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Yes I am actually being serious

Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

A friend of mine said something rather profound to me today.

Be angry over what you can control.”

Which, once I started thinking about it all made me really mad, to be honest with you; because when I think about all that makes me angry…NONE of it is within my control.

If I could control it I would change it, and if I can change it then it doesn’t make me angry anymore.

See how this works?

So he encouraged me to write about this, and so here I am, and yet I don’t know where to go with it.

So I guess I will just throw this out to you.

Is there something that makes you angry but is within your control?

And if that is the case then WHY AREN’T YOU DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT?

And, really; the bigger question is…what do you do about the stuff that makes you angry that you do not have any control over??

I am trying to figure this one out.

I’m at a complete and utter loss.

I really like the concept…just can’t wrap my brain around how to make it work for me.

Help.

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Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

Yes, you CAN get a job on Twitter.

I HAVE PROOF.

Last Tuesday morning I woke up waayyyy too early so I grabbed my iPhone and scanned Tweetdeck while deciding whether to go ahead and get up or try and go back to sleep for a bit.

I happened to see a tweet from someone in the #HR community I’ve been following for at least a couple of years. She is located in upstate NY and we’d never met IRL – or even spoken on the phone, for that matter. She stated that she was looking for a contract sourcer.

I happen to know a lot of people who might be interested in such an opportunity so I DMd (direct messaged) her with my email address and asked her to share details with me.

She replied, asking if I knew of anyone, and I said I might. She emailed me and we arranged to speak that afternoon.

We had a great conversation during which she provided me with some additional insight in to the nature of the work. I told her I had a few people in mind and would reach out to them on her behalf and send them her way if appropriate.

The first person I mentioned it to had already spoken to her about it. He’s also very active on Twitter…imagine that! ;-)

Several hours later, completely out of the blue, I received the following DM from another friend on Twitter.

Top secret – just found out that I’ll be part of a reduction next week. Would love it if you kept eye/ears peeled for any opportunities.

She is located in Texas, and while we haven’t met (yet), we have spoken on the phone and collaborate on a fun “volunteer” project helping job-seekers.

I replied:

@TXFriend, reach out to @NYFriend and tell her I sent you. she’s looking for a contract sourcer – could be long-term :-)

18 HOURS LATER, @TXFriend sent me this DM:

Yay! Great connection with @NYFriend. Signed a contract to source for her this morning. You’re awesome!

It still shocks me when I hear negative talk about Twitter…”it’s a waste of time, I don’t care what someone ate for breakfast, blah blah blah.”

1-800-GETALIFE.

I’d love to hear from others who have landed a new work project or job opportunity via Twitter…or a new client, even. Same thing, really. It’s paid work, right?

And, speaking of the power of Twitter, our most recent He Said, She Said episode was centered on this very subject. You can catch it here

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I just returned from a run, and as I ran down my street I noticed that everyone’s empty garbage cans were in the middle of their driveways. It’s trash day.

This is a pet peeve of mine, particularly because I live on a very busy two-lane street where people do stupid sh*t like drive a hundred miles an hour and flip their cars going around a corner, just like this braniac did Sunday night.

accident10110

(He also got himself out of the car somehow and fled the scene, leaving his passenger trapped in the car, severely injured.)

accident20110

So, while the trash men apparently think it’s hilarious to throw my garbage can in the middle of my driveway,  I wonder how funny they’ll think it is when I am run over in the middle of the street because I have to stop traffic, get out of my car, and move my trash can when I get back home just so I can get my car in my driveway.

This is not just about responsibility or the little annoyances in life…this is about safety.

I’m sure there are plenty of people who would love to be employed right now and wouldn’t do stupid sh*t like that…who would be grateful for the paycheck and would treat their customers with respect. (Yes, I am a taxpayer, therefore I am their customer.)

Not to mention…if people didn’t do wreckless, irresponsible, and uncalled for crap like that, wouldn’t the world just be a happier place??

So, while you may be in a job that you’re not crazy about right now, and perhaps occasionally tempted to be rude to customers or do sloppy work…think again. Remember that a lot of people would gladly trade places with you right now!

As Laurie Ruettimann said when she was a guest on Dream Job Radio in December, not every job has to be a career or a passion. Sometimes it’s ok to just have a job that pays the bills and allows you to have other passions in your life.

And if it’s really that bad, FIND A NEW ONE AND QUIT.

Seriously.

Life’s too short.

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Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

In a recent post I announced that I would start profiling job seekers as a way to help.

One of the things I ask of them for these profiles is to one of the following questions (these were taken copied borrowed from the extensive list of questions that Google has been known to ask in interviews).

Following is how I would answer these questions if asked in an interview:

What is the most efficient way to sort a million integers?

Alphabetically.

Obviously.

Imagine you have a closet full of shirts. It’s very hard to find a shirt. So what can you do to organize your shirts for easy retrieval?

Ok. This is how I organize my shirts:

Clean: On hangars in the closet.

Dirty: At the dry cleaner.

In a country in which people only want boys, every family continues to have children until they have a boy. If they have a girl, they have another child. If they have a boy, they stop. What is the proportion of boys to girls in the country?

Like a zillion to one.

In fact, I would like to move there.

Just where is this land you speak of??

Design an evacuation plan for San Francisco.

RUN.

(Fast!)

You’re the captain of a pirate ship, and your crew gets to vote on how the gold is divided up. If fewer than half of the pirates agree with you, you die. How do you recommend apportioning the gold in such a way that you get a good share of the booty, but still survive?

It depends.

If I found the gold I would just not return to the ship and therefore I would be rich and also not dead.

If someone else found the gold, I would suggest that we apportion it in the way that is least likely to result in my death.

What is the probability of breaking a stick into 3 pieces and forming a triangle?

I am going to need some sticks for this one.

Do you have any sticks?

Why are manhole covers round?

Do I look like a man to you??

I could not possibly be qualified to answer this question.

I have no idea how they think.

They are a complete and utter mystery to me.

What was the question again?

How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?

Are there kids on the bus?

Is the driver on the bus?

Is this a field trip and so there are chaperones on the bus? They take up more space, you know.

Is it music class day and so the kids have all their instruments with them?

Or is the football team on the bus with all their equipment?

I have no idea.

You might want to rethink this question.

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Funny things my grandmother said

December 26, 2009

My grandmother is 87 years old, and she’s one of the most opinionated people I know. She says a lot of really funny things, and I think what’s funniest is that she truly doesn’t realize the irony. Anyway, it’s the holidays, and everyone is thinking and talking about family, so I thought I’d share a [...]

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10 words + phrases I don’t want to hear in 2010

December 26, 2009

It’s been quite a year. I think 2009 has been a year that we won’t soon forget for a large number of reasons. Most of them not so great…though I think that the many unfortunate events of this year have inspired and spawned a lot of excellent ideas and movements. I won’t lie. I’ll be [...]

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The PunkRock Champagne Holiday Social #punkATL 2009 | Atlanta, GA

December 18, 2009

For those of you who missed — and those of you who were there — below is a video compilation of photos taken that night. Todd, Laurie, and I are truly grateful to all of you who made the trek – some from as far away as Seattle, Toronto, Dallas, Raleigh, and Florida – to [...]

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Unemployed? Consider contract work.

December 15, 2009

I know that many people who are seeking work focus on permanent positions without ever considering contract or freelance work. Guess what? While they don’t take taxes out of your paycheck and they typically do not provide you with benefits – THEY PAY YOU! ACTUAL MONEY! That you can like, BUY STUFF WITH!! If I [...]

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