One of the things I’m scared of with trying to get my life back in order, is that something may inadvertently fall by the wayside.

I mean, let’s face it … I’m going to be struggling with any full-time job and making sure I perform adequately in that arena. It would be very easy to focus all my attentions on that, at the expense of other areas of my life.

Perhaps, say … my health.

Especially, my health!

But that’s not going to happen! 😠

My mental and physical health is of prime importance to me. Even more so as I get older.

And I’ve seen that killing yourself to do a good job doesn’t mean anything. It merely increases expectations of what you should do, from others.

So I’ll somehow have to figure out how to combine any new work life with sufficient “me” time to ensure I keep my health and fitness at an optimal level.

A case of working to live as opposed to living to work. 🙂

I’ve also decided I’ll construct my own exercise and nutritional plan.

I’m not a gym-junkie and recent years has taught me to live frugally and carefully.

Therefore, any exercise plan I come-up with should be something I can do at home, with minimal equipment and be done within 30 minutes.

Together with simply walking (the best exercise there is) I feel that should keep me relatively healthy and give me time to adjust to a new work-life.

But I know my resolve will be tested at times.

The litmus test will be how I respond when … not if … it happens. 🤔

But I’m not going to dwell on that now as there’s no point focussing on things that haven’t happened. It just wastes emotional energy.

So I’ll just start working on my exercise plan and see how it starts to unfold.

Just another step in the grand plan to get me back on track. 🙂

Well, if you’re reading this it means that you’ve found my website.

Which means I must have successfully created one in the first place!

And I did!

All on my little lonesome. 🙂

And I didn’t just use Elementor widgets in WordPress.

I used AI to describe what I wanted the website to look like, then it provided HTML code, which I then imported into WordPress.

I had to tweak some things but I’ve now got a fully-functioning website, which has “Submit” buttons and everything too.

But the thing I’m most proud of is that I’m trying to stay abreast of technology and use it in a practical way.

After I created the website, I had to think about what I then wanted to set-up with technology.

I know automation and workflows are going to be more important in future so I’ve been brushing-up on automation tools, such as Make.com and Voiceflow.ai.

Going through their tutorials and learning new skills.

So I thought … wouldn’t it be great if whenever I published a new post, an email would automatically be sent to my subscribers telling them about it, as well as an X (formerly Twitter) post automatically generated? 🤔

(By the way, to me, X will always be Twitter as X merely sounds like a premium-version subscription to Pornhub 🤨)

See? … I’m trying to think like a top content-provider too!

Anyway, I started building a scenario in Make.com, until I ran into the following problems:

❌ Make ceased allowing X to be used in integrations with Make scenarios (bummer 😟).

❌ If I send an email to my list using the generic “Send Email” module, I can’t include automatic unsubscribe links (which is mandatory).

After thinking about this, I’ve decided to use the following workarounds:

✅ I’ll just create a Mailer Lite (the email provider I’ve decided to use) campaign and hook it up to my WordPress RSS feed. That way, unsubscribe links are automatically included.

✅ For the moment, I’ll manually post in X whenever I publish a new post on my website. If things ever get bigger I’ll revisit things then.

I’m not particularly happy with the above. 😠

I still feel that there should be a workflow I can set-up that allows the above to be done automatically.

And perhaps there is! … I just haven’t found it as yet.

But for now, what I’ve realised is that, despite all the marketing … despite all the noise about how seamless things can be … it’s not true.

There is no button that does it all.

Perhaps there will be at some point in future, but not now.

And if there are human beings involved in the process is some way, shape or form, then there will always be friction.

But I’m enjoying learning abut technology and its use cases.

I like the idea that I can have a business on the side, run by a team of AI agents in future, utilising technology and automation and with just me as the sole human.

It’s definitely something I’m keeping my eye on.

But for now, I’ll just keep plodding-on, learning what I can about what’s out there.

And basking in the glory of having created a website. 😬

Ok … if I’m going to get myself back on track, I’ve got to start earning some money.

If I don’t earn money, then I won’t be able to eat … which means there will be a tendency for me to die … which I’m trying to avoid.

So that means I’ve been getting back on the job interview circuit.

But boy have things changed!

I mean, the last interview I attended was about 27 years ago! 😳

And I’ve come to a few conclusions from the interviews I’ve attended:

🔑 My former industry has been absolutely smashed

Like many industries, COVID changed the rules.

Now, a typical firm consists of a few people in the office and a lot more in India and The Phillipines.

You’d probably be speaking more to your overseas contingent than the people in your own office.

🔑 Ageism still exists

A big concern of mine has been how I may be perceived, given I’m in my 50s and office colleagues may be in their 20s or 30s.

I’ve had one or two interviews which didn’t progress which I’ve put down to the age factor, even though it’s never directly stated as such.

“Culture” is a common euphemism that can handily encapsulate the “we think you’re too old” excuse.

🔑 Some things don’t change

Despite the gap in years where I’ve been out of my industry, I’ve noticed that not much progress has been made to better it.

In my naivety, I would have thought more technological advancements may have occurred, but this doesn’t seem to have been the case.

In fact, the way these firms operate their businesses is such that I can see some low-hanging fruit for them.

🔑 Everybody is just exhausted

With the amount of new regulations imposed by government in recent years, industry participants have simply had enough.

Older participants are leaving.

Younger participants are not entering.

In fact, any interest firms have had in me is not so much because of any sparkling brilliance I may be displaying, but more of a desperation to lock-in anyone with half a brain who may be a net-positive for the firm in question.

I’ve been going through psych and behavioural tests and I’ve had to bite my tongue to stop myself from telling them I’m a Grand Master at these from my dark days.

But then again, maybe they wouldn’t care … just as long as I’m not a serial killer or something!

I’m also questioning whether I’ll be able to handle what I’ll be letting myself in for.

After going through recuperation and rehab for a number of years I know I won’t be starting at my peak.

But I also know I have to start somewhere and apart from earning a wage, this move would get me interacting with people again on a daily basis.

And learn more about what technologies could be a good fit for businesses out there.

As well as being able to eat still … 🙄

Small steps .. small steps.