In healthier economic times

I recall one Thanksgiving when I was in college when I was sitting at the older sister’s house in the dining room and we went around the turkey table detailing one thing we were thankful for. I haven’t been too faithful to this tradition (call it lack of discipline), but it doesn’t mean I don’t give thought to the things that make me all warm and fuzzy inside at least once a year. This year I’ve decided to take inventory online.

Drum roll please…

• Blogging – When done right it can be a  constructive means of collecting thoughts, innovating, and bonding with other like-minded folk. And as a networking tool for the “brand of you,” pretty fab.
• Twitter – So I wasn’t an early adopter and it took a while to get with the program, but I slowly understood the power of Twitter as a promotional vehicle. Not to mention apps like TweetDeck and HelloTxt that make it so easy to aggregate and align all my status updates across Facebook, LinkedIn, and any other network I decide I “need” to join. Besides, how can you not love an app that connects people by way of their shared minute-to-minute compulsive twittering AND takes allows us a vital distraction in our mundane lives?
• Wading in the Calm – As impatient as we are with life, especially in such a fast-paced high tech world where we’ve come to expect on-demand 24-7, digging a little deeper sometimes can prove fruitful. This can happen when we get laid off a job, suffer a major personal setback, or just feel down in the dumps, often as a result of the former and latter. It’s also consolation to know professional and personal contacts don’t need to be compartmentalized as far as job networking and emotional healing go. They can be one and the same.
• Digging Football – I squirm. I become irate. I scream expletives. Apart from blogging, watching NFL is my outlet for aggression. Moreover, it also makes me a believer. With the exception of my husband, there aren’t too many things that do that for me.

You'll score eventually. Be patient.

In the past 48 hours, I’ve consumed roughly 12 hours of NFL. I’ve watched as more yards got run than plays got stopped, seen a team emerge from their imminent 0-2 status to clinch a game in the final 3 minutes, and another team rebound to new heights and a 2-0 lead with their back-up quarterback after their star QB had a season-ending accident last week.

We’re only a week into the NFL’s regular season and we’ve seen our share of daring athletic feats and bone-headed moves. (The Eagles’ receiver, DeSean Jackson, is a prime example of the lethal cocktail of talent and hubris.)

People ask me why I like football. I don’t entirely get the game to be honest. I do know that a team has 4 attempts to make a play and if they can’t, they need to rethink their immediate game plan. I know there’s a ton of strategy that goes into plays, that the quarterback may not be the coach but he has to a lot of quick-thinking and improvising on the field – often singlehandedly calling the play that can make or break a moment and determine a team’s success.

And that in the end, no single person on the team is any greater than any other, star QB or not, cause it takes all of the players working together (and parking their egos aside) to make it the post-season.

As it happens, football also happens to be a ripe metaphor for a freelancer due to many common, shared parallels:

• Be The Underdog: Peyton Manning & The Colts proved to us this week that sometimes smelling repeated defeat is all you need sometimes to catapult your motivational spirit to the next level. In my own experience, my confidence is never higher then when after I’ve failed at something big-time and can find within myself that driving force to start climbing back up the hill again.
• Let The Chips Falls Where They May: This one is hard, especially when you like to plan ahead, need to know how things will play out, and if you’re like me, even Wikipedia a movie while you’re watching it to see how it all unfolds. There’s a lot to be learned through process and results-oriented people need to remind themselves of this. Just like a football game has 4 quarters, life is also cyclical with its share of ups and downs and turning points. Learn to live with them and you’ll be much happier, or so people tell me!
• Embrace The Unknown: One of the reasons I dig football so much is cause there’s a lot of taking chances which sometimes results in zany, WTF-were-you-thinking moves, but I love it all the more when people get away with “the unthinkable,” debunk the system, and make up their own set of rules as they go along. Call it the rebel in me, or simply the idealist freelancer which hopes that risk-taking moves, such as working solo, will pay off one day.
• Make Time For Pep Talks With Yourself: In football, the coach takes “time outs” to amp up his players, get them focused, energized and feeling good.  In life, we need to make time for these moments too and just as often if not more often than just once a day.  On days I feel low I tend to build my confidence back up again talking it out with friends, family, or if all else fails a giant boost of caffeine! My sister swears by lists. Create a long list of things you like about yourself or your life. #1 on my list is the fact that I have the time in my day to write a meaningful post for my blog, make a mean pot of chicken soup on a seasonably Fall day, and feel a strong sense of accomplishment by 5 PM.