Life and the number of days we have to live is neither promised, reserved or supposed to be. We only have so many ticks of the clock of consciousness at our disposal before the time comes that our contributions are no more.
There are ways to think which can make how we live our lives a better process. There are of course natural checks and balances that are beyond our control–we all share the commonality of needing rest in order to function, for example.
But with the first Friday of the new year upon us, we should acknowledge awareness in what we endeavor to do on weekdays and weekends.
If everyone works for the weekend, then the zest at which we pursue our weekends while in play, has to be bottomless. No, I’m not speaking of drinks with endless refills. Living the weekend with a bottomless spirit, an attitude if you will, that there is nothing standing in the way of the major belly laugh you swallowed in front of the boss during the work week, coming out on Saturday night as you retell the story to friends over dinner.
Friendship is not an insignificant part of it. We all need friends. Some of us need lots of them while others prefer counting their number on just one hand. Our friends can sometimes crossover from work, too.
It’s only natural as we sometimes spend a lot of time with people we work with and develop bonds and friendships if we share familiar work spaces for any length of time.
We lead a mobile lifestyle now, though. Wherever we can log on is where we call work. It’s like the old refrain, home is on my back. Life on both the personal and professional levels has never been more transitory. We don’t tend to spend enough time to establish rapport with one another. We consequently are increasingly establishing lasting friendships at work, at decreasing levels.
Work needs to be completed with discipline. It also requires restraint. We have to corral ourselves and our natures more often than not while in professional settings.
I do always get a kick out of people who complain on LinkedIn. Specifically, I chuckle at the irony that is professional people complaining about professional people who post pictures of models posing in provocative settings on the social media network for professionals going places.
When you’re a professional social media network, you can’t exclude professionals–no matter their occupation. Sometimes the professionals posting the “not-across-the-board-considered-tasteful” pics are bikini sales people. Other times they are professional nude models.
No matter what they are, they’re professionals. LinkedIn possesses the tools with which to block those images or posts if your sensibilities are offended and you are so inclined. Personally, I don’t know where they are or how to access them; I only know that they’re probably there.
If they’re not, you can just click next. Calls for certain posts to be only included on Facebook are funny. Self-promotion is attention grabbing–for better or worse and does not discriminate with respect to which social media you prefer.
We reign ourselves in at work regarding any poor behavior we might be prone to; that is, we do if we are at all interested in keeping our jobs.
This is part of what I like to refer to as a topless mentality.
Everyone has the ability to perform at high levels in their chosen fields. Taking the mindset that you can always go higher, consistently achieve more, is working toplessly. Note that I’m suggesting working in a topless fashion, and not that anyone should go topless at work (unless you’re a model whose job might call for that particular state of dress or undress).
If you really like to push the envelope, you might consider adding living toplessly on the weekend. By allowing yourself to have fun at the end of the week, blow off some steam, spend the best time possible with family and friends, you just might be affording yourself the ability to recharge sufficiently.
And who knows, the heights you climb during the following work week just may be among the most phenomenal ever.