How I Learned to Chase Health and Time
It is weird knowing that the majority of people chase a replaceable commodity (money) in exchange for non-replaceable commodities; ie Health and Time. But ultimately, I wish it wasn’t the case. Few people recognize that money is replaceable. For me, this lesson was taught through hardship, with the most prominent message – you can’t take money to the grave. What is the point of collecting more of a resource if you don’t/can’t actually use it? Personally, I view money as a social lubricant that helps me to save time/gain experiences so I can focus on what I love or to maintain/improve my health. My mindset is that increased wealth should not be at the sacrifice of my ethics or health. Additionally, the amount of time spent working should be balanced to allow me to find or pursue my passions. However, time after time I have seen people fall into an unbalanced equation with little reflection, me included. Which has sent me on a journey to beg the question, shouldn’t there be a balance between work, money, time, happiness and family?
Shark tank investor Cuban spoke about the expenses of purchasing his own private plane. In the article, it came down to the equation of time and money. Cuban doesn’t have to worry about food on his table for his family but he does have to worry about being present. How can you be a Dad, husband, brother, son etc. if you’re not there. He alluded to the fact that the jet gave him the ability to improve business relationships but also be present for his family. Furthering his point that his goal in purchasing the jet was not to save money but to save time so that he could send it on his interests. He stated, “We can’t own time!”
Yet, people are conditioned to an equation of time equals money to the point that they sacrifice their time and health. Go to college, get a skills and dedicate yourself to a career can easily be reconstructed to mean go into debt, learn outdated skills and help someone else chase their dream. Careers are made because of this sacrifice and people are paid for it. I work 8 hours and I make X per hour. Yet, the quantity of X is not determined by the amount of time spent but the skill involved with performing the activity. Your skill set is what determines your pay not the amount of time. Hence, you should collect skills that allow you to increase your value while reducing the time spent on the project.
Which brings me back to my point, you chase dollars and I chase time. I chase time not because I do not like money but it is because I recognize the correlation between time and money. Money is a lubricant that allows me access to increased time and health, however my time/health is an equation of my pay. My health and my time are my number one business interest and it should be EVERYONE’S!!! How can I be do my job if I am not healthy enough to DO THE JOB? Or a better (“millennial”) question is why should I do a job if it doesn’t allow me to pursue my interests?
I end with the best piece of advice by Amy Poehler “Treat your Career like a Bad Boyfriend”. Your career will dumb you as soon as you loss value, or they do. They won’t help you chase your dreams but they will force you to focus on theirs. They won’t care if your family is sick, or you missed a soccer game or a friends birthday. They will demean, devalue and degrade your worth. You are the only person that will treat you how you would like to be treated. Learn to treat yourself right and the rest will hopefully fall into place.
Read More“Why” Teach?
Many people teach for different reasons but I believe it is ultimately driven by the urge to have an impact. That is what has drawn me to the teaching profession. I want to have an positive impact on the world I live and your job is one of the ways you can contribution to society. We all have many options that we can choose for our profession however, after looking back at my 8 years of professional experience I have a hard time identifying my impact. That is not to say that my positions or the companies I worked for did not have an impact but I felt disconnected enough that my jobs become more about the paycheck than the job. Additionally, there are other factors that led me to this decision but it comes down to wanting to provide mentorship, leadership (male role-model), develop coding programs and to feel like I am making an impact.
Genes:
You could say that teaching is in my genes. I come from a long line of teachers and it has been a profession that has been enjoyed by them. I feel that being surrounded by teachers that I’ve learned many of the skills needed to be a successful teacher. Additionally, I know that teaching is a rewarding experience and have been able to see the impact that they have had on my peers.
Mentors:
I want to be a mentor! Mentors are invaluable and finding a good one is difficult. I’ve had a couple of excellent mentors in my professional life but the ones that I value are from my education. They pushed me to look at problems analytically, breaking them down to the simplest components to find logical solutions at each step. There was no problem that was too hard, there were just steps in the process. Fear was replaced by intrigue because I knew I could find solutions if I could figure out the base components. I learned that failing is part of the learning process but had a safe place to do so. It is these teachers that inspired me to learn and challenge myself.
Male Role-Model
The educators who cared about me beyond the results of an exam are the ones who stand out in my memory. Their commitment was to students as people and their purpose was to prepare me to be a smart and ethical contributor to society. Their example is an inspiration to me today as I seek a career in education. However, very few of my teachers were men and I see that as a current gap in public education. I think that we need to re-think the recruitment of male teachers and reposition how society views the teaching profession. I hope, as I move through the program, I can center my masters research paper on destigmatizing the teaching profession with a focus on recruiting male teachers.
Coding:
Another reason that I am interested in teaching is to develop coding programs. I have had a long standing passion for computers and through my professional training I’ve learned to code. I would like to bring this ability to the classroom and help educate the next generation of coders. I hope that I can align my professional talents with my passion to educate and help others.
Automatization of the Work Force:
One of the looming issues for our economical system is the integration of technology in the workforce, specifically related to the automatization of paying jobs. Education is one of the few jobs that will be very difficult to automate. Essentially, in my eyes education will always need people in the classroom and as a result, teaching represents a viable profession regardless of robots and more advanced technologies.