A good friend of mine is thinking about you. He’s a nice guy.
Me? I think it is time to take ownership for your experience at work. Depression is real, but sometimes I want to shake you and tell you that your funk is your own choice. I know you have complaints about work.
I am evolving on this.
- Passion and engagement are a choice. If you choose your way into a lackluster job, you can choose your way out.
- You don’t need a young CEO and a ping-pong table to determine whether or not your company is a ‘best place to work’. You know if the job is worth keeping.
- You shouldn’t need ongoing and repeated feedback from your supervisor to know whether or not you are doing a good job. You’re not a child. You are smart. You went to college. You know the difference between a solid performance and phoning it in.
Some of you really do work in horrendous conditions where your boss is an [insert vulgar thing here]. But almost everyone who has access to the internet during normal business hours has a decent job. You might work with annoying people. You might face your fair share of obstacles. But you get paid for the bullshit in your life, unlike Bangladeshi garment workers.
If your job doesn’t pay enough, which many jobs don’t, you have two options: find another job or spend less money. Actually, I think you should do both. Spend less money. Save it. Then find another job. Keep spending less money. Stop being exploited by a consumer-driven economy.
And in your spare time — and don’t scoff at me because I know you have plenty — you could build a business that matches your values.
Mark Stelzner is right. There are some depressed people at work, today. But you don’t need to win Powerball to escape your depressing job.
You could start by escaping your attitude and making better choices.
Hello, everyone. Happy Sunday. I am really excited about the week ahead.
More training for my upcoming race and a webinar with Jennifer McClure. And after traveling more than 10,000 air miles in seven days, I am glad to be home.
My ears hurt from all of that flying. Something that hasn’t happened in a few years.
So here is the stupidest thing I read, this week: Keynote by Hillary Clinton at SHRM Chicago Will Be Closed to Media. | The article is fine but I’m not exactly sure how an HR association can guarantee that Hillary Clinton’s speech won’t be covered by the media. Citizen journalists are everywhere. The Boston Bombing and the Mother’s Day Parade Shooting have taught us that if your mom has a smart phone, she can cover an event.
And your mom does have a smart phone. It’s probably the iPhone5. And she looks great at SHRM in her new Coldwater Creek tunic dress. She is snapping Facebook photos and hanging with her friends in payroll. She is not paying enough attention to ask Hillary about Benghazi.
But yeah I can see why SHRM would ban the media.
(Actually, I can. You never see media coverage of HRC speaking at private events. And this might be her team’s requirements. Maybe SHRM rolled over to keep her as a speaker. Can someone find out? And when is Fareed Zakaria getting kicked off the agenda?)
Have a great week!
I am not a strong swimmer, but I don’t always wear a flipper or mask. And I got into some trouble in the water, last week.
It happened quickly. The experience was quiet. There was no thrashing or waving of my hands. I couldn’t get my mouth and nose above the water line. And I couldn’t really make eye contact with any of the other swimmers around me.
My husband pulled me to shallower waters. I would have drowned without his help.
Drowning doesn’t look like drowning.
- Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
- Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
- Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
- Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
- From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.
Drowning isn’t dramatic, which surprised the hell out of me. So I am going to take swim lessons (again for the billionth time) and always wear a stupid floaty jacket in the water.
This experience changed my life. I wanted to tell you about it.
