What could I write a book about?

The prompt asked the following question: If you could write a book on any topic, what would it be?

This made me think that I am already blogging continuously about my children and all their funnies and quirks. I am sure these blogs could become a book and that parents or parents to be might even find it useful - especially if I would not only describe something that happened , but also researched some related topic and wrote us some tips and advise - or just enjoy comparing my stories with the quirks of their children.
Even when we think our kids are the most adorable and inventive little tykes, turns out some other child already did something similar, and some famous celebrity already wrote a book about this and is making billions...

I also have a marketing blog, in which I write about different topics that have to do with my work as a marketing communications specialist. This too could probably turn into a book, but keeping this as an up-to-date- professional guidance book might prove difficult, because the profession of marketing communications is changing as I type these litters, with the digital media driving it to change in many fast ways.

Another topic I could probably wrote about is the difference between Germany and Israel - as I have lived in both countries and I am an Israeli married to a German - so I live the cultural differences every day. I recall outlining seven topics  - but I am not sure I can recall all seven. Let me see...

 

1. First of all there is space - Germany is just bigger than Israel. Israel is 22,000 square Kilometers, the size of Germany's Hessen state alone. This means everything in Germany is bigger. The Germans have more room.

1.A. Driving and parking - Germany has the famous highway network, which allegedly has no speeding limit - Germans are definitely better drivers, but Israelis are better parkers. I see this issue as a subtext of space perception. In Germany there is just more space to park in. Therefore, there is no need for exceptional parking skills in Germany. The parking problem in Israeli cities is more acute than in German cities (with the possible exception of Berlin). Germans also do not tend to enter the city center with a car, as the train and tram infrastructure is very good. Israelis on the other hand are very adept at parking in the most unconscionable places and very tight spaces.

2. Time and speed - Time is grasped differently in Germany and in Israel. In Israel one is always in a hurry, under pressure. In Germany there is a time and place for everything. We simply do things faster in Israel and even if it means things are less organised, they will work. The chaotic atmosphere is in fact productive and conductive of positive results. Germans take it easy - the pace is slower. When I moved back to Israel after two years in Germany, it took me 3 months to come back to snuff in terms of speed at the workplace.

2.A Infrastructure and improvisation - The infrastructure is better in Germany. For example: trains and buses are organised and actually show on time (OK its not Switzerland, but still, the time-table is mostly adhered to, in most places... I am advised its gotten a lot worse since I lived in Germany). Public transportation in Israel is always late. Sometimes buses come in groups...the drivers must have taken their coffee break together. Or they are racing each other to the last stop, so if one has stopped at a certain location the other race participants do not bother to stop and pick up passengers...

Telephone cables in Israel just hang loosely on the walls, especially in older houses and this makes for a big visual mess. Handymen in Israel are usually people who learned the trade on their feet, from daddy. In Germany everything is more established.

2.B. Education and Certification - The system of educating professionals is more rigid in Germany than in Israel and training takes longer. Its also harder to be accepted to a workplace in Germany, as you need the right certificate. In Israel you may have a chance at a certain job if you make the right impression in an interview and regardless of your training.

3. Order and hierarchy - The Germans have a saying "Ordnung muss sein!" it means order must be! Orderly activity is part of the German cultural DNA. If you follow the instructions you are given, you may predict the result with a high chance of being right. Certain steps will lead to certain results, as expected 1+1=2. Hierarchy is not questioned in Germany , simply obeyed (see next point).

But in Israel there is always room for improvisation. Hierarchy is always questioned and independent thinking is encouraged. "Chutzpah" or cheekiness is part of the Israeli cultural DNA. The writers of the book "start Up Nation" maintain that this cultural DNA in Israel is what nurtures innovation. In Israel there is room for doubt, sometimes 1+1 is not 2 but  rather 2.5. If you were instructed to bring 3 letters, a clerk might just ask for 6. In Germany you need a meeting to cut your hair or even visit a friend, in Israel you just walk through the door.

4. Obedience (and papers) - Germans are an obeying folk. It might seem macabre to write about the Holocaust in such a blog, but I am certain that Hitler and his cronies would have been less successful if the German cultural DNA did not contain a strong component of obedience. Authority is not questioned. If you are told to produce certain documentation, then you must do so (people who do not have the right papers cannot get a job today and back in the days of World War II the right papers could have saved your life!).

5. Noise and Quiet - I already mentioned that there is time and place for everything in Germany. The hours of rest (13.00 to 15.00 on weekdays and Sundays) are a serious matter. You could be evicted from your rented apartment if you use your vacuum cleaner on a Sunday - because of the noise - certain "noise" limitations such as this example are actually included in the renting contract. You do not  hear a lot of noise on the street in Germany. Neighbors' quarrels are such a phenomenon in Germany that there is a TV show about this.

In Israel everything is noisy. Cars are always hooping and people shouting as they call each other on the street. Hebrew is spoken in a louder tone. To a German, two Israelis having a conversation sound as if they are arguing. The only time a German makes more noise than an Israeli is when he or she is drunk!

6. The fun factor, motivation and aspiration - Israelis are an ambitious people. They are willing to take risks and promote themselves and have an attitude of a "know it all". Success is a driving factor, as is financial status and well-being. We live in uncertain times, so we might as well push for the top!

In Germany the biggest motivator is the fun factor. In Germany the word for fun is "spaß". Germans work in order to put aside enough funds so that they can sponsor their hobbies. The free time, the time for fun, after work (Feierabend - a term translating to "an evening for celebration" is the term for after working hours) and on weekends is the reason Germans go to work. Give a German his pension and his hobby and he is content. We live in uncertain times, so we might as well have some fun and enjoy ourselves!

Well, I can write a blog about Germany and Israel and the cultural differences... :-) You can count 6 or 8 different factors (7 is the average...)

What will the world be like in 50 years time? Try to be optimistic about it!

In 50 years, if I live that long, I will be 93 years old! The time to wait until then is longer than my current time on this earth. There are so many things to complain about...from daily chores to global warming, so its a bit hard to think of an optimistic prediction for this earth.

We live in an era of dynamic change. My profession - marketing communication, did not even exist 10 years ago as a true discipline of its own, and even now there are positions that still also mix secretarial or accounting with MarCom. Not to mention that when I graduated from university 18 years ago and I started my career, the profession simply did not exist. Hey, the Internet was just started out and email was a novelty on my first job! I even remember operating a Telex machine on one of my summer jobs as a teenager (Telex machines came even before the fax...).

When I think of all that has already changed in the world during my adulthood I feel positively ancient, although I am but 43 years of age! But this era of change, which is only becoming faster and faster (My eldest son was born before the smartphone, but my daughter was born into the iPhone era) I find it most difficult to write about any prognosis 50 years into the future.

I ask myself, will it really look like one big modern space station? Will the new modern city look like a scene form Star Trek? Or perhaps we will deplete all the reserves of our planets so that my children will have to move back to caves! and how shall we live without fuel and electricity? When I was a child, many TV series dealt with this theme, the depletion of the earth and return to ancient lifestyles alone side some innovative technologies...put a super hero or a mad scientist into that scenario and you have a promising concept for a TV show in the 1980's...

While I am trying to write about the future, I find myself mentioning the past more and more. Well the future is truly unknown, that's the whole point, isn't it? I want to hope that in 50 years time, when my children are adults in the middle of life, just as I am now, they will be able to indeed live in a better world. A world in which many differences and conflict would have been settled. A world in which religion and faith were not abused by extremists and politicians. A world that combines modern technology with good old traditional community and communication. A world that is not all cold modernity, but also warm nature, a world with more freedom.

Its a world in which we use innovation for the benefit of mankind and the preservation of the earth and its resources. A world, in which we know how to better look after our world and all the people in it. We can each do out bit to work towards such a future. Recycle a bit, learn about other cultures, smooth over differences in one's own circles and educate your children towards values of empowerment, sharing, assistance and development. Take your baby steps that will eventually accumulate towards the goal, one by one. These wishes are not just fluff! But I also hope that 50 years is enough to realize some of these objectives, I am a realist, but one can stop for a moment, and simply hope.

Writing goals for 2016 - and writing dreams in general...

I would like to try and respond daily to the prompts I get from this site.

I would like to re-establish the habit of writing my marketing blog.

I would like to return to writing the blogs about my children.

I would like to write content or my own business site.

I would like to write enough content for m y social media pages, personal and business alike.

I would like to start writing a style tips blog.

I would like to write my memoirs about Germany and hope that I remember enough so that it becomes a funny book about the cultural quirks.

I would like to write my memoirs. period! So that my kids will be able to read them after I die.

Maybe one day "I can become a content icon.

Though probably if I am to write enough content, I need to hire writers...after all economies of scale is what creating a web presence is all about.

Maybe once day I can out some of my blogs and other scribbles into a book form.

I need to find all my idea scribbles, they are scattered about the house is different notebooks and stickies.

I want to just write for fun and for posterity.

Yep! new and old techniques do nicely for me...2016 - here I come, with keyboard, paper and pen!

2016 I will...

New year's resolutions are a  drag...You never really get through them, and then you feel bad. A little bit like the Bridget Johns movie.

But any life coach will tell you that setting goals for yourself is important to take a step forward. Well, I do set goals and I also list tasks and then go methodically through my lists and hack them off when completed. So I guess I am doing ok.

So I guess that if I am to target something for the new year and the whole year it would be in a more generic level in my life.

In 2016 will see more of my kids and not work into the night.

In 2016 I will try to get more positive energies into my life

In 2016 I will have found what it is that I am searching for.

Now I just need to break these goals into baby step plans, so I can tick off every task accomplished on the way to the great goal. Just like a good strategy coach does. :-)

Happy new year

Ofra

Are you happy with your current work?

Its all still too new, even after almost a year, to say that I am happy. So much changes in recent months have all made it a bit hard to digest, but its all for the best , I believe

Its all still in the making. the transition from hired employee to freelancer is  not simple.

In many ways I am still a hired employee. I go to the office and need to deliver at certain times, but I no longer have the salary rather I need to submit an invoice.

The disadvantages:

I have more than one client, so I have more than one boss.

Everything in the business depends on me, so if I am sick, I do not get paid and the work does not get done.

I am limited as to how much work I can take on, the business is not yet stable enough to take on an employee.

The advantages:

I work mostly from home and my hours are more flexible.

I can be near my kids and not in a remote office all day.

I get some tax benefits because I now submit invoices (e.g. deduct home expenses to some extent).

I can raise my hourly wage.

I can work from anywhere! A laptop, Wifi Internet and a power extension is all I need.



I am still at the beginning of a log road. Its a wide wide way...

Ofra

If you could have lived in a previous era, which era would it have been? Why?

Moritz is not in England, but the castle is the general idea...

I guess I would choose Regency England if I really had to choose another era. Its a great era to read about, and the writings of Jane Austen and her counterparts demonstrates that women were given some freedom to become thinking creatures. But one must not forget that until very recently, women enjoyed very little freedom and in some areas of the world they still do not!

Also one must not forget that Austen came from a relatively privileged family - Although her father was "only a clergywoman, he was a gentleman - which means he came from the top tier of English society, and even if the Austen family did not have it easy and were not  millionaires, they certainly never needed know hunger.

In the modern era, classes and stations have become much more varied and even a simple person, who has a job and good sense to laying some money aside, can live a good and peaceful life. We enjoy many freedoms, including writing on the web for platforms like this one. No one stops me from writing and saying whatever is on my mind.

I think we are living in the best time yet, and I can only hope that this improvement will continue into the future, even after my lifetime (at least my children will be able to enjoy it).

Wishing you a best present day,

Ofra

Some more holiday season spirit - What's one gift you'd love to receive this year?

My son want's a computer

My husband wants to win the lottery

My daughter is happy whenever she gets new dolls

But what do I want? its a hard one...

I am not into getting stuff becasue its alsways a hassle to store it all. Every year during the holiday season you get all these dishes and nick nacks that you just do not need...but its a gift from people you love, so you keep it...but then there is not enough room for all this stuff!

My home is already over flowing, as I believ are many homes in this modern day and age. We are a consuming society and as prices become lower, we consume and stack  more and more.

This is why I try to give gifts that are consumable. I thikn getting a box of candy is better than getting a new decorative vase. The candy can be consumed - eaten and enjoyed, andthen its out o fthe way.

If you do not want  the sugar and the fats, then get someone a jar of nuts. Or better yet, invitethem for a nice breakfast  - your treat - as a gift. This way you also get to spend som time together. You can also decide to treat them to a hiarcut - this way nothing needs to be eaten...

I think that the gift I would like to receive this year would be a day off, and maybe a nice massage. this is the best gift one can buy a mother of two relatively young children....

Happy holidays,

Ofra

Talk about the holidays. What do you look forward to most? Anything you dread?

Nuts are a Hanukkah Traditional Gift

Holidays in any country can be happy yet stressful times. The holidays bring with them much joy and food and family but also perhaps a little to much of the food and the family...this is where differences start surfacing. December in Israel is a season of three holidays that come from the three monotheistic religions. We have the Jewish Hanukkah that most people here celebrate, and which is also commemorated in schools and kindergartens. We have Christmas, which turns Jerusalem and Nasereth upside down for two days and we have the Islamic Ramadan that comes in some years during the winter. All these holidays are celebrated together in the city of Haifa. During December, in the weekends there is a food festival and many other events all over the city.

I personally celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas, so my kids get an extra dose of Chocolate. We have everything double. Candles, doughnuts, latkes, presents, a decorated tree etc. The kids love it! Days off at school turn my schedule into a logistic challenge and then there is also the dread of not finding the right gift for each person in the family. To top it all off, my son's birthday is at the end of November and my niece at the beginning of December, so there is always a bit of a struggle when each child will  get their special day to celebrate with family and another for friends, and all this in between all the other celebrations.

I am grateful that the children enjoy all the festivities , but I sometimes feel overwhelmed by it all. Thank god the double celebration is only in our household and not the entire family. In all the logistics and sweetmeats its easy to forget that this is the season of forgiveness, kindness, giving and generosity. I try to make a point to discuss these issues with my children, and stress that good doing is not bound by religion or by a certain holiday.

Wishing you all a happy holiday Season

Ofra

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This one was selected t be a featured response

Think about your days. Where are you wasting the most time?

I have recently started working from home as a freelancing contractor. The easiest way to waste time when you are working from home is hopping from one task to another and not working methodically on a task. Its just so easy to get up and fold clothes from the dryer instead of sitting and getting mundane daily tasks done and out of the way on your computer.

Emails are also a time waster, your email can truly control you day and suddenly you look at  the clock ad ooops, 3 hours have slipped you by.

So how can this be avoided? Run a strict calendar. We all have electronic calendars at the tip of our fingers.

Set a time for looking at and organizing your emails. set another time for answering emails, set time for folding dry clothes. some people even set time for having sex...we are all sooo busy all the time, a schedule is of the highest importance. But only discipline in managing and adhering to a schedule will make that schedule work for you.

I don't always manage to practice what I preach 100%, but I do my best every day.

 Hope this is helpful

Ofra - MarCom4all