… and it’ll help to ground me. It will remind me: what I think of me is more important than what someone else thinks of me. Continue reading →

Different Goals Mean Different Actions

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It occurred to me this morning as I was working through various social media feeds that there were some folks who were all taking the same actions to work toward different goals. While it’s vital to understand that everyone has different goals, or at least different definitions of what a particular goal is, it’s perhaps more important to understand, and integrate into your planning and process, that your end goal determines what your actions should be. Further, as you evolve through the process of striving toward your goal, your skill sets will change, as will your knowledge base, and if you don’t make adjustments as you go, then eventually you stagnate, lose faith, lose motivation or simply don’t work as efficiently. Let’s take a look at fitness as an example. Continue reading →

Edit Your Subscriptions

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Do you remember when “having a subscription” meant that you were either getting a daily newspaper or a monthly magazine? If so, you’re as old as I am. In today’s world, there are so many things you can subscribe to and not all of them cost money. You can have subscriptions to someone’s social media feed (get notifications) or to magazines or to electronic newsletters or to services and products. You can have a subscription to damned near anything and every company out there wants you to subscribe to their service or to receive their products. Think about it: a subscription with dollars attached is a guarantee of at least short term repeat revenue for them, and you get what you want out of it to boot, right? Now, please think about this: what subscriptions do you have wherein the services or products are dedicated to helping you improve your health and fitness? Continue reading →

What Gifts Do You Give?

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Keep in mind that it’s Christmas Eve as I type this…

This morning as I drank my coffee, sitting at the dining room table, I looked into the family room at our Christmas tree and the gifts stacked under it. The idea of gift giving and what kinds of gifts we give began to churn through my barely caffeinated mind. The thoughts expanded to include the time of year, the pending New Year, resolutions people make and more. Soon I realized I was thinking about the gifts that we should be giving… to others as well as to ourselves. The most interesting thing, I think, is that not a single one of them can be wrapped. Continue reading →

Throw Out 2018’s Trash

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Welcome to the end of another year (or close to it). As we approach the New Year, lots of people are focused on the resolutions and changes they want to make. Folks think about what they are unhappy with or set new goals. It’s a great time of year for new beginnings (although ANY time of year is a great time for a new beginning). That recognized, how many of us take a look at why we want to change what we want to change and take the necessary steps to remove some of the negativity from our day and our lives? Continue reading →

The Complete Armory

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Recently my son was home on an extended weekend after a deployment with the Marine Corps and we got into a discussion about what guns we’d like to have in our home armory. The discussion soon evolved to be more about what someone SHOULD have versus what they WANT to have. This bore further examination and, because it’s easier to keep track of lists on paper, I soon found myself writing out a list of weapons we felt were necessary. Bear in mind, this isn’t a “soldier” list, or a “cop” list; in our minds, this is an American Citizen list. Continue reading →

9mm vs .45ACP: Really? Again?

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Yes, again. Amongst avid handgun fans the debate between big and slow versus small and fast stretches back over a hundred years now I’d guess. 2011 marked the 100 year anniversary of the Government Model 1911 .45ACP having been adopted by the U.S. Military (even though it existed in 1904) and the 9mm is even older than that. What makes the debate relatively new (and hopefully interesting) is the addition of what I call “compromise calibers”. There are a couple in between the maximum ends of the debate and recently that has been thrust into my consideration almost against my will. Continue reading →

Be Your Own Great Author

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I have heard so many jokes about why you shouldn’t piss off an author. Everything from, “because they’ll write you into one of their books and then kill you off in some unique and interesting way,” to, “you just never know what their imagination will produce.” I always found it rather humorous that people had so much faith in my ability to be vindictive or seek revenge through my writing. But the ultimate irony is that those same people never seem to realize: they are the author of their own story and have far more power over that than I ever would writing them into mine. Continue reading →

Planning vs. Winging It

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This morning, as happens all too often, I saw a social media post that argued planning over improvisation or “winging it.” I saw another one that suggested winging it was always better than planning. Both arguments seem sound to me and I came to the realization that to be truly successful you have to do both. The challenge is that they require different talents and different skill sets. That said, if you can plan AND improvise then you all but guarantee yourself success in any endeavor. Let’s think about this a bit and discuss a few particulars about each approach. Continue reading →