Work Matters, and Volunteers Matter, but the Benefits and Motivations will often Vary.

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All work matters, but it isn't just the work itself that matters; all who contribute to it matter. All sides gain.

Volunteers do some work, but for most work, those doing the work are paid. Participants learn new skills, meet new contacts, and help get things done in both cases. Sometimes volunteers get things done that paid workers might not have done. With these benefits, you would expect a long line of volunteers from those out of work.

It is usually unknown who will be showing up to volunteer on a project, and those doing the work also often meet new people from various life backgrounds. Your connections with coworkers, suppliers, recipients, and organizations can make a difference to you long after the work is done.

Those receiving the benefit of the work done are lifted, improving their lives. Volunteering, working side by side with others, connect you to other human beings. When you volunteer, you are making connections. Paid for your time or not, always do your best in your work. It matters.

When you know, you have made a difference; you feel better about yourself. Therefore, taking pride in your volunteer work and doing your best work is essential.

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it

This quote is by bestselling author Charles Swindoll. Another similar thought is from a Japanese proverb:

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”

We must react positively to falling by returning up, even if it means falling again.

It is what is inside us that motivates us and keeps us going →

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Starting at about four, my mother would have me kneel at my bedside and say my prayers. The importance of that part of my life story has changed over the years, and I see it differently. I value this experience, and I am grateful for it.

The early assumption that God was listening and that taking problems to him would be helpful has been a comfort, even without confirmation of having been heard at times. This sentiment is summed up well in a quote by C. S. Lewis: “Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties.”

Others have shared how they were taught similar lessons at a very young age by saying a prayer many are familiar with: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” I have thought about this often: If a person dies and his soul is taken, what is the soul, and what exactly is taken?

 If the soul is eternal and lives on when the body dies, it must be made of different materials. If that substance is spiritual, then where does it reside within our living bodies? Is it separate or part of our living flesh?

Some have referred to the soul as the seat or location of our character and emotions. It is sometimes explained as the spirit within a person and the person’s mental abilities, personality, feelings, memories, perception, thinking, and even skills. Wherever our soul goes, if our particular skills are needed, perhaps our work ethic learned in obtaining those skills is part of the package.

Whatever it is that will go with me, if I die before I wake, I want to understand as much about everything as possible and make sure my knowledge is worth taking along.

Louis Armstrong once said, “Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them,” and “What we play is life.” What, then, is that music if you are not a musician? How did that music, or that passion, get to be inside us?

Armstrong is saying that music is a part of his work ethic and life and is needed to exist. This leaves the question of what our music might be and how we keep from losing it. I conclude that my “music - passion” and what makes me feel alive are family, reading, writing, and service, but these items have evolved g and changed as I look back over my life story.

Music can be a connection between our physical selves and our very souls. We feel the music. It reflects our hearts. Music with scriptures are hymns, and we worship through hymns. The feelings of our hearts are conveyed in prayer with music.

Our bodies and faces reflect the images of happiness and sadness. Music and singing open up those feelings. Sometimes we sing for what we long for, using music to help us get by without the necessary things.

What do we long for? What do we have a passion for? Love and kindness are passions that can focus on us and drive our actions. We lose ourselves in those feelings; for some, opportunities for service to others reflect their hearts. When applicable passions fill our minds, we have a little place to worry about ourselves.

For each of us, what we play, rather than music, can be whatever we love. It can be anything we choose, but we need to feel passionate about it. If you’re lucky enough to love knowledge, learning, or service, then you are indeed blessed. That, like the music for Louis, never stops being an option.

Intellectual arrogance can blind an otherwise intelligent person to recognizing the truth →

Intellectual arrogance is a set of characteristics that tends to blind an otherwise intelligent person from recognizing the truth. Intellectual humility is “the recognition that the things you believe in might be wrong,” A benefit of intellectual humility is the recognition that one's perspective will always be limited. This recognition leaves a person well-positioned to learn as much as possible from peers and subordinates.

Examples of intellectual humility

I question my opinions, positions, and viewpoints because they could be wrong. I reconsider my thoughts when presented with new evidence. I recognize the value in views that are different from my own. I accept that my beliefs and attitudes may be wrong.

These thoughts were presented in Inc Magazine’s article: “Warren Buffett: Only 1 Thing Will Hold You Back From Achieving Great Things in Life.”

Buffett discusses the one bad habit to pay close attention to that could become self-destructive in the long run. He adds that not becoming aware of this bad habit, “intellectual arrogance,” and doing something to rid yourself of it may hold you back.

The need to show people that you think you're smarter than they are is one way to derail yourself from building solid bonds.

To counter the effects of intellectual arrogance, the most intelligent people stretch their knowledge by being open to soaking up the philosophical wisdom of others. In other words, being clever without arrogance means acknowledging that you don't know everything. Then seek knowledge from those who may know more than you do.

Because, let's face it, if you're the most intelligent person in the room, you're in the wrong room.”

What to Read Next and Why?

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The question of what to read next comes up over and over throughout our lives. Some offer answers but don’t explain why their choices should be of value to us—so understanding the why is the more complex question.

A successful fiction and fantasy writer, Neil Gaiman doesn’t hesitate to suggest an answer and offer a why; he said, “Fiction is the gateway drug to reading.”

He added that fiction drives us to want to know what happens next, and it becomes exciting and satisfies the excitement as we turn the pages.

When we read fiction, it increases our imagination and results in our finding something new of interest. The new things we find may lead us in a direction such as science, history, or art. So we could look for a biography of a person with an area of similar interest to our own.

Often the path to the next book, or even choosing one to re-read, is built on past choices. Years ago, I watched the movie “Apocalypse Now.” That led me to reread Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” set in Africa with the same basic plot. The book was considered one of Conrad’s best. 

Some criticized Conrad’s book for having a white man’s perspective on life in Africa. I wanted to find another view.  I wondered if there were good African writers that I could read. At that point in my life, I had never looked for African writers. I looked and found many good ones who were respected for their work. I found several authors of interest.  At the time, Chinua Achebe emerged as a well-known African author for his book “Things Fall Apart.”

It seemed to be the perfect “other point of view” I was looking for. This book is indeed something that should be read by anyone who reads “Heart of Darkness” and wonder if they have seen Africa correctly.

The question is still what to read but answering the why is easier. Reading is good for you because it improves your focus, memory, empathy, and communication skills. It can reduce stress, improve your mental health, and help you live longer. Reading also allows you to learn new things to help you succeed in your work and relationships.

Proactive Management is a Leadership Style that Emphasizes Strategic Planning and Risk Management →

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Proactive management is a leadership style that emphasizes strategic planning and risk management rather than taking a reactive approach to situations and business goals.

“If you're proactive, you focus on preparing. If you're reactive, you end up focusing on repairing.” - Quote by John C. Maxwell

Proactive management can be applied to any industry through leadership that emphasizes planning and forward-thinking by seeking out new opportunities for the company and dealing with any threats or problems before they even emerge.

An article in the Journal of Business and Psychology Vol. 29, No. 1 (March 2014) by Diane M. Bergeron, Tiffany D. Schroeder, and Hector A. Martinez titled “Proactive Personality at Work: Seeing More to Do and Doing More?” states:

“that a “proactive personality is a stable personality related to taking personal initiative and behaving proactively.”

Proactive people don't see challenges as having the final say, as they keep their focus on solutions. As a result of early action, they typically have confidence as they face the future. This gives them a sense of calm about the future and composure when facing obstacles

Finding Inspiration Involves Taking Action That Then Leads to Inspiration →

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Many wait for inspiration to act, but it won’t come because it is the other way around. Action triggers ideas that lead to inspiration. Start with something in your emotional periphery and take the first step. Make a call, write an outline, or volunteer just once. The process and inspiration will unfold before you.

When motivation is at odds with inspiration, continue.

Inspiration is about a person reaching a point of wanting to act, whereas motivation is more about giving people reasons to take action.

Inspiration is an act of influencing people mentally and emotionally to do something creative. Motivation is something that compels or persuades you to take action. Inspiration is what pulls you towards something.

A highly motivated person takes an idea, goes out there, and won't let anybody interfere with them—that person who isn’t going to stop along the way but keeps going down the road.

What about someone who will stop on the road somewhere and seemingly be drawn off course? Perhaps what stopped them on the road was an inspiration. Unlike motivation, inspiration works in precisely the opposite way. If the reason is when you get hold of an idea and carry it through to its conclusion, inspiration is the opposite because an idea gets hold of you and takes you to a place that inspires people to think is the better direction.

Does this mean that motivation is a distraction from inspiration?

To find the answer to this question, we have to stop and think about it, but then that would answer the question and ignore the fact that the motion involved in motivation makes it easier for inspiration to find us.

Either way, it seems clear that motivation and inspiration are connected.

Effective Communication brings people closer together or ensures that they don’t get closer. →

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Effective communication requires you to become an engaged listener. That means changing the usual focus of trying to listen to decide what to say next. Listening well will help you understand the words being communicated, but a person needs to learn how to understand the emotions conveyed.

When you listen, you’ll hear more than just words; you will hear the feelings in someone’s voice and understand that more than terms are being communicated and how a person feels about those words are more important.

Listening this way lets the other person know they were heard and understood. Resulting in a better connection.

What is being communicated often has nothing to do with the words, and the real intention (motive) can be a concern if known.

Snakes have motives

Retired Rattlesnake Roadside-Romeo was on a dirt road in rural Arizona. On the other side of the road was a chicken.

So, he hollers, "Hey there! Babe! I don't usually talk with random chicks, but you should know I am a hundred years old. Do you want to know the secret to long life?"

The chicken is intrigued and asks, "Well, what is it? Tell me"

Roadside-Romeo replies, "What'd you say? Can't hear you."

The chicken says, "What is the secret to long life?"

Roadside-Romeo says, "What, babe? Whatcha sayin'?"

So, the curious chicken crossed the road.

And went near Roadside-Romeo's ear and yelled, "What is the secret to long life?"

Roadside-Romeo hissed and rattled and replied, "Oh!!! The secret is - Don't talk to strangers!"

And in one quick swoop, the snake pounced and swallowed the bird.

And smugly, he thought, "Amazing, I can still pick up chicks with that joke!"

“Effective Communication is not just for good guys.”

#effectivecommunication #earlycareers #motivation #communication #community #listening #intentions

Learning from the "public-spirited-bird- approach" →

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For those that have subscribed to this newsletter and come back for new posts, I thank you. I have published a website (Brent M. Jones Connected Events Matter) for 4 + years and before that under another name. The breadth of material covered on the website is amazing. Grammarly told me I had reviewed over 6,000,000 words just this year in everything I do. How is that even possible? If this is your first visit, I hope you will subscribe using the button at the bottom.

A post on October 9th titled "Why, Why, Why do things happen?" featured a picture of a chicken crossing the road at the beginning and then discussed the subject: Why. The answer was suggested that it could be concerning the cause or reason something is done. (Chicken crosses the road?) Sometimes these reasons are called goals, and some are called problems: either way, the attempt to find out why can involve receiving advice.

Today's post involves geese flying in formation. Of course, if you live near someone like me who lives by a lake, you will notice that sometimes both sides seem even and others do not.

Why are there more birds on one side of the V? The simple answer is that geese care about each other. They relieve each other in intervals. Sometimes when geese or other birds are flying in formation, one side of the V has many more individuals and looks like a wedge. This is because they seldom fly directly into the wind, making the formation's downward part easier.

This "bird-public-spirited" approach doesn't stop with the formation. The decision of which bird leads the V formation is also made out of concern for the whole team. The flock of birds will share the lead of the V and rotate throughout the migratory flight. Therefore, as the leaders tire, they fall back into the community, and the birds behind will take over. This indicates that the lead would often change during a very long flight. Leadership is shared, and each takes a turn at it.

What lesson is evident from this short article? The lesson here is that with a team working together to reach a common goal, the group will gain momentum from the first push, continue supporting each other, and develop strategies, values, and action plans. In a V-formation, the whole flock extends at least 71% more flying range than if each bird flew alone.

An obvious question would be, why would any intelligent goose want to lead the formation and work twice as hard? The answer has to do with fairness, not just goodwill. The time a bird leads a formation strongly correlates with the time it can profit from flying in another bird's wake. The birds match the time they spend in the wake of each other by frequent pairwise switches of the leading position. They cooperate because it is in their own best interest.

An obvious conclusion would be to ensure your teams are set up and functioning reasonably.

Networking, Make it Real →

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We have already reached the time when an algorithm can analyze the data of those you connect with to identify interests, career goals, and general experiences. This information can match the user to contacts, making the networking process more efficient.

Professional networking will foster connections and keep you updated on current trends & conversations in your field and areas of interest. They can help you access connections you would not necessarily have gotten offline.

In an article published by Indeed’s Editorial Team on March 15th, 2021, “Top Networking Skills You Should Have (And How To Improve Them),” these three skills were presented as steps you can take to improve your networking skills

1. Practice improving communication habits:

Improve your networking skills by practicing good communication habits. Maintain eye contact when speaking with someone and nod your head in understanding or agreement. Use simple, straightforward language, ask questions and invite opinions. Please pay attention to the body language of the person you're speaking with to make sure they understand and confirm whether they agree or disagree.

2. Ask friends for constructive feedback:

Consider asking friends how you're coming across in conversation. Understanding where you can improve can help you improve your communication style, which can significantly impact your networking skills.

3. Attend networking events:

One of the best ways you can improve your networking skills is to practice them regularly. Attend networking events and focus on building a genuine human connection with the people you meet. Ask questions that show you're genuinely interested in getting to know the person you're speaking with, and listen closely to the answer while maintaining eye contact. Respond with relevant questions to show you were listening. Focus on the quality of the relationships you're having rather than the quantity.

Still, the most important thing to remember is that networking is a two-way street.

Make it real, and do what that requires, giving and taking to build trust.

Staying in contact with your new connections is needed, and looking for ways to help them achieve their goals will develop and strengthen the relationship. It works best one on one because both sides can participate equally.

Why, Why, Why do things happen? →

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Why is a word concerning the cause or reason something is done? Sometimes these reasons are called goals, and some are called problems: either way, the attempt to find out why can involve receiving advice.

Goals often change before they are realized, suggesting they are not the best fit to accomplish what was wanted or wasn’t enough.

The goal can be about anything. The list of accomplishments is endless: winning a game, learning a new skill, doing well on a test.

Offering help to goal seekers is like selling books on how to market their books to newly published authors: an excellent business.

The number of self-help and positive thinking books seems endless.  As I look back at my reading, I recall reading every positive thinking book I could find when I got out of college. After a few years, I started reading the classics, philosophy, religion, and history. Then after many years, I looked at Steven King, Lee Child, David Baldacci, and even Louis L’Amour and got hooked on good mystery writers. One conclusion might be that starting life or reading books about goals didn’t lead to me staying in that genre.

The self-help approach to goals is very much focused on accomplishing some specific thing. Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich is an obvious example. Hill’s book does lay out approaches and mindsets that could be like a policy and procedure manual for life, but it assumes that the goal will be lifelong and doesn’t leave much room for what happens if that goal changes and why it did.

I recently read an article about setting goals, and the suggestion was that a person must find the “why” first. Why was the goal wanted or needed? If that was clearly understood, everything was supposed to fall in place.

Understanding the why of the things we seek is good, but goals can change even if we don’t change our understanding of why they would be good to accomplish.

As an employment career coach, I often meet with people who have been employed in a particular field for 10, 20, or even 30 years. Sometimes they lose their jobs and are bitter about the forced change. Sometimes they are overwhelmed and feel burned out. They often start their conversation by telling me why they don’t want to do what they have been doing.

They want to change directions and find something new. Of course, it usually is the case that their years on the job have given them a strong history in what they have done, and it is easy to ask the big question.  Are they willing to start at entry level in a new job and take up to a 50% salary cut?  A close examination of a person's skills and experiences will usually allow some different direction directions to use the same skills, which is the best direction in these cases.

Sometimes careers are entered with the idea that becoming good in that profession is a life goal. Then when the time comes that a change does have to happen, the question about why it happened turns into why their life failed. Did it turn out that the original choice was wrong?

If a career was picked was a deep passion for that career, then that needs to be accompanied by an ongoing focus on what changes the job and the need for it over time.

Asking why things change opens doors to where the next move is.

The smart chicken crosses the road because it pays attention to the side of the road and knows the best thing to do and when to do it.

#why #careerdevelopment #why_not #careergoals #careercoach #goals #whatmattersmost

Bob Dylan's song Blown in the Wind tells us"the answer is blowing in the wind" - What was the answer? →

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The song “Blowin' in the Wind” by Bob Dylan raises questions. It has been described as a protest song and poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war, and freedom but is it literature?

Both songs and poems often bring out human emotions, and both have patterns of sounds, which bring melody to the verses. Some say poetry is more literary because it uses words better and conveys deeper feelings and emotions. Both reflect the same social concerns as literature.

Before you dismiss this post and the question it presents, don’t forget, or if you never knew, let me tell you that the Noble Prize for literature in 2016 was awarded to Bob Dylan for "having created new poetic expression within the great American song tradition.”

Another big thing, assuming you like Bob Dylan, is that Harper’s Magazine, after this award was given, said that “literary means not only what is written but what is voiced, what is expressed, what is invented, in whatever form.” More restrictively, writing is considered an art form or any report deemed to have artistic or intellectual value, often due to deploying language in ways that differ from ordinary usage.

"Blowin' in the Wind" was written and performed by Bob Dylan in 1962. The song became a symbolic song of fighting for people’s rights and equality in society and an anti-war song. It poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war, and freedom.

Lyrics

How many roads must a man walk down

Before you call him a man?

How many seas must a white dove sail

Before she sleeps in the sand?

Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly

Before they're forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, 'n' how many years can a mountain exist

Before it is washed to the sea?

Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist

Before they're allowed to be free?

Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head

And pretend that he doesn’t see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, 'n' how many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky?

Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take 'til he knows

That too many people have died.

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind

How does reading books help you become more creative? →

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Neil Gaiman’s book, the View from the Cheap Seats, talked about fantasy and imagination.  What he learned from his trip to China is very interesting regarding this subject. 

Neil Gaiman is a fiction writer, especially for young readers, and in 2007 went to a worldwide meeting for fiction writers in China. He knew that over the years, China didn't even allow fairy tales and fiction in their schools, so he was surprised that this event had invited him to China for this event.

He asked an official of the event what had happened and why the interest now was in fantasy and fiction. He was told that top Chinese officials had toured all the big companies they did outsourcing work with within the United States and asked those they met "what they read.” They all said science fiction was a top choice, and fantasy and fiction went along with this. They were looking for why these plants excelled in creativity.  It seemed clear from their findings that creativity was sparked by imagination.  Fiction and fantasy were added to the school curriculum in Chinese schools.

The book contains speeches, articles, introductions, and essays.  His first chapter sets the tone with his focus on "Why Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading and Daydreaming.” He said in the introduction that he liked fiction because he wanted to "tell the truth without ever needing to worry about the facts."

A creative effort that I have spent years on has been my website:

( connectedeventsmatter.com )

The website has evolved to focus on first books, now around 500, and then positive influences, personal reinvention, career development, books I have written, and other interests that will complement these goals.

Reinventing Ourselves & Our Careers. How to “Be the Change.” How to Reinvent Yourself Each Day. Reinvent the Future. Make Order out of Chaos. Choose Your Direction in Life. Finding Inspiration.

As I added other areas of interest to the site, I found that the base and variety of reading were helpful and complimentary.

Reading helps us be open to new ideas and understand new things. We practice imagination by letting words describe a particular image and manipulating the picture in our minds. This strengthens our minds because we learn from others' experiences and adapt the learning to our environment.

Are Side Hustles Entrepreneurial? →

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A side hustle is any employment undertaken in addition to one's full-time job. A side hustle, moonlighting, or gig, is often freelance or piecework, providing an additional income that a person takes in addition to their primary job to supplement their regular income.

Calling something or someone entrepreneurial can mean that they know their industry inside out and can exploit that knowledge to create new opportunities and profits. Being entrepreneurial can also mean just sharing ideas freely.

Aspiring entrepreneurs might start a side hustle as a stepping stone toward financial freedom. A side hustle can also allow you to focus on what you're most passionate about if you don't get that satisfaction from your full-time work.

When someone enjoys the type of work they make into a side job, that passion often leads them to become full-time entrepreneurs. Passion is often a driving force that can get you to do unique and challenging things. Passion is an emotion that wants to be acted upon; without action, passion yields no fruitful results. Passion is the fuel in the fire of action. When you have a passion for something, you love it even when you hate it.

A good lesson from the growing occurrence of side jobs is that it isn’t just extra income that motivates people to seek these opportunities. When the side hustle is more fun than work, that can be an important message and help when trying to find a new job. Finding your dream job starts by getting to know yourself * and what you need to know about yourself is what it is that you like. What do you have a passion for? Those areas are where you will find your dream job.

NEVER STOP BEING A STUDENT OF YOUR INDUSTRY →

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Burnout is often blamed on job stress that affects an individual’s physical and emotional state and causes mental exhaustion. Often burnout is considered the fault of management, suggesting that the workplace is not managed correctly.

Finding your ideas considered out of date leads to boredom. Placing the blame for boredom leads to denial of what may be the real problem of outdated ideas. I was talking with an old friend about his successful career. He told me he felt his longevity in the industry was perhaps perceived as a negative and wondered if others in the industry felt the same about his longevity. I had to ask myself how this could be. His vast experience should be viewed by himself and others as “added wisdom” gained by trial and error. His viewpoint spoke loudly to his own “burnout,” but is that what years of work must lead to?

The dictionary definition of burnout is “the end of the powered stage in a rocket’s flight when the propellant has been used up.” With people, energy is used up pursuing various goals, and when people are burned out, they feel bored and complacent. You can hear the burnout in someone saying, “We tried that once before, and it didn’t work, and it won’t work now.” Think of new approaches or new ways to use old products and concepts. This will provide you with renewed energy. As a veteran, you shouldn’t worry about making a mistake. You, of all people, should know that a failure or setback becomes an opportunity.

When worrying about burnout, we should stop thinking about the past and look to the future. Don’t start by asking yourself how things have always been done but look back at your past experiences and ask yourself what has changed and why. What is changing in the marketplace right now? Study your industry and learn new things.

Business analyst and author Peter Drucker said, "The best way to predict the future is to create it." 

Your path forward becomes more apparent when you look back at where you have come from

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By Brent M. Jones

We see our own lives as a series of relationships and events, and as we connect them with the narrative, they become a story, our story.

Stories of outstanding leaders, who look back at their own lives and tell how their success came because of the trials and setbacks they had in life, are not uncommon. It is obvious that they didn't see the value of the problems when they occurred but only after years of rethinking the events. The self-acceptance of their challenges followed years later.

Previously I wrote an article titled “As You Look at Your Own Life Story You See Yourself Differently,” which included background research from Julie Beck's Atlantic Magazine’s 2015 article titled “Life’s Stories.” The subtitle of her article states: “How you arrange the plot points of your life into narrative shapes who you are and is a fundamental part of being human.” 

Beck quoted Monisha Pasupathi, a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Utah, saying: “To have relationships, we’ve all had to tell little pieces of our story.” This means we have to know our own story; as our perspective changes, we change, and the story changes.

If the essence of accepting yourself is to know your own life story, then the question is, what is the story? Author Bill George suggests building a timeline of your life that includes the highs and lows, reflecting on it daily. A summary of your life brings you to where you are today, and a timeline points out when things happened of significant influence, representing forks in the road. The more recent events in the story often help you see the prior ones differently.

Our narrative and perspective are choices, and how we look at the events and people in our lives changes as those memories are filtered against other events and all of our memories. A lesson we learn from an event today can help us see what happened before differently. Connecting events and concluding is weaving together our life stories and defining who we are. Who we think we are is related to who we become.

A daily journal captures the events of our lives, and a summary of the journal offers some opportunities for concluding. Reviewing a written life story yearly will show how we see our past changes because our perspective makes a great deal of difference in what we think our history was. Save your story, but rewrite it as you see it differently, and save that too.

Think about your story each day and tell your story to your family and others, but listen to how you see things have changed and will change.

Should your job define you as a human being, and how can LinkedIn help? →

About UsingLinkedIn RSS

This article below can also be found on my LinkedIn Newsletter site, where many subscribe to this and receive notifications when posts are made.

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The best answer to that question is no, and the support for that point of view is that a person is a being that has specific capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, values, and part of a culturally established form of social relations such as families. All these areas overlap the work time, often subjugate work responsibilities, and make it far easier to function when employment values align with an employer’s goals.

Apart from work, a human being’s life has some critical areas of focus, but even so, the reality is that time can be an obstacle to this definition. One week has 168 hours. Suppose a person sleeps an average of 8 hours a day; that takes 56 hours out of this total, leaving 112 hours. If a person works 50 hours a week working and commuting, then this leaves 62 hours or 8 hours a day to devote to your family, eating, hobbies, church, reading, study, and social relations.

The financial support from working 50 hours a week often is needed to support everything about the 168-hour week. Usually, it takes two adults to support a family, but full-time work leaves little time for reinvesting in oneself.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average worker currently holds ten different jobs before age forty, and this number is projected to grow. Forrester Research predicts that today's youngest workers will have twelve to fifteen jobs in their lifetime.

If you probably have job changes ahead within your projected career, what can be done to create an upward trajectory in a career? One answer comes in understanding the skills critical to holding your current job in place and the logical following skills that should be added. Working until you are burnt out and want nothing to do with your past career focus can be a very costly career mistake.

The LinkedIn profile is a template for all the experiences and qualifications that came together to get you your current job. With that template in place, you can ask yourself where you go next when a job change happens. An easy answer can be to use LinkedIn to find out what skills your supervisor or that person’s manager has and identify what skills you lack for that job. You can look at competitors' profiles and find their employees’ skills and what is something that would help you. Another approach is looking at similar industries and finding job profiles based on the same or similar skill set.

You may have asked yourself if you could fit into the business and culture of competitors, suppliers, and customers from your own business experiences. Linkedin can show you the people who run those businesses and departments, and that can open the door to call and ask for 30 minutes in an informational interview to ask some questions.

The LinkedIn profile can point to the future as well as be a road map of where you have been, and that tool can prove invaluable for you. As we have seen, a working person's week isn’t much time open.

Living your life is about reinventing yourself everyday →

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Our lives change constantly, and those changes are additions to our life stories that enable us to see past events differently and contribute to seeing our past lives differently.

“How you arrange the plot points of your life into narrative shapes who you are and is a fundamental part of being human.” This is the subtitle in an interesting article titled Life’s Stories, published in The Atlantic in 2015. In that article, Monisha Pasupathi, a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Utah, offered much insight on this subject. She stated: “To have relationships, we’ve all had to tell little pieces of our story.”

When we create a narrative about the events in our life, it triggers the conclusions new experiences and knowledge has brought to us. We could conclude that all we did was add clarity to what happened, but in looking back, we have unique insights offering more transparency, and the events themselves take on new meaning. Through this experience, we reinvent who we are.

Quotes about Reinvention

1. "It's never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Elliot

2. "When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be." -- Lao Tzu

3. "The reinvention of daily life means marching off the edge of our maps." -- Bob Black

4. "Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future; act now, without delay." -- Simone de Beauvoir

"The Human Factor How Finding Your Dream Job Starts By Getting To Know Yourself": →

“Introduction Page” to “The Human Factor”

July 25, 2022

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Despite our many differences, all humans share at least one thing in common. We all want to be the best version of ourselves.

Some of us define that goal as connecting to a community, having a big family, or excelling at a job we love. Others can’t necessarily represent it but seek the abstract idea of “happiness.”  Surely, once we find our “purpose and fulfill it, we will find that elusive “happiness,” right?

Alexander Pope said, “Act well your part; there all the honor lies” But what if you find yourself unsure of your place in this world? What if you know your part but find your goals too insurmountable to reach?

You need a change, and to get that, you need to change.

Only then will you have the confidence and focus on making that big career change or learning that new skill to help you jump into another profession. These significant life changes can be scary. It can sometimes seem impossible, especially after feeling you’ve lived a whole life without changing.

Other Newsletter Items

Several weeks ago, there was a lot of bad news. It seemed like the whole world was falling apart. Later that day, I posted thoughts and graphics titled "What a Wonderful World."

That day I also came across a Louis Armstong recording where he sang this song. The words inspired me, as did Mr. Armstong's voice and instrument.

The post below was inspired at that time when that week's news was anything but good. It was inspired by Louis Armstrong's recording of the song, "What a Wonderful World" I wondered what kind of feedback I would get. I was pleasantly surprised.

The website posts about "Bad Poetry" and "Writers' Symbolism" have also been well received. I am amazed at the number of website visits from google visitors worldwide about my website post on "Bad Poetry. 

Other Interesting Website Recent Posts