Month: June 2017

Last year I got laid off twenty one (21) times.  My longest job lasted six weeks, the shortest one day.  It used to bother me, even though I know it is the nature of the business.  I have learned through the years to use my time between jobs to my benefit.  The first week I busy myself with taking care of appointments and ‘honey do’s’.  In fact I often don’t start looking until the end of my first week off.   During the second week I remember to use the time to exert extra effort in my spiritual practice, in addition to actively seeking work and everything else.  If it gets to be the start of the third week, while my wife has been getting up at her usual early time to go to work, she may look at me and say “Isn’t it about time you got back to work?”.

They now call it the “gig economy”, “shared economy”, or “on demand workforce”, which covers freelancers and independent contractors.  Some estimate that 55 million people, or nearly 35% of the workforce do some freelance work.  The benefits of this are many, including greater freedom and flexibility to work the job around your schedule or lifestyle.  The option to be able to create a work niche that allows you to use varied skills and be open to new unexplored opportunities is also appealing.  It sounds odd to say that the lack of a steady job creates security, but exploring and utilizing new skills and contacts certainly can increase ones ability to find work.  The primary downside to this new economic model is the lack of a consistent income.  Contract work can dry up quickly and unexpectedly.  Also workers need to prepare themselves for new costs such as insurance, unreimbursed expenses, and employment taxes.  The freedom of not having a boss also removes many benefits and legal protections that many take for granted, such as severance pay, medical leave and disability, and workers compensation protection.

My work does not really fit in this category of gig work because I belong to a private sector union, that ensures that my employers have to provide the benefits.  The similarity is that I have to continually find my own jobs, and my future employment depends on my consistent job performance and ability to network.  The biggest benefit that I have personally noticed from this type of employment is that it has helped me develop resilience and the awareness that my future employment depends on my current performance.  Sometimes I have an off day, for a variety of reasons, but the awareness that I am being evaluated on every project motivates me to almost always give my best effort and find ways to improve my performance.  I view that as life training.

I have developed a habit of calling everyone at work Bubba, often whether I can remember their real name or not.  I admit that this is a symptom of laziness, but it has  became so habitual that I accept it.  They say that the sweetest sound to anyone’s ears is the sound of their own name.  When you address a person with their name, it makes them feel that you value them as a person.   I have always wanted to improve in this area of being able to remember names, but my commitment has wavered.

Of the different techniques I have heard of for remembering names the primary (and easiest) one, is the use of repetition.  If someone introduces themselves to you, you can repeat their name as you give yours.  “Nice to meet you [name],  I’m Nick”.    The trick that I developed, which I am still working on fully implementing in my daily life, is a combination of repetition and association.   What I do,  and again I am still working on using this system consistently, is that I have an animal for every letter of the alphabet, and when someone tells me their name, I repeat it while thinking of the animal.  On my crew right now I have Bob bear, Bill bear, and Beth bear.  Often I may remember that someone is a bear, or cat or dog, but it will take a minute to remember the Bob, Bill, or Beth.  That does not bother me however, because I know that my system of association is working.   A coworker recently told me that he thinks of someone with the same name, either a person he knows or in the public sphere.  I believe that technique of making a personal connection may be too random to work for me every time.

I am using my renewed commitment to make my system a regular, habitual part of my life as an exercise in my own personal development journey.  They say that you should constantly use your mind in order to sharpen it.  Some people do puzzles, or study new topics that interest them.  I have decided that my name game will serve both of these purposes for me, exercising my brain and helping me make better personal connections.  I have  made a commitment to use my system on a daily basis so that it becomes my new habit.  I will give an update on my progress.  I am not, however, giving up my option to call someone Bubba if the are annoying me.