Sold time. That is all that employment is.
You agree terms for selling your time to someone. They agree to pay you a certain amount in return for your time and skills, and in return you sell them a certain amount of your time, lets say six months for a contract, or maybe it’s perpetual in terms of employment, with annual reviews, maybe.
Yet after the initial negotiations and contract agreement, and after you’ve settled in, you start getting a little bored. There’s not enough holidays. Maybe you feel another sick day coming on. You start to hate the fact that you have to get up and go to work.
The thing is, it all just comes down to the fact that you sold your time and now you are having second thoughts, or maybe you want to renegotiate, or maybe you want out of the agreement altogether.
Life is too short to keep working at a job you don’t like. Sell your time to someone else or maybe even take a break. Sell some time back to yourself. Give notice and find someone else who would like to pay for your time, doing something you will enjoy.
We only have so much time to sell, so sell your time wisely.
Tracking your water intake
It seems weird that we should track our water intake. Yet most of us are not drinking enough. There’s even apps to help track your intake. Are you hitting your daily target? I think it’s 8 glasses, or 3 litres, or 4 pints depending on who you ask.
Why are we not drinking enough? Modern diets with over-priced food and drink numbing our taste buds and quench for thirst? Or feeling hungry when we are actually thirsty?
If in doubt, drink. Water that is. Anything else could be a diuretic. Don’t risk it. Best play it safe and drink water. That’s what your body wants anyway. A nice cool glass of water. Eight of them a day.
Stay hydrated!
When is rock bottom?
You hear the term a lot: reaching rock bottom.
When do you know you’ve hit rock bottom? There always seems further that you can fall. So when is it the actual rock bottom?
“I hit rock bottom and turned my life around“. Maybe it’s the point at which you can’t take any more or mentally make the decision to stop falling and to do something about it? Maybe everyone’s rock bottom is different. It’s when you decide to stop falling and to move in the opposite direction.
I need to stop falling.
Time-restricted loyalty
I’m not a fan of these time-restricted loyalty cards or apps. You know the ones I mean. Popular with beverage sellers or entertainment venues. Your Nth whatever is free, but only if you use it by X date. Time-restricted.
The idea of a loyalty card was to encourage customers to frequent your business more than the competition. We reward loyalty by giving you something free in return. On your Nth visit or purchase, have a free X on us.
Only now this loyalty is time-restricted until we change the card design, or update the app, or next month, whichever comes first. We appreciate your loyalty but the clock is ticking.
The definition of a professional
What is the definition of a professional? Originally it was someone that gets paid for the work they do. Is that still the case? Amateurs get paid. Even bad ones, although we tend to call them cowboys. Another definition is someone with a profession. A blogger is a profession. Doesn’t mean they get paid. Not much anyway.
To me a professional is someone with a skillset that is needed and paid for, and where they take pride in their work and the quality of the skills they offer. It’s someone that works at their profession, improving their skills and range. Someone that is seen as somewhat of an expert at what they do. A pro.
A pro at their profession.
A professional.
Sitting next to a billionaire
I was sitting next to a billionaire and didn’t realise it. Someone with more money than Richard Branson. They seemed normal. I perceived them as such. Later when I was told who they were, and that they were a billionaire, I started thinking. They didn’t radiate any billionaire vibes. There was no air of achievement, aura of wealth. Nothing. They just seemed.. normal. Like every other person.
What did I expect? Something like the memes where there will be signs that you are suddenly wealthy. Designer clothes, accessories, a fancy car, etc etc. No nothing. Just a normal person enjoying the same event as me. Only much much more wealthy.
You never know. You could be sitting next to a billionaire right now and not know it.
Feeling your age
Feeling your age. An expression often used when you feel old. Unable to do something that you used to do with ease. Or used as an insult to infer a loss of physical ability. Feeling your age.
Yet in my head I’m forever twenty four. I’m constantly surprised when I look in the mirror. I have to do a quick check that it’s me. I look older. When I dream or imagine myself doing something I’m always younger. Reality kicks in when I actually attempt something, or my body tells me to pack it in and act your age. These days I’m definitely feeling my age. How old do you feel?
Reflections
I’m walking on a beach reflecting. It reminds me of another beach, long ago at the start of my career. I was sent to the South coast to work with a client. I was lodged at a lovely hotel with pristine beaches. It’s the end of a productive day and I’m walking along the beach on a call discussing the future with a friend. The road ahead looks bright.
Cut to the present. I’m on another beach, memories of the first triggered. How did life pan out? Did my career go how I wanted it to go? Am I where I wanted to be at this age?
Reflections.
Death notification by text
I received a notification that a relative had died. I was told by text.
I hadn’t seen or heard from them in a long while. They’d moved away, lived their life, then apparently moved back into the area we all group in at some point without telling anyone. Not a million miles away, living their life. Then diagnosed with cancer a few months back. Terminal. Still no reaching out to anyone. Until it was too late. Now their son is going through their phone book notifying people, anyone, they once knew.
I wasn’t in the phone book, so I was notified second-hand, by text. By the way X has died. A follow-on text after an initial one asking a mundane question about something unrelated. With the death notification an afterthought, or received as one.
The departed was a part of my childhood up to my teens. A long time ago. The pain isn’t as raw as it would be with someone closer or who has spent a lot of time with you recently. Yet there is still pain, of loss, of sadness.
All those years, laughs, sadness, memories, brought to an end with a simple text message.
Men in trees
I was at a low point. Unemployed, or on a break, depending on how you want to spin it. Not much to do but binge watch TV and while away the days.
I discovered one show that resonated. A person trying to find themselves, in a remote location. Plus it was entertaining. Men in trees.
It starred Anne Heche as a self help guru type whose relationship had broken down and was at a loss in life. She was on a book tour and in a remote village in Alaska when her life fell apart. She decides to stay and figure things out. I was figuring things out. I enjoyed the show. Watched every episode.
It’s one of those things that triggers memories. When I hear or read it mentioned, or Anne Heche, it reminds me of that period of my life. Good memories. So I was sad to hear when she passed. Whatever her life was, she entertained me during a low point. She cheered me up and I thank her for that. It’s sad when anyone passes, whether you know them, or they affect your own life in some distant way. But I wanted to say thanks for Men in trees.