Like reading Kim & Jason? The duo is starring in a brand new project called Monsters. Go behind-the-scenes and follow the adventure as it unfolds as a Club K&J member! (Learn more.)
This episode (available in the Clubhouse) was filmed in a hotel room in Grand Forks, North Dakota. We turn our attention to the workplace. How can you have more fun at work while keeping Adultitis at bay? If you have a job where time stands still or would like some ideas for building team spirit, you’ll find this simple tip to be especially helpful. Enjoy!
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You might think that certain professions are immune from outbreaks of Adultitis. Circus performers, perhaps. Candy makers. Rock stars.
Au contraire, mon amie.
Any job, performed over an extended period of time, can become an effective breeding ground for Adultitis. Even the glamorous lifestyle of a rock star.
Lawyers and politicians may be among the first professionals that come to mind when you think of people who have the propensity to take themselves too seriously (a major warning sign of Adultitis). But I’ve gone to art school and spent a lot of time around creative types, and they are not immune to the idea that our entire civilization rises and falls on their creative contributions.
A fake album by singer-songwriter Ben Folds was recently leaked to the public. It was released by…Ben Folds. Why? To counteract Adultitis, of course. Here’s a quote from Ben:
You see so many rock bands in the studio and it’s serious, serious business,” the 42-year-old singer-pianist tells Rolling Stone. “They got the making-of camera up their a** the whole time and they’re on the BlackBerry the other half of the time. I just think that we all need to remember how to have fun.”
Ben and his pals rented studio time with nine joke songs in eight hours as the goal. “The word ‘fake’ came up when we started doing it and it takes all the responsibility out,” he explains. “You can just be free to write and let it go.”
It’s important to remember that it’s possible to take your work seriously without taking yourself seriously. And no matter what sort of work you do — even work you love — a certain level of effort is required to keep things fresh. It doesn’t take long for a job to turn to drudgery, and eventually a rut. And as Ellen Glasglow once said, “The only difference between a rut and a grave is their dimensions.”
We’re devoting this entire month to the theme of having more fun in the workplace and sharing ideas on how to shake things up and keep you out of ruts and free from Adultitis. Join Club K&J today to make sure you don’t miss any of it!
Related Posts:Every Thursday, we pick out one of the cool things from the Kim & Jason Lemonade Stand and give it away. Yep, for free.
This week’s prize is an Archibald Memo Pad Holder. Archibald is a desktop friend that dutifully keeps all your post-it pads close to his chest.
Here’s how to enter:
- Just leave a comment on this post, answering this week’s question: “What is something fun you have on your desk at work or at home?”
- Deadline for entries is 11:59 pm CST on the day of the post. We’ll pick a winner from the list of comments on the following Friday.
- We’ll contact the winner by e-mail to find out where to send the prize.
Good luck! And don’t miss any of the other cool stuff for the young at heart at The Kim & Jason Lemonade Stand!
**UPDATE: This week’s winner was Melissa:
I am a museum archivist/registrar. Right now, I have several rusty knives and spoons, a turn-of-the-century men’s razor, a vase full of shale rock, an old ink bottle, and there are a pair of spurs in my top right desk drawer.
Even though this week’s contest is over, you can still buy your very own Archibald Memo Pad Holder at the Kim & Jason Lemonade Stand. And stay tuned next week for the next chance to win!
Related Posts:Saturday afternoon Jason and I ended up at the grocery store to pick up some ingredients for the recipes for the weekend. (Jason treated me by making three very yummy dinners!) As many couples do in the grocery shopping situation, we split up to divide and conquer our list. I was about done and I went looking for Jason, only to find him walking from the cereal aisle looking like this…
Yes, this is the actual picture of him from that exact moment that I took from my new iPhone. I instantly started laughing hysterically- for a couple of reasons. First, because it’s just more proof that I am, indeed, married to a five-year-old boy. (I wouldn’t want it any other way!) Second, because just two days earlier at a speaking gig the host introduced Jason using the bio we had given her. Among other tidbits, it read… “Jason grew up loving superheroes and Star Wars. He also enjoys collecting fun retro t-shirts and eating sugar-laden cereal.” His intro is definitely the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Yes, you are correct, he is holding a box of Captain Crunch, Apple Jacks, and Frosted Flakes.
Jason and I are often laughed at when we tell other grown-ups that neither of us drink coffee. Of course, those “two cups before 10AM” people cannot understand how we manage to get through the mornings without that caffeine jolt. Well, I think I put my finger on it…
sugar-laden cereal!
One of my guilty pleasures from childhood happens to be Kraft mac ‘n cheese, the kind in the box with the powdered cheese. After all, it is the cheesiest! Yum!
An easy way to fight the daily dulldrums of Adultitis is to revisit that comforting and fun indulgence from childhood.
What do you indulge in from your yesteryears?
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The fourth page of Monsters, the new adventure starring Kim & Jason, has been posted in the Clubhouse. Go check it out here. You can also start from the beginning by clicking here.
If you’re not a Club K&J member, you might want to consider joining today to follow the story line as it develops. It’s only $4.95 a month and features a lot of other cool things, too. Learn more.
Related Posts:This week’s Escape Plan challenge (aka our Tip of the Week) is #40: Sick of it Day: Take the day off. Do anything you want, but no work and no chores. Consider it a sick day or at least a “sick of it” day.
If you live in the United States, this one should be easy this week, since today is Labor Day. The reality is, however, that often times when presented with a day off our natural tendency is to fill it with things that “need” to get done… yard work, laundry, cleaning projects, etc. Do yourself and your loved ones a favor and let it all go. Enjoy the long overdue laziness of this final weekend of summer.
In our recent podcast for Club K&J members we shared a list of Five Tricks for Fighting Fall Frenzy. One of the tips was to “Turn the Other Cheek.” Stop worrying about those dusty blinds, the lack of shine on your kitchen floor, and the pile of newspapers and magazines you haven’t gotten to. Let it go. In the busyness of fall, maintain the necessities… clean clothes, a fridge with food, and bills that are paid on time. Everything else will have it’s place in due time.
This is an important part of giving yourself time to rest and rejuvenate. So, if you have spent your Labor Day morning laboring… rebound quickly enough to enjoy the heart of why this day was created- to rest.
Share with us in the comments of the Escape Plan blog what you do this week to enjoy your “Sick of it Day.”
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Like reading Kim & Jason? The duo is starring in a brand new project called Monsters. Go behind-the-scenes and follow the adventure as it unfolds as a Club K&J member! (Learn more.)
We recently started back on the road for a fall filled with speaking gigs. One thing Jason talks about is to “Stop living by rules that don’t exist.” This is a major way to fight your Adultitis. Living by this philosophy is exactly what gives the typical two-year-old the bad rap as “terrible.” In defense of parents of toddlers everywhere, let me point out that two-year-olds are in the business of testing everything, discovering the world around them and how they fit into it… which doesn’t always look pretty. Jason and I joke that inevitably there’s always a two or three-year-old throwing a major fit on the floor in the airport security line stubbornly objecting to take off his shoes for the TSA staff. We smile because they are the only ones who have the naivety (and guts) to stand up to the TSA, even if it is a losing battle. I secretly cheer the toddler on… how I wish I could refuse and throw a fit one of these days!
There is a lesson to be learned from the stubborn naivety of the terrible twos. You must challenge the status quo. Most of the time the “rules” that you insist on following are either insignificant or they simply do not even exist. As I think about our life, I smile at the opportunities when Jason and I have bucked the system, jumped off the conveyer belt of life, and taken our own path. It’s very childlike and with any lesson taken from our younger years, it creates a life of adventure and spunk.
Here are a few examples of how we’ve demonstrated that childlike grit by living by our own rules…
Rule: Get a job with good solid benefits. We ultimately rejected the safe school district insurance for the high deductible life of self-employment.
Rule: After you get married you should invest in a home. We chose to delay owning a home, and decided instead to invest in our business, ultimately gambling our house fund for a lifestyle that we love.
Rule: Professional speakers travel alone and keep a schedule that puts them in and out of cities in a 36-48 hour cycle. We set our own company policies that dictate both of us travel together. We fly in the day before the event and fly out the day after. If we are visiting a new area, we tack on a day or two for sightseeing. (Sidenote: Unfortunately, there is a high divorce rate in the lives of professional speakers, largely in part to their consistent absence from home.)
Rule: If you decide to move somewhere, you should have a job lined up or at least have contacts in the area to help you secure employment. Our first apartment in Madison was cosigned by our parents, because neither one of us had jobs yet. We came to Madison because we felt a strong pull to be here… it didn’t really make sense on paper but it did in our hearts. It’s been home ever since.
Rule: GenXer’s in Madison, Wisconsin must channel their generationally stereotypical cynicism towards the war, the government, and the environment. Jason and I are two of the few proud conservative thirty-somethings in this city.
Rule: You must prepare for childbirth with a doctor and deliver in a hospital. We are thrilled to have found an awesome fit with an excellent team of midwives at the Madison Birth Center.
You get the idea. It’s exciting to observe others breaking the rules as well. Jason’s brother and his wife maintain a lifestyle with two careers and yet only have one car, even though they work in different cities. They share the car, allowing them to save hundreds of dollars every single month. (Rule: You must have a car for each driver.)
Friends of ours sold their newer, four bedroom home and moved into an older, three bedroom home, so that she could quit her job to stay home with their children, avoiding daycare. (Rule: You must have two salaries to provide for your family.)
Here’s the dirty little secret… most people like it when they aren’t the only ones playing it safe, so it’s hard to find others who will challenge you to step out of your box. If someone they know starts rocking the boat, it’s often met with gossip and criticism because it challenges everyone else’s decisions. What a boring life! I’m not advocating you go to the extreme of childishness and shirk all responsibilities just to “make your own path.” Just do yourself and your loved ones a favor by asking yourself some hard and honest questions, “Why do we do things this way? Is this what’s best for me today and down the road?” Ask these questions and have the childlike spunk it takes to jump off the conveyer belt if you’re unhappy with your answers.
So, what rules are you breaking?
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The S.W.E.L.L. (Supremely Wonderful & Exciting Loot Lottery) winner for July is Club K&J member Stephanie Nichols! Stephanie, who was randomly selected from the list of Club K&J members, wins free shipping on every single Kim & Jason Lemonade Stand order. And just in time for the busy holiday season that will be here before we know it! Congrats, Stephanie!
Do YOU wanna have a chance to win next month’s S.W.E.L.L. prize? For just $4.95 a month, you can become an official Club K&J subscriber today!
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Every Thursday, we pick out one of the cool things from the Kim & Jason Lemonade Stand and give it away. Yep, for free.
This week’s prize is a set of Men’s Mixter Max Socks. This pack contains 3 single socks. And they don’t match. This not only solves the age-old problem of the disappearing sock, but it also gives you permission to express yourself! Each sock has its own name and number hidden inside the band. They’re made from the finest ingredients: 70% cotton, 20% nylon and 10% spandex (so they don’t fall down). Bet you didn’t know every sock is 200 needle count? (This means they feel good and will last.)
Here’s how to enter:
- Just leave a comment on this post, answering this week’s question: “What’s your theory on what happens to socks that get lost in the dryer?”
- Deadline for entries is 11:59 pm CST on the day of the post. We’ll pick a winner from the list of comments on the following Friday.
- We’ll contact the winner by e-mail to find out where to send the prize.
Good luck! And don’t miss any of the other cool stuff for the young at heart at The Kim & Jason Lemonade Stand!
**UPDATE: This week’s winner was Steven:
Aliens have been experimenting for years, and they have it down to a science. Each time a dryer starts, an alarm goes off in their UFOs, and an alien pushes a button, which sets off a chain reaction, starting all the clothes whirling. They call it aoifb nvaoijkdkhn, which means “sock harvesting” in Anviosdahioian. The whirling action causes one sock from each pair to dematerialize from the dryer and rematerialize on the UFO. (Occasionally, entire pairs have been known to disappear.) Socks are a delicacy on their planet, and they serve them in the palaces and fancy restaurants. It’s thanks to socks that these aliens survive.
Even though this week’s contest is over, you can still buy your very own set of Men’s Mixter Max Socks at the Kim & Jason Lemonade Stand. And stay tuned next week for the next chance to win!
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In this episode, brought to you from studio 315 in Madison, Wisconsin, we talk about the Olympics, uncover an interesting distinction between coal miners and office workers, and share 5 tricks for fighting fall frenzy, that time of year when lazy summer days give way to more stress and more busyness.
NOTE: The Escape Adulthood Show is a Club K&J exclusive. Members can listen to the show in the Clubhouse.
Club K&J members get exclusive access to Kim & Jason Radio, featuring every episode of the Escape Adulthood Show and other cool audio content. (Learn more.)
