Beth Carpenter Books

Incentive (noun) – something that incites or tends to incite to action or greater effort, as a reward offered for productivity. (Dictionary.com)   Basically, an incentive is a reward to preforming a desired action, or a punishment for not preforming that action. We have tax incentives, incentives to fill out surveys, work incentives, buy-one-get-one sales, and many more incentives competing for our attention every day. The tricky part of incentives is designing them so they actually work. I once read of a study (I wish I could quote it, but I can’t find it now) of young children who liked to draw. On day one, researchers gave them crayons and ask them to draw as many pictures as they wanted. The children loved it, and created piles of pictures. On day two, the researchers divided them into two groups and offered to pay each child in one group $1.00 for each picture they produced. They drew even more pictures than the control group. Finally, on day three the researchers...

What impresses us? ESPNs Top Ten Plays is always impressive. Based on People Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, we’re impressed with people who can sing and act, as well as athletes, innovators, and politicians. For some reason, we also seem to be impressed with celebrities whose only claim to fame is that they’re celebrities. I’ve always wondered how that comes about. But maybe we’re focusing on the wrong things. Maybe we should give a little more credit to the people who designed the bridge we drive over every day, or the elevators we ride in. We only tend to pay attention to them when something goes wrong, but to work, the designers, engineers, and builders had to do a million things right. On one hand, we’re impressed with people who can do things we can’t, like throw a baseball almost 100 mph or walk a tightrope. On the other, we ignore people who are good at things we know nothing about, like dentists or farmers. We assume our fillings are supposed to be perfect an...

On the way home today, driving from downtown on the Glen Highway, I saw something amazing. After a couple of weeks of gray overcast, the day was clear. It was a quarter after four. The sun had set, and the half-light painted the sky the rich blue-gray of a well-washed pair of jeans. New snow, pure and crisp, frosted the Chugach Range, illuminated by an almost full moon rising. Even the lights lining the highway added to the beauty of the scene, leading the eye to the mountains beyond. Taking a picture while driving 60 mph isn't wise, so I waited until I got home. By that time, the moon had risen further, the sky was darker, the angle was wrong, and trees blocked the view. This is what I got. January 2, 2015 4:25, Anchorage Alaska It's like the old riddle: if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears, did it make a sound? If there was nobody to share the beauty and no way to capture it, was it still a beautiful moment? Yes. Oh, yes.  Even if there is no tangible ...

A new year is upon us, the traditional time for New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve been around long enough to have made a lot of resolutions, with mixed results. So instead of resolving to lose weight or get rid of clutter (because they've worked so well in the past) I've decided to focus on three resolutions that will make me a happier person. I do have specific professional and personal goals in mind for 2015, but while I’m working on those, I resolve … 1) To put my head down and bull through the work that needs doing,  but remember to pop up often to touch base with the people in my life. 2) To take time to notice the beauty in nature, big and small. 3) To share my abundance and give thanks for the sun, the rain, and the wind  ... and most of all, for love and laughter.   Happy 2015!

Christmas is almost here, and I'm almost ready. I've been wrapping the last few gifts and baking cookies, and more cookies, for all the neighbors on our cul-de sac. Raspberry thumbprints, chocolate jam bars, oatmeal Florentines, lemon spritz, and chocolate dipped cranberry slices, plus a few dried fruit/almond chocolate clusters for my gluten free neighbor. Now they're all packed in bags and ready to deliver tomorrow.  The tree is up. Because of a trip in early December, we were late shopping for a tree, and the one we ended up with shed a lot of needles and looks a little skimpy around the bottom, but it smells wonderful. Besides, it's not the tree but the memories that make the magic.  So I'm going to take a moment to sit and drink a cup of tea ...  and admire the tree.  So many ornaments with so many memories... The one my husband's grandmother embroidered when our son was born ... The souvenir ornaments collected on trips  ... Th...

The sign says: PUBLIC DISPLAY OR CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL STRICTLY PROHIBITED Young Bull Bison at Caprock Canyon State Park, Texas So, how do we explain this? Bull Moose at Windsong Neighborhood Park, Anchorage Alaska                                Or this? Ah, the things we do for love. 

I grew up on fairy tales and fables. I loved those stories, of the Boy Who Cried Wolf, the Lion and the Mouse, the Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs. But I have to wonder about exactly what some of them were trying to teach. Everyone knows the story of the Tortoise and the Hare.  In the race, the hare takes off and leaves the tortoise in the dust. The hare gets so far ahead, he decides to show off my taking a nap just before the finish line. In the meantime, the tortoise plods along and manages to slip over the line before the hare realizes what’s happened. The moral is supposed to be “slow and steady win the race” but it seems to me the real moral is “don’t get cocky.” Then there’s the Princess and the Pea. In this story, a girl shows up on the castle doorstep in a foreign kingdom, claiming to be a princess, and catches the prince’s eye. To test her, the queen puts her in a bed with seven mattresses stacked atop one another, but with a pea hidden beneath the lowest mattress...