ONE SHIRT AT A TIME by Joseph Tom Riach

The clothes in my wardrobe (often on the floor) fall into three categories :

My very few ‘Good Clothes’ are new-ish and saved for wear only on special occasions – dining with the Queen and such like. In time they are demoted to –

My ‘Every Day Clothes’, which may lack the sheen of new but are smart, respectable and comfortable. Only after some considerable time (years mostly) are they relegated to –

My ‘Scruffy Clothes’. These I wear for lounging around the house, messing in the yard, hiking and climbing in the mountains, doing exercises and training sessions. (I am it seems something of an oddity nowadays in that I hike, jog or cycle to feel good for me rather than to show off expensive designer apparel for others)!

Only when a scruffy piece of clothing becomes reduced to a series of inter-connected holes do I discard it. At this point I demote a garment from my every day clothes to replace the scruffy item deceased and I remove an item from my good clothes to replace that one. This leaves a vacancy in my good clothes department which I may replace (note the word ‘may’) with a new purchase … but only on offer of course!

This clothes management system which I employ is testament to my Scottish and Presbyterian upbringing. Each imbued great thriftiness … but my family were not very well off anyway. Clothes were replaced only on the inter-connected holes basis described and I went through many winters with newspaper stuffed into shoes with completely worn-through soles.

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But the benefit of all that is that I learned to spend, and throughout adulthood have spent, only a fraction of the money on clothes which many people do. Yet I am perfectly able to be well dressed and maintain a smart appearance. I even shower, shave and comb my hair when I don’t have to!

My system is also eco-friendly (no waste), charitable (not supporting far east sweat shops) and it’s sensible. For anyone unfamiliar with the word ‘sensible’, it’s what existed prior to ‘woke’. The demise of the first coinciding with, nay being created by, the rise of the second … but I diverge …

The money I save by not being a clothes mad shopaholic, I invest in business opportunities and ways of making money rather than ‘blowing’ it. So with my thrift I become better off and, some would say, thus better able to afford to buy more ‘stuff’, more clothes even! But no, I’m very attached to my proven and effective clothes management system.

After all, as was told me in my youth by a highly successful entrepreneur – “Regardless of wealth … you can only wear one shirt at a time!” Think about it.

I am Tom Riach. I live and write in the sunny south of Portugal. I hope you enjoyed this sample of my work. Find all my current titles (novels and ‘personal achievement’) at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other leading book stores. Click the image below.

“From every book written by Tom Riach you will gain unique insights to success, you will laugh, you will reflect upon your own character, and sometimes you will just sit in awe of his mastery of life, business and the simply written word.” – Randy Ireland, SFI Team Leader, Sulphur Springs, Arkansas

© Joseph T. Riach 1998-present. All rights reserved.

THE WOLF ON TRUTH STREET by Joseph Tom Riach

I was drinking coffee with my friend Cavaco at his O Lobo café on Rua da Verdade (the Wolf on Truth Street)! It being both my duty and pleasure to support local business rather than visit a shopping mall or big brand franchise of those huge corporations which dominate both physical and online space. They getting ever richer while small traders and entrepreneurs are squeezed out of business. Besides, my neighbourhood café experience is friendly and fun. No amount of mega company ballyhoo can match the real flavours, value, camaraderie and social interaction of my ‘local’. It’s no contest.

That’s why, as I looked down the largely deserted street from where we sat, I decided to buy the closed up flower shop next door. If I could add colour to the small corner of bustle which was the café then perhaps I could start to reverse the neglect of the community reflected in other empty shops and boarded up windows.

I recruited Lulu, ‘the flower girl’, to run things. She knew her stuff, so word of the flower shop soon got around. People started making detours from the larger centres. They told their friends, who told their friends and, before I knew it, a travel agent visiting from Lisbon spotted the derelict building next door and bought the lease. The premise was larger than he needed but, no sweat. He opened a newsagent and tabacaria in the spare unit. Next to arrive was a grocer, then a hardware store, a hairdresser and a bakery. The town came alive! All done with personal initiative, industry and enterprise. And not a squeak from officialdom … until …

Word of the regeneration of the area reached the local council. A valuation surveyor was dispatched to re-evaluate the locality. An environmental impact study was ordered. Soon the businesses were flooded with inspectors, pointless regulations, meaningless paperwork, compliance notices and … demands for duties and payments. Threats of legal action in the event of non-payment were attached.

Then national government weighed in demanding their slice of the action. This came by way of even more stringent regulations, licensing requirements and taxation – lots of it. All delivered in the name of working in the best interests of a community which, delighted with the thriving hubbub returned to their town, neither sought nor desired their interference.

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Meanwhile, both local and central government, wheeled and dealed with the mega corporations, offering ludicrous incentives to devour green space and build ever more shopping centres. Their officials were the real life ‘wolves of truth street’, appearing to live in houses, drive cars and enjoy foreign travel far in excess of what even their self-awarded excessive salaries could possibly afford. The beleaguered small business owners financing these lifestyles inevitably concluded that the battle with the twin evils of bureaucracy and corruption was a losing one.

Lulu, the ‘flower girl’, was the first to quit. The travel agent and tobacconist soon followed suit. The grocer, hairdresser and bakery were next to go. The hardware store hung on for several months but the profit on a bag of screws or the occasional sale of a spirit level, eventually levelled the spirit of the proprietor and he too said ‘screw this’. Only O Lobo survived.

Once again Cavaco and I thoughtfully regarded the deserted street from the viewpoint of his café terrace. Our view confirmed that the real Wolf of Truth Street was not our cosy local café. Rather the title belonged to the self-serving, authoritarian establishment. That’s when we decided to play them at their own game! We bought all the derelict properties. Then we drew up and submitted plans for a covered shopping precinct which retained all the original buildings and character. It consisted of a huge transparent dome over the entire street.

Suddenly we were receiving ludicrous incentives, grants and public money to fund the venture. Turning the tables on bureaucracy in this way gave us quite a kick. More so because we leased space at low rates and only to local businesses and small private enterprise concerns. All the former traders returned plus a throng of new ones. The explosion of colour which greeted visitors on arrival was once more a prominent feature of the street. Yes, Lulu ‘the flower girl’ was back!

I am Tom Riach. I live and write in the sunny south of Portugal. I hope you enjoyed this sample of my work. Find all my current titles (novels and ‘personal achievement’) at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other leading book stores. Click the image below.

“From every book written by Tom Riach you will gain unique insights to success, you will laugh, you will reflect upon your own character, and sometimes you will just sit in awe of his mastery of life, business and the simply written word.” – Randy Ireland, SFI Team Leader, Sulphur Springs, Arkansas

© Joseph T. Riach 1998-present. All rights reserved

OWN YOUR OWN FUTURE by Joseph Tom Riach

My firm belief is that in order to own your own future you must become your own boss. You must work for yourself. There is no other way.

Sure, there are those of you who work for corporations, companies and employers and enjoy varying degrees of ‘success’ and autonomy – but none of you decide exactly what work you will do, when and where you will do it and how much you will be remunerated for your efforts.

And these four factors –

* Choice …. * Time … * Location … * Reward …

– are what determine whether it is you or someone else who owns your future.

Look at it this way. Would you in life generally – Accept an existence in which you had no say over what you could or could not do each day? Be happy to be instructed as to what your actions should or should not be?

Do you understand that time, as in real life time, is your most precious asset?

Why would you give it away to a third party or tolerate being told when and how you must use it? Why would you exchange it for a paltry financial return fixed by someone else and never remotely close to its real value? … time is in fact invaluable.

Why would you accept rewards, usually just material and therefore largely worthless, which fall far below your own valuation of your own self worth and your expectation of what you deserve from life?

The answers to all those questions should be the same resounding – “I would not accept that!”

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So, if you would not accept those criteria in your life generally then why accept them in your place of work? It is only by rejecting them in your working life that you can ensure that you enjoy the freedom of choice, use of your own time and reward for your efforts that you demand from life generally.

Know who you are, believe what your spirit tells you, think accordingly, say what you think and act as you say. As such you become a person to be respected and looked up to. One whose destiny is firmly in your own hands. There is no greater personal fulfillment than thinking freely, speaking candidly and acting in your own best interests. It is the ultimate reward of being self employed.

Only as your own boss setting the working conditions that suit you and meet your own requirements as regards choice, self-determination and the rewards of quality life as well as material gain, can you be sure to experience in life generally all the happiness and joy which is your birthright.

Only when fully in control of your choices, your time and your rewards can you truly control your life and all that results in it.

Only then can you own your own future.

I am Tom Riach. I live and write in the sunny south of Portugal. I hope you enjoyed this sample of my work. Find ‘The Secret World Of Self Employment’ and all my current titles (novels and ‘personal achievement’) at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other leading book stores. Click the image below.

“From every book written by Tom Riach you will gain unique insights to success, you will laugh, you will reflect upon your own character, and sometimes you will just sit in awe of his mastery of life, business and the simply written word.” – Randy Ireland, SFI Team Leader, Sulphur Springs, Arkansas

© Joseph T. Riach 1998-present. All rights reserved.

A MATERIAL WORLD? by Joseph Tom Riach

We are spiritual beings – but we live in a material world. Our physical bodies, the planet on which we tread, the creatures which inhabit it and all that grows here are tangible entities, material if you like. But to the fabric of the natural world – the rocks, woods, earth and minerals – mankind has added, through ingenuity, invention (and sometimes accident) new and wonderful materials.

Concrete, glass, textiles, metals, silicon and the myriad other human creations are the materials of our civilisation. Our clothes, our homes, our cities and all our other stuff are not just a display of our technological wizardry, they are part of who we are. They are, largely, what allows us to behave like humans. Remove them and we are quickly confronted by the same basic struggle for survival as wild animals.

From the coffee cup to the Kodak camera, stainless steel and paper clips; from ancient technologies of fabrics and ceramics to today’s self-healing metals and bionic implants – we invented them and made them. They in turn make us who we are.

Steel defined the Victorian era. Sheet glass and structural steel produced skyscrapers that invented city life as we know it. Product and fashion designers adopted plastics and used them to transform our homes and dress. Polymers were used to produce celluloid and bring about the cinema, the biggest change ever in visual culture. Aluminium and nickel super-alloys led to jet engines and worldwide cheap flight. And our bodies can be redefined by silicon, ceramics, plastics and tungsten. Yes – materials maketh the man!

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This fact should not, however, distract from the reality that we are spiritual beings. Our spiritual well-being is far more important than the simply material. Without it we are greatly diminished as human beings. Those who pursue material wealth to the exclusion of all else are without soul. They risk never experiencing inner serenity, only shallow and short-lived carnal pleasure.

Know that spiritual wealth is the bedrock of your existence. First and foremost strive to understand and follow the spiritual laws. These demand that you seek inner peace through helping others. With that belief in place and functioning, then you are well placed to explore and enjoy things material.

This perfectly natural marriage of the spiritual with the material, allows for the creation of technology beneficial to mankind which both enhances the general well-being, and satisfies the inventive and innovative urges, of the species. Everything is possible.

You can build your heaven here on earth – spiritually and materially!

I am Tom Riach. I live and write in the sunny south of Portugal. I hope you enjoyed this sample of my work. Find all my current titles (novels and ‘personal achievement’) at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other leading book stores. Click the image below.

© Joseph T. Riach 1998-present. All rights reserved.