I’ll be the first to admit that I’m currently not a 9-5er and love workshifting on days I feel the need. Doing work in the digital space gives me the freedom and flexibility to do so. It’s how I stay connected with my community, how I continue to learn and grow, and how I’m able to get closer to that next opportunity. Most would probably think that I’m an advocate of this lifestyle – but I’m not all for it, as I question this logic with this piece of my comment:

We work at all times of the day because we’re able to. But does that mean we have to?

We’re wanting and given this flexibility so that we can adhere to different work and life styles, but when do we realize that it may be having an adverse effect on our personal lives than actually helping our schedule? This is a thought that I’ve gotten into deep discussions about recently with Teresa Basich. Talking shop on work methods and how we can better manage and create efficiency in our everyday and professional lives.

Don’t get me wrong – I love that I can work on projects throughout the day, while creating blog posts and connecting with folks on Twitter and other networks – but the deeper I get into this space that I love, the more I realize that the line is becoming blurred to the point that people can’t pull themselves away and disconnect online, and reconnect offline.

I’m conflicted and wonder where we draw the line and get back the time that the non 9-5 life has taken away? Are we spending these newly found working hours inefficiently, or is it the desired course of the digital space, giving us the responsibility to utilize it efficiently?

I’d love to hear your side of it.

Selflessness

Today was like any normal day on Twitter. Conversing as usual with my stellar community, but there was one thing (or person) that was different – Arik Hanson. He came into today with the mindset of selflessness and true care for the future of Scott Hepburn and me.

For those who don’t know, we’re both on the job hunt (or ‘free agents‘ as Scott likes to say) and Arik felt the need to openly utilize the community on Twitter and launch a day long ‘tweetathon’ for us. You can read about it more here, but what ensued after the start of this day was truly amazing. Dozens upon dozens of messages to me and Scott promoting Arik’s efforts, resulting in massively enhanced communities, new relationships, and more importantly – job leads.

There’s plenty of people out there in the same situation as Scott and I, but I can only hope that they have a colleague and friend who would be willing to go above and beyond and put this much effort towards someone else’s future before his/her own.

Scott and I had a quick talk over the phone last night (after the dust settled from numerous emails and conversations) and share the same sentiment about Arik and are truly thankful for his efforts, along with the rest of the Twitter community. We never asked him to do this, never even brought up the idea – he took the initiative and ran with it, along with dozens of other people. For that, there really are not enough words to describe how we feel, other than – thank you.

Arik, you’re a true class act.

Why do we educate them? To help this space evolve, to acquire new clients and projects, and to grow the community on our blogs. Didn’t we forget a group of people though?

Family

That’s right. Your family, loved-ones, significant others, puppies (ok, maybe not). These are the people whom you’re closest with, spend (sometimes) the most time with, and usually know every little detail about you. So, why does it seem that they’re the ones that know the least about what we do in our careers? I thought a lot about this when I saw Adam Stewart‘s tweet. Though it relates to friends specifically, the thought is the same:

Every day it becomes more obvious to me that my friends have no idea what I do for work

His tweet made me laugh as just the other day, I told a good friend that I was writing a post and he asked if I worked for the newspaper now, lol. Sure enough, I fall under the same disconnect that many others have with people close to them having no clue what they do. My parents know that I ‘do’ marketing but have no idea what social media or blogging is. Luckily, my sister gets it for the most part; though she’s in finance, she’s tech savvy.

I posed the question to my Twitter community to see if this is a reoccurring theme: How many of your family members/loved ones really know and understand what you do for a living?

@hooshy

Surprisingly few. I used to try a lot harder to explain the intricacies when I was younger. Now, they just know I “work hard” : )

@ehrenc

Uh … one : ) lol. I just haven’t bothered explaining what I do to others. They just associate everything I do to the internet anyways ; )

@AnthonyGartner

My wife hardly knows what I am doing and sometimes not even me ; )

@MikeDriehorst

Wife is really only one. My mom doesn’t own a computer. Kids are too young (<11yoa) to get it

@dfolkens

Most my extended family only know that I’m on t.v. sometimes. Beyond that, don’t really get all I do. Wife does as she’s PR too.

@rachelsterline

My family is just starting to somewhat understand (“You write press releases.”). But, they still don’t understand fully.

The answers I received were a resounding no, with a few that have a loved-one or two that truly knows what they’re up to at work. We undoubtedly take time out to try to reel in that next client with an hour long presentation on social media, so why not give the same time to our family members?

Ok, I get it – they’re probably going to be bored to tears if you sit there and give them a presentation on what a press release is or how to use Twitter. Or maybe they’re just old-school and not that tech savvy. Nonetheless – we owe it to them, and ourselves, to try.

Does your family truly know what you do in your career? If not, here’s a little homework assignment – for you and me. Spend a little time with them in your world. This isn’t a how-to on Twitter or what an RSS feed is. Show them what you do, what you’ve worked on, where and what you write about. It’ll be a fun experiment, at the least, but I’m pretty sure they’ll come out of it knowing a bit more about our careers and will be happy we shared it.

Homepage photo credit: mamchenkov

As mentioned, I would be choosing the winner through random selection via Random.org. There were a lot of great people that participated in the contest but the winning copy of PNI goes to Eric! I’ll be emailing you to congratulate and ask for your mailing address (don’t worry, I won’t stalk you).

Thanks a lot to everyone that took part. I love giving back as much as I can to my community so I look forward to future giveaways for you all. Cheers.

Anyway, what led me to wanting to do this giveaway is because I feel it’s a great read and definitely a book you should have in your collection (no, Rohit didn’t pay me to say that). Plus, I have several copies of it and would love to share the wealth with one of my awesome readers. Among the copies are a signed one from Rohit himself but that one won’t be up for grabs. What I will do, though, is give one lucky person a chance to win one of the regular, non-signed copies of Personality Not Included.

How to Win

• Leave a Comment – Tell me why you’d want this book in your library. Tell me you like Rohit, tell me you like chickens with sunglasses, or just say hi. Also, leave a valid e-mail so I can contact you if you’re the lucky winner.

• Subscribe – Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed and watch for a follow-up with the winner!

• Choosing a Winner – The contest will close Thursday, January 29th and the winner will be chosen (and posted) Friday, January 30th, by the most humane way possible, random selection.

So, have at it – and good luck!

Update: Comments are closed and the winner will be announced Friday.

I’m lucky and thankful to have gotten to know a lot of you, and even luckier to have met many of you in person. I’ve learned a CRAP load and have been able to grow everyday – but can only attest that to everyone I’ve been in contact with; from you – my readers, my community, who take the time to read my little ‘ol blog that I started earlier this year, those who tweet with me to shoot the sh*t, to the people who’ve earnestly invested time into my own growth as I dove head first into this Social Media world – I’ll always be thankful for you.

I’ve got a long way to go but there’s no ceiling on what can be accomplished in 2009 and know it will be a great one with many successes and new beginnings – and know that I have that much more to look forward to from all of you and your own goals & endeavors.

As the sun sets on the year that was, let’s take a look back on all the great things we’ve accomplished, the laughter, the tears (yes – even the heartaches) – and make sure that 2009 will be an even bigger & better year to remember.

Cheers to you and see you next year!

• Sonny isn’t my real name. Don’t worry; I’m not hiding my identity from the FBI or something. My real name is Sandeep but have always gone by Sonny since I was a little one. It was always easier for my friends to say (although I didn’t go by it in school until I hit college) and has stuck with me ever since. Actually, from what I recall, I only know of 2 people that actually call me by Sandeep – and it’s not my parents.

• I originally majored in Computer Science when I began at The University of Akron. My love is with marketing but computers had always caught my interest and still do. After my freshman year, I realized that I had a deeper passion for business and marketing vs. building computer programs and soon enough made the transition over.

• I’ve, um, totaled two cars. Hear me out; it wasn’t my fault, seriously. Well, I wrecked my dad’s car at 16 years old. Long story short, I ended up hitting a pole and ended with a tree. What’s worse is I wasn’t wearing my seat belt (I know, stupid – but have always buckled up since) and I smacked my head on the windshield. 40+ stitches later to sew up my cut forehead, I learned a good lesson on wearing my seat belt. The second car was my own and happened when I hydroplaned on the highway and a truck hit me on the driver-side. Fractured collarbone but was thankful nothing worse happened. Hated putting my family through it all but I’m one lucky dude.

• I absolutely love basketball. Have played it since I was in grade school, in school and community leagues. You could easily find me in my driveway back home in Cleveland shooting hoops – rain or shine (or snow), I was out there. If I could be in any other profession I’d be a basketball player, not for the money but for the passion of playing the sport professionally.

• I grew up with a large family and had about 16 cousins all within a half-hour of each other. It made for awesome and hilarious family gatherings and holidays. I look forward to some of that again as I travel back to Ohio this holiday season.

• I love dogs but have never owned one. My parents and sister were never fond of animals so I could never have one when I was younger so I always took advantage of playing with my friends’ puppies and asking numerous times if I could have ‘em. I look forward to getting one once I have my own home and have the time to take care of one.

• I like shopping. Yea, I admit it. I openly go to the mall without the force of anyone. Although, I blame my sister who is an obsessive compulsive shopper and would take me on several hour long excursions. I probably have more shoes than any normal guy should have and a dozen watches. Metrosexual, aisle 1.

That’s it folks. I just hope you’re still reading and plan on coming back after those 7 things