I have given much thought lately to some of the things that rob us of margin. I know you know it, but I don’t know if you have come to terms with the fact that we live in an age of escalating norm. For whatever reason, people want bigger, better, louder, larger, faster, and fancier without regard to cost, consequences, or contentment. Of course we’ve always had a tendency to grab upward – but never at the levels seen today. And its effect on our margin has been devastating! I had noted this trend but I didn’t have a name for it until I read Dr. Richard Swensen’s book, In Search of Balance. Swensen says, “What we are experiencing is a continuous escalation of the norm followed rapidly by a normalization of the escalation!” In other words, this escalation, or perceived need for more is seen as the norm for most Americans. As long as we have this perceived need (greed) for bigger and better, louder and larger, and faster and fancier, we will not have much margin in life! Read more..