back to all articles
By Alex Watson, March 01, 2024 08:35 am

Time To Up Skill Versus Couch-Surfing

First – investing in ourselves to serve and lift others

Is our shared economy, our future ‘tappedity-blink’ Bitcoin world, without a real coin to rub between our fingers or flip ‘heads or tails’ – a ticking time bomb for mass disruption?

It’s a no-brainer that our future quality of life is directly reflected in our ability to monetise ourselves, to contribute and add value to others… Well unless you’re fortunate to be included in a Lachlan Murdoch succession plan.

Yup, we need money to support ourselves, but also our family, ageing parents, children, the odd friend out of a sticky and ultimately those less fortunate.

But it all starts with you, staying relevant and valuable ourselves first to be skill-fit to serve and solve problems for others, right?

What’s all the buzz about ‘lifestyle by design’?

Let’s start with how much time you spend after hours and on weekends doing meaningless practical chores that could be outsourced to a Home Assistant in a blink?

Or if you’ve switched on to the idea Tim Ferris kicked off years ago in his book 4 hour working week, you’ll have already joined the ‘lifestyle design’ movement, basically adopting the idea that you’ll design your time around the things you love the most.

Or maybe you believe in the Marie Kondo-vibe, where if it doesn’t spark joy, don’t do it.

Sounds like a dream right? Or are we delusional and this an inevitable nightmare, because we’re too bussssssyyyyy to think about it?…

A rich life – needs time to sharpen your axe

Learning the hard way, I saw my own parents lose the lot, their business and the family fall apart. So today I’m always curious to know what your ‘busy’ really is and our mission to provoke people to invest and plan their time more wisely. To calculate the return when swapping out as much manual time-consuming work as possible, to get more time to sharpen your skills and increase your worth, or to make memorable moments you’ll want read at your eulogy.

Yeah ok, might sound a little morbid – but once a few relatives drop off or friends get terminally ill, we think differently right. Inspired by the well-known poem written by Linda Ellis ‘The Dash’.

So if we have a choice – why not choose ‘lifestyle by design’, to lead and inspire friends, work colleagues and our community to invest in our health and wellbeing.

Warren Buffett famously says the most valuable investment, is in ourselves.

What price will we pay if we don’t invest in ourselves?

Did you know the average half-life of skills is now less than 5 years? According to the latest Harvard Business Review, for some tech fields the half-life is only 2.5 years.

My concern and excitement to live in times where our quality of life can be the highest in history, is right next to the highest rates of anxiety and mental health stressors. Social isolation, economic uncertainty, job insecurities with staying relevant with lightning speed technological advances.

Mental health is no joke

Employees are taking more sick days than ever, they’re less focussed, distracted and lack enthusiasm to perform highly.

Anxiety is BIG, Gen Zs recognise the importance of mental health where now therapy is normal and an accepted part of life. Without access to adequate, timely and affordable mental-health care, we’re now seeing CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) introduced by Heads of HR and Wellness to equip leaders with a ‘first aid’ approach. First aid, meaning to provide rudimentary, on-the-spot care until employees can get professional help.

Crazy right?

The takeaway – choose Uber Fish’n Chip Fridays 🙂

But let’s not finish a conversation about problems, without a solution.

Outsource, outsource, outsource…

Join the ‘lifestyle by design’ crowd but give your plan a good dose of time towards upskilling and activities to energise your daily wellbeing.

Showing up better for you, means showing up better to serve and lift others as well as affording a roof over our own head, keeping up Uber ‘Fish and chip Fridays and the repayments on the new EV.

As leaders and stakeholders in organisations and our community, imagine the flow-on effect into our community and organisational culture. That’s a purpose, right?