A few non-related thoughts on what is, here in southeastern PA, a snowy morning. It’s a thin snow, not fluffy enough for a snowman. The flakes look much like glaze on a chocolate doughnut on the damp branches out my window.
Over at Fortune.com, I have an article called “Grumbling over younger workers: A time-honored tradition.” I love old magazines because they provide a view of history through the eyes of people who lived at the time. The trend pieces are uncolored by hindsight, and so you can see how perspectives have changed, or haven’t. Also, while many historical documents deal with so-called important matters, magazines have always been about connecting with consumers, and so they describe what ordinary people cared about. Anyway, my editor at Fortune has been feeding me a steady diet of articles from the Fortune archives, which I then analyze. This piece was about writer Judson Gooding’s take on “The Accelerated Generation Moves Into Management.” In 1971, the oldest baby boomers were taking the workforce by storm. Managers were marveling at their level of idealism (or how naive they were), their entitlement (or ambition), and how they wanted to change their companies from day one. Much of the prose could be ripped straight out of a modern trend piece on Gen Y. Indeed, I quote a few such pieces from USA Today, the Washington Post and HBR to show just that.
The point? Older people have always thought young people were crazy, and vice versa.
Thought two: Part of writing self-help books is examining my own life, and I continue to think about how to tune-up my weekends. I really miss sleeping in. On the other hand, getting up early on weekend mornings does make some fairly full days possible. This Sunday, I was up at 5:30 with the baby. I played with her for an hour, then handed her over to my husband for the next shift, and went back to sleep. I took a nap until 7:20, then got up and went to the 8 a.m. church service. I came home by 9 (8 a.m. services tend to be short) and we got everyone dressed and drove to a branch of the Y that’s 25 minutes from our house. The kids got to play with a bouncy house in the Kid Zone while my husband and I ran on the treadmills and lifted weights. Then we all went swimming in one of their three (!) indoor pools. We got back in the car at 11:55 a.m. to go home. I looked at the time and was startled how early it still was. Once upon a time, I might have slept until close to noon on a weekend morning. By noon on Sunday, I’d already played, napped, gone to church, been in the car for not a short trip, done a 3-mile tempo run, sent kids down a water slide, etc. Wow.
Thought three: I’m finishing up the third ebook in my trilogy on what the most successful people do… This one (on workdays) will be released in April, and then all three will be bundled and printed as a paperback, to be released in early September. I’d like to add some bonus features for the paperback, including time makeovers. If you or someone you know would be interested in doing a time makeover for the book, please drop me a line (lvanderkam at yahoo dot com). I have people keep track of their time (ideally for a week, but that’s flexible) and then we brainstorm ideas. The caveat on doing this is that I need to use real names. I am willing to be more vague on employer names (i.e. saying the person works “at a major accounting firm”). Please let me know if you’d be up for this.
I’d be up for doing a time makeover. I feel like I have so much to get done at work but I am often not very productive. I am an asst city attorney in a mid-size midwestern city.
Yay for the bundling of the 3 ebooks and release of them as a paperback. I have wanted so badly to read the 1st two, but I truly don’t enjoy reading books on a screen. I can’t wait for the book!
Now I know what all my friends and family will be getting for Christmas this year. 🙂 Congrats on your success! I’m eagerly awaiting book 3 in the series.
I would do a time makeover. I’m a life coach who works from home.
Hi Laura, My issue isn’t time as much as it is energy. After working a full work week, being with the baby during the non-work time, cooking, cleaning up, etc, I don’t have a ton of energy to be all that productive in the down time. Is this ever an issue for you? You seem to have endless stores (or maybe just drink a lot of coffee?)
@Amy- Hmm… not sure I have endless stores! On weekends we have to do something with the kids, and staying at home is often more exhausting than going somewhere and distracting them. That said, I definitely feel more energetic when I’m getting enough sleep and exercising regularly. Since I can’t sleep in, I have to get to bed on time. And if I’m up too early, I try to catch a nap later (trading off with husband on weekends).