“I am who I am because of who we all are.” That is the meaning of the word Ubuntu, which is a South African Zulu word and a philosophy of the spirit of humanity.
How does ubuntu relate to selflessness? Selflessness is about people who are concerned about the needs of others over one’s own self. Self-reflect and think about how you can do something to help the greater good of society.
To learn more about ubuntu, watch this TEDx talk by Dozie Okeleke.
We are all interrelated, sharing the earth and the sky together on this planet. We are all interdependent and need to remember the Golden Rule of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and the lessons we learned in kindergarten.
Let’s reflect on 2020. A recent cartoon from Aunty Acid had the following caption: “One day 2020 will be the one-word catch phrase for everything messed up. How’s your day? A total 2020. Say no more.”
Although that caption may crack a smile and a nod, that smile may not remain for long for many people who are extremely challenged, in pain, and have fear as we are five months into a pandemic … individuals, families, businesses, animals, and more. We live in a different world now than we did at the beginning of this year.
Some things we cannot control, but other things we can.
Each day we can choose to be generous with our time, talent, and treasure or work, wisdom, and wealth.
If you think about all of the foundations and nonprofits out there and believe in their missions, consider taking action to help pay it forward to the communities they serve.
Contact me or fill out this form if you want to volunteer for this nonprofit.
There are people served who need help from the nonprofits, and they may need assistance at this time more than ever.
If you watched the TEDx video noted above, the speaker says, “You can always find a way to give back to the society to which you belong.”
Support your local businesses, especially the ones who you know have been hit hard. Support the solopreneurs who rely on clients, as they do not get any unemployment compensation.
Remember …
Each day we can choose to smile.
Each day we can be kind, respectful, helpful, caring, fair, considerate, friendly, just, and righteous.
Each day we can choose our attitude. Here is one of my favorite quotes about attitude:
The longer I live the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company . . . a [place of worship] . . . a home. The remarkable thing is, we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. . . . we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. . . . we cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you . . . we are in charge of our Attitudes. —Charles Swindoll
So what does this all have to do with LinkedIn? In a previous article, I shared step by step instructions on how to publish an article on LinkedIn. You can also publish documents on LinkedIn. Click here to see the Attitude document (above quote) I published on LinkedIn (and feel free to give it a like or comment). Click here to see the Word document I published on LinkedIn with the upcoming career education events in August.
Visit my LinkedIn profile and see that I selected these two noted documents to be mixed in with articles in my Featured section of LinkedIn. If you want to learn more about the Featured section, read this article, and get instructions.
Here are your step-by-step instructions on publishing a document on LinkedIn:
- Click on Home
- Click on the Document icon
- Click on Choose File, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive and select the file to upload with a title of the document
- Click Done
- Write your post and share. You can tag people and also include hashtags
- Click Post
When you want to share that post further in groups or elsewhere, click on the three dots at the top right of the post to get the URL and click “copy link to post. “
Here are LinkedIn’s instructions on uploading a document. Note that the document cannot be more than 300 pages or exceed 100 MB. The document must be a PDF, .doc, .docx, .ppt, or .pptx.
Share your content to educate, entertain, engage, empower, enrich, or inspire. Don’t sell. Use LinkedIn to build relationships, friendships, clients, colleagues, and more.
Let’s consider the meaning of ubuntu and help each other out in these challenging times … If you want to go fast, you go alone. If you want to go far, you go together. ~African Saying
NEXT STEPS
- Subscribe to my newsletter on LinkedIn™ for bright ideas on how to manage your career.
- If you need a resume or LinkedIn™ profile to get you to your next step, book a call to chat!
- Join as a member at https://greatcareers.org/membership of the #1 business networking association on the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Book of Lists four years in a row!
- To support our charity at KeepOnSharing.com use the referral code Career
- Follow #GreatCareersPHL
AUTHOR BIO
Lynne M. Williams is the Executive Director of the Great Careers Network, a volunteer-run 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides career development and networking connections for 1) job seekers in career transition, including veterans, and 2) employed and self-employed for career management.
Aside from writing keyword-focused content for ATS resumes and LinkedIn™ profiles, Lynne is writing her doctoral dissertation on LinkedIn™ for Job Seekers. She is a contributing author on “Applying to Positions” in Find Your Fit: A Practical Guide to Landing the Job You Love, along with the late Dick Bolles, the author of What Color is Your Parachute?, and is also a speaker on career topics.
