homeplaceofthefuture daily log 5106

We all know there is a fine line between work & life when both of them occur at home. As the world shrinks and I have more & more clients all over the world.....I find myself checking and thinking about work at hours that I promised myself I wouldn't work (at least while working for someone else). It might not even be clients - our busy culture is one that should not be envied. More often and prove me wrong I'm finding that people wear busyness as a badge of honor and nothing makes me more upset than checking emails from colleagues that were sent over the weekend!

Case in point this past Saturday. I woke up at 7 AM with a list of personal things ready to tackle including a canoeing trip. I'm making coffee, fixing breakfast for the kids and my phone lights up with a LinkedIn message and new connection request from a new supplier who I can tell already wears busyness as a badge of honor. Let me say this now - connecting with people on LinkedIn over the weekend is useless and I won't honor it nor will I accept your invite!

I typically blow them off and move on with real world stuff, but this one really got to me. I am an over-thinker and I over analyze everything, which can be debilitating. Why would anyone be thinking of connecting with me at 7 AM on a Saturday in July? Will there be awkwardness because I WILL NOT accept the invite? So many questions that will remain unanswered as I start another week here in the homeplaceofthefuture.

homeplaceofthefuture daily log 4865

Oh LinkedIn…….there’s such a love/hate relationship there. The longer I have been virtual the more I seem to loathe LinkedIn, maybe this is a sign of getting old or comfortable in a position/field. Let’s dive into a few observations.

1. The LinkedIn feed is typically a mix of colleagues from Bill in Accounting to Jim from your first job after college. You have known most of these people in real life and find it ironic that Bill is a dirty old man who has had a corporate job for decades, but yet likes to post about 5 tips to stay entrepreneurial. I also enjoy the colleagues who post the motivation quote. For example how many times have you seen the Steve Jobs quote, “It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do, We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”  It’s a great quote, but do these people know that this quote is literally seen on most people’s LinkedIn feed at least 3 times a day? Maybe this quote and others like it are a cry for help from that person posting it.
   
   
2. In any social setting there are the super networkers. Onsite you can pick these guys out right away with their oversized sportcoats & tasseled loafers. Is that heat I feel on my name badge? Nope it’s just a super networker’s crazy eyes laser focused on my name, title and most importantly company name.  LinkedIn super networkers are the same way, constant headshots and updates from people I would normally avoid in just about any setting…..any setting unless I’m shopping for tasseled loafers.
   
   
3. If you send direct LinkedIn messages to me that say let’s chat about a strategic partnership and/or trying to connect with me on LinkedIn during a holiday we are not going to be connections. Just this past Thanksgiving, I’m eating turkey and hanging out with my family and an alert comes on my phone. Since I’m not in the 1% of people who can ignore their phones I pick it up to see that Super LinkedIn Networker (their name has been changed) was viewing my profile. REALLY? On Thanksgiving Day, a fellow American was looking at my profile on LinkedIn? The whipped cream on the pumpkin pie was that this person said those funny words to me in a direct message “Let’s chat about a strategic partnership”.

Whenever I have doubts about my career and winding up in the homeplaceofthefuture I turn to LinkedIn. The sheer amount of crazy people and gibberish coming from their posts helps confirm to me that I’ve made the right decision for now of staying home and focusing on doing good work in my uniform. Let us not forget to that crazy in look in their eyes on LinkedIn, are they staring into my soul??? Not yet, they’re just looking for your name badge!