Transcontinental Railroad

By the mid 1800s, American pioneers dreamed of building a railroad that would cross the American continent. One such pioneer was Asa Whitney, a New York tea merchant who began to promote the idea of a transcontinental railroad in 1844 after returning from China. Fully aware of the benefits such a railroad promised for trade with China and East India, Whitney declared his intention to build a railroad from Lake Michigan through the South Pass to the Pacific, backed with a land grant 60 miles wide along the length of the road.

Whitney brought his proposal to Congress in 1848, but it was voted down due to its unrealistic construction scheme. Another, better-prepared proposition was presented to Congress in 1850 and again in 1851, but it failed to earn sufficient support because of conflicting interests between the Northern and Southern states. The Southern states were opposed to the project altogether. Whitney then turned to the English government and proposed a similar plan for a transcontinental railroad through Canada. This attempt failed as well.

Asa Whitney ran out of money and finally gave up his campaign in 1852. However, his dream of the Pacific Railroad stayed alive. The discovery of gold in California not only created the market for the first important transcontinental traffic, it also significantly changed the public attitude towards the West. The West was no longer considered a wasteland of mountains and plains. It was seen as the land of opportunity. Scores of people wanted to travel beyond the Mississippi, through the territories that stretched to the Pacific Coast.

In 1853, Congress passed an act providing for the survey of possible railroad lines from the Mississippi to the Pacific. At least five routes were surveyed, and each received support from a different sector. Unfortunately, the multitude of diverse interests among the supporters and an increasing rift between the North and the South rendered agreement on a route impossible.

In 1860, Republican Abraham Lincoln won election to the White House on an anti-slavery ticket. His election almost immediately caused the longstanding rift between the North and the South to intensify, and very shortly thereafter the Southern states followed South Carolina into secession. The violent conflict that would later be known as the Secession War, or the American Civil War, had begun.

However, with the Southern states out of the picture the major antagonism to the transcontinental railroad was gone, and both the Senate and House of Representatives were able to pass the Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862 and 1864. These laws granted rights of way and use of building materials along the way, a 20-million-acre land grant and government support for loans of 60 million dollars to companies that would build the transcontinental railroad and its feeder lines. Those companies included:

• the Union Pacific Railroad, to be built from the Platte River Valley in Nebraska to the border between Nevada and California, with two feeder lines from Omaha and Sioux City;
• the Central Pacific Railroad, to be built as a feeder line from Sacramento over the Sierra Nevada to meet the Union Pacific eastwards and to San Francisco in the West;
• and the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western, later to be known as the Union Pacific Eastern Division, which was to link the 100th meridian Southeast with Kansas City.

The charters awarded to the railroads provided rights of way and use of stone and timber to build the roadbed, and granted 6,400 acres of land for each mile of railroad built. Based on the estimates made after the surveys, the government agreed to provide nearly half the needed capital for the project, about 60 million dollars. More than 50 million dollars would have to be raised from private investors.

AGC and QUOIN

About the Association of General Contractors

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The Association of General Contractors (AGC) is America's oldest and largest trade association.

The AGC was organized in 1919 to address problems discovered during World War I. "The original purpose of AGC was to have a mechanism to mobilize the industry in an emergency situation," said Raleigh Roussell, President and CEO of QUOIN, the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of AGC. "WWI was the first time America was truly called to mobilize on a global scale and some parts of this mobilization just didn't work well. One of the areas where this was a big problem was the construction industry. In 1919 President Woodrow Wilson went to the country's leading construction firms and asked them to create an organization to address this, and AGC was the result."

Since then, the AGC has evolved into the primary voice of the construction industry in Washington DC. They coordinate with OSHA, EPA and other government agencies on regulations, lobby politicians to influence legislation and participate in judicial actions that affect the industry. The national organization maintains a staff of 85 people in Alexandria, Virginia to support its 35,000 members nationwide.

The AGC is also represented by 100 local chapters around the United States. The Dallas Chapter, the first AGC Chapter in Texas, was formed in 1924; the Fort Worth Chapter was established one year later. "There was always a need for the local groups, doing mostly labor-oriented activities," said Roussell. "That's why there were separate chapters in Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston . . . each local chapter was initially just an individualized, community group. Historically, the local organization had a focus on labor issues. The national organization had a focus on dealing with federal agencies and political issues.

The 1970s Bring Change to the Local Chapters

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Over the years, the growth of the Metroplex forced the Dallas and Fort Worth Chapters to function together more closely. "In 1970 the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport was the first real cooperative project between Dallas and Fort Worth contractors," said Roussell. "We quickly realized that we were going to have a difficult time building an airport that was half in Dallas and half in Tarrant, because there were separate unions in each county. So we put together a group called the North Texas Contractors Association (NTCA). Its goal was to bring the unions into a single regional bargaining process rather than doing it for each separate county. This way we'd have common expiration dates, wages, working rules and so forth. That worked very well."

The creation of the NTCA carved out a large part of the local AGC chapters' traditional role, allowing them to pursue new avenues of support for the local construction industry.

In 1971 when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was formed, Dallas was the first AGC chapter in the country to hire a safety expert. "That was sort of a bell cow of services for the industry," said Roussell, "in terms of helping members manage their safety, do site audits, do OSHA representation when OSHA came out. OSHA and our safety program has become a big part of what we do, and that's become a predominate service provided by most AGC chapters across the country. It's a big part of a contractor's business."

As environmental matters became more sensitive, the local AGC chapters became involved with that as well, adding an environmentalist to their staff. "Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations used to be enforced federally," said Roussell. "Then they became enforced at a state level, and now they're locally enforced. All municipalities with over 10,000 residents are now required to administer EPA regulations on stormwater run-off. It used to be one entity interpreting the regs one way. Now, in the Metroplex we have 23 cities that are over 10,000 in population so we have 23 different regulators out there. In Arlington they may look at it one way, then you cross over to Grand Prairie and they look at it another way. We realized that we needed someone on our staff who not only knows environmental regulations but is out there building relationships with people who will be doing the inspections."

Local AGC Chapters Merge into QUOIN

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Raleigh Roussell

Up until the 1980s, the various local chapters in North and East Texas operated independently; however, economic circumstances and the growing Metroplex market forced changes over the next several years.

In 1988 the East Texas AGC Chapter merged into the Dallas Chapter as a result of the soft economy. This merger expanded the area of responsibility for the Dallas Chapter from the Dallas/Tarrant County line to the Texas/Louisiana border.

Over the next eleven years, the Dallas and Fort Worth chapters met periodically to consider the value of combining into one group, with little success. By 2000, however, the groups' leaders recognized that viewing Dallas and Fort Worth as separate markets had become an obsolete perspective. "People began to truly realize that this is one market," said Roussell. "We saw that we could be a stronger political entity if we put the two chapters together."

Effective January 2001 QUOIN was formed to create a single AGC chapter that supports more than 40 counties in North and East Texas. With over 1000 members, a professional staff of 12 and an annual budget of $3.5 million, QUOIN has become the leading voice of the construction industry in this part of the country.

Where Did the Name QUOIN Come From?

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Inevitably, the questions arise: "Where did the name 'QUOIN' come from? What exactly is a QUOIN?"

"When we did this merger we had contractors in Dallas, Fort Worth and East Texas," said Roussell. "Normally, the chapters are described geographically in AGC. But we thought it was unfair to call it the North Texas chapter because then you think only of Dallas and Fort Worth. We couldn't call it Northeast Texas because then you think of Texarkana and Mt. Pleasant and that area. We certainly didn't want to say North and East Texas because that just doesn't roll off the tongue the right way.

"We hired a professional PR firm to come up with a name. As the PR guy was getting ready to meet with the new combined chapter board, I told him, 'They are not going to go for any off-the-wall names. You better be thinking of terms like Council, Associated, Master Builder, Constructors, words like that.' He had shown me a bunch of the other ideas and I told him they'd never go for those.

"So we have this first meeting with the consolidated board. He makes his presentation on what I'd call traditional names. Everyone just sat there, didn't get excited about anything he presented. On a break he came to me and said, 'Let me give them some of these other names. You said they wouldn't like them, but I don't see a lot of energy for what we presented.' So he presented these off-the-wall names. He said QUOIN and explained why he had gotten there.

"QUOIN (pronounced "COIN") is a construction term. A quoin is a cornerstone or keystone of an arch. It was symbolic of bringing the two organizations together to create a structurally stronger group.

"It made wonderful sense when we talked about it. It was short and unique and when they saw it they jumped all over it."

Today's QUOIN and AGC

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The local AGC has come a long way from resolving labor disputes for a single community. QUOIN now provides support in several key arenas to develop its members as better general contractors and to expand and improve the market.

"Our vision is to build the best contractor community in the world," said Roussell. "All the things we do make better contractors. In my opinion, we have the best qualified general contractor community in the country. What's good for the owner is that we have so many good contractors that we probably aren't getting paid what we should be getting paid for what we do. It's very competitive. It's an attractive market.

"I serve on an economic development group. We've been on 3 corporate recruiting trips where I can represent the construction community to an owner. I'm not representing a contractor; I'm representing the capability of our industry to owners. We're involved in those things as part of a complete community effort to attract industry to our market. We try to make sure our members are differentiated and recognized as the best."

QUOIN's efforts now focus on three separate areas:

• Governmental Coordination
• OSHA and Environmental Regulatory Compliance
• Education

Governmental Coordination

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One of QUOIN's primary functions is to work with local governments to resolve disputes and speak on behalf of the construction industry. QUOIN works with building officials, fire departments and city councils to address matters and influence legislation. QUOIN also participates in the North Central Texas Council of Governments, working to standardize building codes and other regulatory requirements across city lines.

QUOIN is active in developing market opportunities with local governments as well. "We have been involved with the $1.4 billion Dallas Independent School District (DISD) construction program," Roussell said. "We've met every Monday afternoon for the past 18 months, working out procedures and how it's going to be handled. Our lawyer spent a lot of time and money, rewriting the general conditions with their lawyer, to make sure this was $1.4 billion of work that our members would be interested in pursuing. So far DISD has budgeted about $300 million of that work, and every single project has gone to one of our members. In some cases it went to companies that never touched school work before. What we set out to do, we accomplished. We created a market for our members, particularly at a time when that was a lot of the only work out there to pursue."

The association has engaged in similar efforts with the Fort Worth Independent School District.

QUOIN also works with the minority community to help build minority contractor capacity. Recently, the University of North Texas sought the organization's help to ensure minority representation on their new $350 million campus project in South Dallas. "Today I'm meeting with minority chambers of commerce, minority contractors and UNT," said Roussell. "We're bringing all the entities together so we can work out a solution that's good for everyone."

At the state level, AGC maintains an office of four full-time lobbyists in Austin. This group works with the Texas Legislature and develops relationships with state-level government agencies like the University of Texas system and the Comptroller's Office.

OSHA and Environmental Regulatory Compliance

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OSHA and EPA regulatory compliance has become a cornerstone of QUOIN's support to its members. The group helps to develop safety programs for its members and provides training classes to ensure that local general contractors have the knowledge and procedures in place to adhere to government requirements. The AGC works closely with OSHA and the EPA at all levels to resolve disputes and develop safety policies that protect the workers and environment while not prohibiting general contractors from doing their work in a cost-effective manner.

QUOIN coordinated with various federal agencies to develop the SafetyNet program, an application to track safety and environmental programs at job sites with handheld personal information manager devices. "We've tried to stay ahead of the curve in terms of providing services that are innovative, and take some risks in moving those programs forward," Roussell said. "In the long run it pays off."

"We're recognized for our relationships with OSHA," Roussell said. "We just created a partnering agreement with OSHA where, based on our member's program and our recommendations, they'll sign a partnering agreement where they won't visit that member's job site more than once. They'll leave it up to us to monitor that contractor thru our audits.

"It's the same with EPA. We have worked out an agreement with EPA where they'll accept the reports generated by SafetyNet as official job reports. We were able to accomplish that only because we had EPA at the table helping us build this program. All of those relationships in the long run benefit the industry and our members."

Training and Education

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Prior to 1995, the local AGC chapters provided extensive training opportunities to craftsmen in the construction industry. These efforts were duplicated by other trade organizations as well. In 1996, The Construction Education Foundation (CEF) was created through an alliance of the members of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), North Texas Chapter; the AGC, Dallas Chapter; Associated General Contractors (AGC), Fort Worth Chapter and The American Subcontractors Association (ASA), North Texas Chapter. The purpose of the CEF was to consolidate the craftsman-oriented training into one organization.

Since then, AGC's training efforts have focused on safety education, professional development for middle- and upper-management professionals and site superintendent training.

QUOIN is very active in developing aspiring construction industry professionals. The group works with nine universities: The University of Oklahoma; Oklahoma State; Texas A&M; Texas Tech, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; John Brown University; North East Louisiana State in Monroe; and Louisiana Tech in Rustin. QUOIN provides scholarships and grants to the schools and serves as advisors to the universities on construction curriculum and programs.

One program QUOIN supports is the annual Region V Student Competition. Student teams from area colleges participate in one of three competitions: Commercial Building, Design/Build and Heavy-Civil. In each competition, the student teams are presented with an assignment that replicates a real world project. The teams develop proposals for the project, which are judged by local real estate developers or other experts. Winners of the competitions earn cash awards for their schools and the right to move on to the National Competition. QUOIN members help to organize and run this event and provide the cash prizes.

QUOIN also works to bring the best graduates to the Metroplex once they complete their studies. "We sponsor an interview event for the students and local contractors," said Roussell. "Instead of our members having to go to all the universities, we bring all the students here. We'll coordinate about 1,000 interviews for 150 students with the contractors."

Bob Moore Construction and QUOIN

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Bob Moore Construction is an active member of AGC. In 2004, the company sponsored the Region V Student Design/Build Competition, where 30 students from five colleges competed for the right to represent their school at a national competition. Bob Moore Construction was chosen to sponsor this again in 2005.

For more information about the Student Design / Build Competion, please read the recent press release from Bob Moore Construction.

In August, 2004 the company sponsored an AGC skeet shoot to raise funds for QUOIN's Education and Research Foundation. This foundation provides over $50,000 each year in scholarships and grants for construction management students and runs the annual Region V Student Competition.

"AGC is an important group to be a part of," said Larry Knox, Vice President for Bob Moore Construction. "It gives our people a chance to receive valuable training, stay current on the latest from EPA and OSHA, and network with others in our industry. Being part of AGC differentiates us from other general contractors."

QUOIN's Success

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QUOIN's efforts over the years have made a significant impact on the Metroplex and the local construction industry. Their training and the safety/environmental programs have led to better qualified local contractors who are more capable of maintaining safe, legally compliant job sites. Just as importantly, QUOIN's constant involvement with government officials and agencies at all levels has created new opportunities for general contractors, improved relations with minority communities, mitigated the effects of legislation that worked against the industry and helped to standardize regulations throughout the Metroplex.

The impact of QUOIN extends beyond Dallas/Fort Worth. Their innovations - like being the first AGC chapter to hire a safety expert and an environmentalist - have been emulated by other chapters, raising the association's level of support for general contractors around the country. The SafetyNet program, which QUOIN is helping to pioneer, has the potential to help general contractors and government agencies all across the United States.

Not surprisingly, the organization has been recognized for their work. In 2002 QUOIN received three awards from the National AGC: The Chapter of Year, the Local Chapter Chairman of Year and the Executive of the Year. A testament to the success of QUOIN's safety program, QUOIN members have won six AGC National Construction Safety Excellence awards (40% of the total number given for the entire country) since 2001.

"Being in the association business my whole life I understand what associations do," said Raleigh Roussell. "There's a real need for an organization like ours. The benefits to a lot of what we do are intangible. But an industry needs a single voice. It needs representation."

Visit http://www.quoin.org/ for more information on QUOIN and AGC

Triple Your Personal Productivity

Have you ever had the experience of looking back on your week with the sinking feeling that you didn't get as much done as you'd hoped? When building a successful career or a business of your own, your time is perhaps your most valuable asset, and your income is a direct result of how you spend your time. You cannot buy any more time than you're given, and the clock is always ticking. A few years ago, I discovered a simple system that allowed me to nearly triple my productivity, and in this article I'll share some very practical ideas you can apply right away to increase your effectiveness without working any harder than you do now.

Keep a detailed time log.

The first step to better managing your time is to find out how you're currently spending your time. Keeping a time log is a very effective way to do this, and after trying it for just one day, you'll immediately gain tremendous insight into where your time is actually going. The very act of measuring is often enough to raise your unconscious habits into your consciousness, where you then have a chance to scrutinize and change them.

Here's how to keep a time log. Throughout your day record the time whenever you start or stop any activity. Consider using a stopwatch to just record time intervals for each activity. You can do this during only your working time or throughout your entire day. At the end of the day, sort all the time chunks into general categories, and find out what percentage of your time is being spent on each type of activity. If you want to be thorough, do this for a week, and calculate the percentage of your total time that you spent on each type of activity. Be as detailed as possible. Note how much time you spend on email, reading newsgroups, web surfing, phone calls, eating, going to the bathroom, etc. If you get up out of your chair, it probably means you need to make an entry in your time log. I typically end up with 50-100 log entries per day.

You may be surprised to discover you're spending only a small fraction of your working time doing what you'd consider to be actual work. Studies have shown that the average office worker does only 1.5 hours of actual work per day. The rest of the time is spent socializing, taking coffee breaks, eating, engaging in non-business communication, shuffling papers, and doing lots of other non-work tasks. The average full-time office worker doesn't even start doing real work until 11:00am and begins to wind down around 3:30pm.

Analyze your results.

The first time I kept a time log, I only finished 15 hours worth of real work in a week where I spent about 60 hours in my office. Even though I was technically about twice as productive as the average office worker, I was still disturbed by the results. Where did those other 45 hours go? My time log laid it all out for me, showing me all the time drains I wasn't consciously aware of -- checking email too often, excessive perfectionism doing tasks that didn't need to be done, over-reading the news, taking too much time for meals, succumbing to preventable interruptions, etc.

Calculate your personal efficiency ratio.

When I realized that I spent 60 hours at the office but only completed 15 hours of actual work within that time, I started asking myself some interesting questions. My income and my sense of accomplishment depended only on those 15 hours, not on the total amount of time I spent at the office. So I decided to begin recording my daily efficiency ratio as the amount of time I spent on actual work divided by the total amount of time I spent in my office. While it certainly bothered me that I was only working 25% of the time initially, I also realized it would be extremely foolish to simply work longer hours.

Efficiency Ratio = (Time Doing "Real Work") / (Time Spent "At Work")

Cut back on total hours to force an increase in efficiency.

If you've ever tried to discipline yourself to do something you weren't really motivated to do, you most likely failed. That was naturally the result I experienced when I tried to discipline myself to work harder. In fact, trying harder actually de-motivated me and drove my efficiency ratio even lower. So I reluctantly decided to try the opposite approach. The next day I would only allow myself to put in five hours total at the office, and the rest of the day I wouldn't allow myself to work at all. Well, an interesting thing happened, as I'm sure you can imagine. My brain must have gotten the idea that working time was a scarce commodity because I worked almost the entire five hours straight and got an efficiency ratio of over 90%. I continued this experiment for the rest of the week and ended up getting about 25 hours of work done with only 30 hours total spent in my office, for an efficiency ratio of over 80%. So I was able to reduce my weekly working time by 30 hours while also getting 10 more hours of real work done. If your time log shows your efficiency ratio to be on the low side, try severely limiting your total amount of working time for a day, and see what happens. Once your brain realizes that working time is scarce, you suddenly become a lot more efficient because you have to be. When you have tight time constraints, you will usually find a way to get your work done. But when you have all the time in the world, it's too easy to be inefficient.

Gradually increase total hours while maintaining peak efficiency.

Over a period of a few weeks, I was able to keep my efficiency ratio above 80% while gradually increasing my total weekly office time. I've been able to maintain this for many years now, and I commonly get about 40 hours of real work done every week, while only spending about 45 total hours in my office. I've learned that this is ideal for me. If I try to put in more time at the office, then my productivity drops off rapidly. The interesting thing is that the system that allowed me to optimize my effectiveness at work also created a tremendous amount of balance in all other areas of my life. Even though I was able to use this approach to triple my business productivity, I still gained plenty of time to pursue personal interests.

Time logging is the intelligent choice to ensure optimal productivity without increasing your hours. But time logging need only be done periodically to provide these benefits. I do it for one week every 3-6 months, and over the years it has made a huge difference for me, always providing me with new distinctions. If I go too many months without time logging, my productivity gradually drops as I fall back into unconscious time-wasting habits. You'll probably find as I do that your gut feelings about your productivity are closely related to how much real work you actually get done. When you feel your productivity is lower than you'd like, raise your awareness via time logging, measure your efficiency ratio, and then optimize your efficiency to boost your productivity back up where it belongs. Time logging is a high leverage activity that takes very little time and effort to implement, but the long-term payoff is tremendous.

Steel Building Advantages

One reason for the fast growth of the prefabricated steel building industry is the fact that steel building manufacturers have created prefabricated systems for a wide range of applications. Steel buildings used to be limited to storage facilities and aircraft hangers. Now, steel is used very successfully for structures as small as toll booths and vending machine shelters, and as large as barns and agricultural facilities, work shops, sports facilities, even churches and retail centers. Steel buildings are frequently used in larger buildings like commercial aircraft hangers and sports arenas, where a large clearspan space is required. (Clearspan is an interior space of a building where the roof is supported by the bordering structural walls and framework, and not with columns.)

Steel provides some other benefits in many circumstances. Generally speaking, prefabricated steel buildings can also be erected more quickly than traditionally constructed buildings. Assuming that the prefabricated kit does not require significant customizing, the project's design phase is reduced considerably with the use of the steel building system. While this is true for the design phase, site preparation and construction phases for larger steel buildings are normally comparable with similarly sized tilt-up structures.

Perhaps the main reason for the expanding use of steel buildings is construction cost. Assuming that the building fits the parameters and limitations of what is appropriate for steel, prefabricated steel building kits are generally less expensive than custom-designed structures built using traditional construction or even tilt-up construction. Also, with the use of finishes, facades and other wall claddings, builders can craft beautiful facilities that avoid the traditional "tin shed" look associated with steel buildings.

For smaller warehouse, industrial and commercial projects, particularly those under 50,000 square feet, these benefits make steel buildings an extremely attractive alternative for the cost-conscious building owner. Also, steel buildings are frequently the right choice for larger buildings where a large clearspan space is required.

How do you discover your real purpose in life?

How do you discover your real purpose in life? I’m not talking about your job, your daily responsibilities, or even your long-term goals. I mean the real reason why you’re here at all — the very reason you exist.

Perhaps you’re a rather nihilistic person who doesn’t believe you have a purpose and that life has no meaning. Doesn’t matter. Not believing that you have a purpose won’t prevent you from discovering it, just as a lack of belief in gravity won’t prevent you from tripping. All that a lack of belief will do is make it take longer, so if you’re one of those people, just change the number 20 in the title of this blog entry to 40 (or 60 if you’re really stubborn). Most likely though if you don’t believe you have a purpose, then you probably won’t believe what I’m saying anyway, but even so, what’s the risk of investing an hour just in case?

Here’s a story about Bruce Lee which sets the stage for this little exercise. A master martial artist asked Bruce to teach him everything Bruce knew about martial arts. Bruce held up two cups, both filled with liquid. “The first cup,” said Bruce, “represents all of your knowledge about martial arts. The second cup represents all of my knowledge about martial arts. If you want to fill your cup with my knowledge, you must first empty your cup of your knowledge.”

If you want to discover your true purpose in life, you must first empty your mind of all the false purposes you’ve been taught (including the idea that you may have no purpose at all).

So how to discover your purpose in life? While there are many ways to do this, some of them fairly involved, here is one of the simplest that anyone can do. The more open you are to this process, and the more you expect it to work, the faster it will work for you. But not being open to it or having doubts about it or thinking it’s an entirely idiotic and meaningless waste of time won’t prevent it from working as long as you stick with it — again, it will just take longer to converge.

Here’s what to do:

1. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a word processor where you can type (I prefer the latter because it’s faster).
2. Write at the top, “What is my true purpose in life?”
3. Write an answer (any answer) that pops into your head. It doesn’t have to be a complete sentence. A short phrase is fine.
4. Repeat step 3 until you write the answer that makes you cry. This is your purpose.

That’s it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a counselor or an engineer or a bodybuilder. To some people this exercise will make perfect sense. To others it will seem utterly stupid. Usually it takes 15-20 minutes to clear your head of all the clutter and the social conditioning about what you think your purpose in life is. The false answers will come from your mind and your memories. But when the true answer finally arrives, it will feel like it’s coming to you from a different source entirely.

For those who are very entrenched in low-awareness living, it will take a lot longer to get all the false answers out, possibly more than an hour. But if you persist, after 100 or 200 or maybe even 500 answers, you’ll be struck by the answer that causes you to surge with emotion, the answer that breaks you. If you’ve never done this, it may very well sound silly to you. So let it seem silly, and do it anyway.

As you go through this process, some of your answers will be very similar. You may even re-list previous answers. Then you might head off on a new tangent and generate 10-20 more answers along some other theme. And that’s fine. You can list whatever answer pops into your head as long as you just keep writing.

At some point during the process (typically after about 50-100 answers), you may want to quit and just can’t see it converging. You may feel the urge to get up and make an excuse to do something else. That’s normal. Push past this resistance, and just keep writing. The feeling of resistance will eventually pass.

You may also discover a few answers that seem to give you a mini-surge of emotion, but they don’t quite make you cry — they’re just a bit off. Highlight those answers as you go along, so you can come back to them to generate new permutations. Each reflects a piece of your purpose, but individually they aren’t complete. When you start getting these kinds of answers, it just means you’re getting warm. Keep going.

It’s important to do this alone and with no interruptions. If you’re a nihilist, then feel free to start with the answer, “I don’t have a purpose,” or “Life is meaningless,” and take it from there. If you keep at it, you’ll still eventually converge.

When I did this exercise, it took me about 25 minutes, and I reached my final answer at step 106. Partial pieces of the answer (mini-surges) appeared at steps 17, 39, and 53, and then the bulk of it fell into place and was refined through steps 100-106. I felt the feeling of resistance (wanting to get up and do something else, expecting the process to fail, feeling very impatient and even irritated) around steps 55-60. At step 80 I took a 2-minute break to close my eyes, relax, clear my mind, and to focus on the intention for the answer to come to me — this was helpful as the answers I received after this break began to have greater clarity.

Here was my final answer: to live consciously and courageously, to resonate with love and compassion, to awaken the great spirits within others, and to leave this world in peace.

When you find your own unique answer to the question of why you’re here, you will feel it resonate with you deeply. The words will seem to have a special energy to you, and you will feel that energy whenever you read them.

Discovering your purpose is the easy part. The hard part is keeping it with you on a daily basis and working on yourself to the point where you become that purpose.

If you’re inclined to ask why this little process works, just put that question aside until after you’ve successfully completed it. Once you’ve done that, you’ll probably have your own answer to why it works. Most likely if you ask 10 different people why this works (people who’ve successfully completed it), you’ll get 10 different answers, all filtered through their individual belief systems, and each will contain its own reflection of truth.

Obviously, this process won’t work if you quit before convergence. I’d guesstimate that 80-90% of people should achieve convergence in less than an hour. If you’re really entrenched in your beliefs and resistant to the process, maybe it will take you 5 sessions and 3 hours, but I suspect that such people will simply quit early (like within the first 15 minutes) or won’t even attempt it at all. But if you’re drawn to read this blog (and haven’t been inclined to ban it from your life yet), then it’s doubtful you fall into this group.

Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is a marvel of engineering and architecture, and it occupies a unique place in the history of construction companies and construction management. Not only was the 1453-foot, 103-story structure built in just over 13 months, the construction company that took on the daunting job allegedly began with nothing on hand - no equipment or supplies that would be sufficient for such an enormous undertaking. How they accomplished the task is a case study in early, successful commercial construction management.

Legend has it that General Motors executive John J. Raskob conceived of the project when he decided to best his arch-rival, Walter Chrysler, who had begun construction on the 1046-foot Chrysler Building. The Chrysler Building was already in competition with the Bank of Manhattan Building at 40 Wall Street to be the tallest building in the world.

Raskob rounded up a group of well known investors that included Coleman and Pierre S. duPont, Louis G. Kaufman and Ellis P. Earl to form Empire State, Inc. He appointed former Governor of New York and Presidential candidate Alfred E. Smith to head the group. Raskob then went to architectural firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates, who were known as the best skyscraper architects in the city. He told them he not only wanted an office building whose height would exceed that of the Chrysler Building, but he wanted it to be finished first.

The decade of the 1920s was known as the Art Deco Period in design. The Empire State Building's architects wanted to make this building something that would stand out, even in this era. One way they did this was by creating a building with four facades facing the street, rather than just the one that most buildings have. The highlight of the building would be its imperious tower, set off by the buildup of the lower levels and the indented setbacks of the center. Steel columns and beams were to be used to form a stable 3-D grid. Because the column grids were to be closely spaced, the open spaces in the building would be obstructed. As a result, there would be no column-free spaces on any of the building's floors.

The schedule on this project was as adventurous as the design. The project would be done, the architects planned, in only eighteen months.

General contractors Starrett Brothers and Eken, who were known as the premier "skyline builders" of the 1920s, made a bold bid to win the job. Not only did they promise that they could get the job done on time, but they announced that they would purchase custom-fitted equipment to fulfill the contract. The Starrett Brothers were sure that other commercial contractors trying get the job had assured the client that they had plenty of equipment, and what they didn't have they would rent. The Starret Brothers decided to take a different tack. During the interview process, when asked how much equipment the construction company had on hand they answered that they didn't own anything that would be useful on this project. They explained to the investors that the size and scope of the Empire State Building would create unusual problems. Ordinary building equipment would not suffice so they would have to design and purchase all new, custom pieces. They would sell that equipment and credit the investors with the difference when the project was complete. Their opinion was that this would cost less than renting secondhand equipment and would be more efficient. The investment group agreed.

With such an extremely tight schedule, Starrett Bros. and Eken had to start planning immediately. They determined that more than sixty different types of trade people would be required and that most supplies would need to be ordered to specification because the immense job scope. The supplies had to be made at the plants in as close to finished state as possible, to minimize preparatory work needed at the site. The companies they hired had to be dependable, able to provide quality work, and willing to adhere to the allotted timetable. Time had to be scheduled nearly to the minute. The schedule dictated that each section of the building process overlapped - not a moment was to be wasted.

The Empire State Building was the first commercial construction project to employ the technique of fast-track construction, a commonplace approach today but very new in the early 20th Century. This technique consists of starting the construction process before the designs are fully completed in order to reduce delays and inflation costs. In this case, it was imperative to use the fast-track construction method to win the race for the tallest building. In order to make this work, the structural engineer makes a schematic design based upon the architect's sketches. The schematic design includes the materials to be used in construction (either reinforced concrete or steel), types of floors and column spacing.

The contractors began excavation for the new building in January 1930, even before the demolition of the site's previous occupant, the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, was complete. The Starrett Brothers had pioneered the simultaneous work of demolition and foundation-laying just a year earlier when building 40 Wall Street, an earlier competitor in the race to erect the world's highest building. Two shifts of 300 men worked day and night, digging through the hard rock and creating the foundation.

Less than two months later, in March 1930 construction began on the steel skeleton. The frame of the skyscraper rose at the rate of four and a half stories per week, or more than a story a day. No comparable building has been built at a similar rate of speed. This accomplishment came about through effective logistics combined with a skilled, organized workforce.

The project became a model of efficiency. The contractors created various innovations that saved time, money and manpower. The 60,000 tons of steel for the framework were manufactured in Pittsburgh and transported immediately to New York via train, barge and truck. Legend has it that the steel posts and beams arrived at the site marked with their place in the framework and with the number of the derrick that would hoist them. Workers could then swing the girders into place and have them riveted as quickly as 80 hours after coming out of the furnace and off the roller.

A railway was built at the construction site to move materials quickly. Since each railway car -- a cart pushed by people -- held eight times more than a wheelbarrow, the materials were also moved with less effort. The steel girders could not be raised more than 30 stories at a time, so several large derricks were used to pass the girders up to the higher floors.

In those days, bricks used for construction were usually dumped in the street and then moved from the pile to the bricklayer by wheelbarrow as needed. The streets would have to be closed off, while the labor of moving the bricks was backbreaking and inefficient. With ten million bricks needed for this job, the old method would be impractical and wasteful of time. Instead, Starrett Brothers and Eken devised a chute that led to a hopper in the basement. As the bricks arrived by truck, the contractors had them dumped down the chute. When they were needed, the bricks were released from the hopper and dropped into carts, which were then hoisted up to the appropriate floor.

While the outside of the building was being constructed, electricians and plumbers began installing the internal necessities of the building. Timing for each trade to start working was finely tuned, and the building rose as if being constructed on an assembly line - one where the assembly line did the moving and the finished product stayed put.

In addition to the steel frame, construction materials included 62,000 cubic yards of concrete; 200,000 cubic feet of Indiana limestone and granite, which comprised most of the exterior; 10,000 square feet of Rose Famosa and Estrallante marble; 6,500 windows, whose spandrels were sandblasted to blend their color into the tone of the windows; and 300,000 square feet of Hauteville and Rocheron marble for the elevator lobbies and the corridors on the office floors.

The Starrett Brothers managed a workforce of 3,500 men, who put in seven million man-hours including work on Sundays and holidays. The workers earned $15 a day, an excellent rate of pay in the early 1930s.

The project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Instead of taking 18 months as anticipated, the construction took just under fifteen. Due to reduced costs during the Depression, the final costs totaled only $24.7 million instead of the estimated $43 million.

In September of 1930, only partially finished, the Empire State Building officially became the world's tallest skyscraper. The 1046-foot Chrysler Building, which was completed in May 1930, had held the title for only a few months. When the 85th floor of the Empire State Building was completed, it officially eclipsed its rival.

Construction was completed on April 11, 1931, one year and 45 days after it had begun. President Herbert Hoover officially opened the building on May 1, 1931 by pressing a button in Washington, D.C. which turned on the building's lights. The Empire State Building remained the world's tallest skyscraper for more than 40 years, until the World Trade Center Towers were constructed in 1972.

Although it is no longer the tallest building in the world, the Empire State Building is a crowning achievement of architecture, a symbol of New York City, and most of all an amazing accomplishment in the field of commercial construction.

Seventy-three elevators wait to take visitors to the upper floors, but if you prefer the stairs you'll have to climb 1860 steps. Seventy million people have viewed the world from the platforms on the 86th and 102nd floors-approximately 35,000 a day. Famous visitors include Lassie, KISS, Prince Charles and Fidel Castro. The building has appeared in over 50 different movies, including "An Affair to Remember" and "When Harry Met Sally." Floodlights in 18 different color combinations shine on the top of the building on special occasions and holidays.

Interestingly, the building was designed to be a lightning rod for the area and it works: the Empire State Building is struck approximately 100 times each year. In 1945, the structural integrity of the building was tested when a twin-engine B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor. Fourteen people were tragically killed, but the building remained standing. Even though one of the plane's engine went right through the entire building, damage was confined to the outer wall.

The lobby of the building is a spectacular feat in itself. It rises five stories and is finished in Art Deco stylings, with large bronze medallions that honor the workers who created this amazing building. The crowning touch is a metal mosaic that features the building as the center of the universe. Marble and granite grace the lobby and are highlighted with brushed stainless steel.

Modular Home Construction vs. Traditional Home Construction

Advances in technology and building processes have opened up a world of endless possibilities for modular home construction, providing strong competition with traditional home building. Highly controlled factory warehouses, similar to automobile factories provide a safe environment for modular home construction. Weather conditions are not a detriment to the materials, and quality control is located at each station for providing adherence to some of the highest standards for home construction in the business. Compare the benefits of modular home construction over traditionally built homes. What are the differences between modular home construction and traditional home construction?

With modular home construction, materials are purchased in bulk directly from the supplier often at great savings, eliminating the middleman. Contractors using traditional construction purchase site-specific materials through building supply stores, increasing the cost of materials due to overhead and transportation.

Modular construction takes place primarily indoors, increasing efficiency and savings to the customer. Weather, theft and vandalism affect a stick-built construction site, plaguing customers with weather damaged materials and loss with traditional home construction.

Lot preparation can occur simultaneously with modular home construction, reducing the overall amount of time and money needed for completion. With traditional home construction, lot preparation takes place first, before any building can begin. Weather and contractor scheduling affect the duration of this process, thus extending the cost of material replacement and labor.

In modular home construction, strength and quality of the home exceeds on-site stick-built homes due to the requirement of moving the home from the factory to the home site. Traditional home construction uses 25% to 30% less lumber and nails/glue, along with less overall insulation than modular home construction.

Modular homes undergo rigorous inspection, following not only state and local codes, but also careful quality control at each stage of construction in the factory with modular home construction. Stick-built construction follows state and local building codes only. Inspectors are not on-site throughout the building process.

Modular
A modular home is constructed in a factory, under controlled conditions by trained personnel employed by the company. The company can draw custom plans and specifications, or a plan with standard specifications can be chosen from plan books. Prices are usually "quotes" and are firm throughout the building process.
Homes are built to the same codes as a custom site built home. Dickinson Homes builds to the International

Residential Code (IRC), which was newly adopted by the state of Michigan in July of 2001. Homes delivered to the state of Wisconsin are built to their state code. Each home design is certified by the respective state department or a third party agency representing the state.
Unlike manufactured homes, modular homes do not have wheels for delivery, but instead are delivered on trailers and lifted onto a permanent foundation and anchored in place.