How Do You Recognize Important Dates?

For each person, the annual calendar is filled with important dates. What do you do to celebrate them?

Everyone has several days that have special meaning to them. These meaningful dates might include holidays, like Christmas or Halloween. Or perhaps more individual examples, like birthdays or wedding anniversaries.

Chances are, you could recognize more special days in the calendar year than you already do.

Some couples, for instance, like to celebrate the day of their first date, in addition to a wedding anniversary and a holiday like Valentine’s Day. Remembering the day you started your job can be valuable, particularly if you use the opportunity to ask for a raise. People with pets may choose to recognize “gotcha day”, or the day that they adopted their dog or cat (or snake or bird or hamster or whatever).


Listen to a podcast where Michael and Lee discuss a related question: ‘What makes a tradition?’ We also discuss a bonus question: ‘What are you optimistic about?’


Whatever dates you deem significant, what, exactly, do you do to mark the occasion? Perhaps you give a toast to celebrate, or maybe exchange gifts. Dinner out at a fancy restaurant is one way, a card or a personalized note is another.

Today (March 26th, 2023) is a special day for Intellectual Roundtable. It marks the six year anniversary of our first-ever post. That question, Why do we like what we like?, was a clear example of the types of questions that would follow. Just a couple of weeks ago, we posted our 800th question, which is also a milestone worth denoting.

Whether you make a spectacle of your birthday, or you enjoy a more manufactured holiday like Star Wars Day (May the 4th) or Pi Day (3.14, or March 14), it is worth taking the opportunity to make as many days special as you can. In the process, think about what you would like to do to celebrate each special date that comes around.

Related questions: What makes a tradition? Birthday: celebrate or not? What is your favorite holiday? What is your favorite holiday memory?

Days Or Years?

Which unit of time is more important to you – days or years? How did you make your determination?

Share why if you wish.

Days Or Years? © Kama

How Does Your Personal Life Influence Your Work Life?

Time you spend at work is naturally influenced by your time at home. Can you think of how your personal life influences your work life?

Sometimes it seems like our lives are split into two parts: a work life, and a personal life. You might have work friends that are different than your personal friends. How you dress in each is likely different, and even how you act may vary from one to the other.

So it might seem like two different worlds. Of course, that’s not true at all. There is one big thing in common: you. You can’t help but have your personal life affect work, and vice versa. Particularly with many people working from home during the pandemic.


Listen to a podcast where Michael and Lee discuss a related question: ‘Are we too busy?’ We also discuss a bonus question: ‘What are our responsibilities to others?’


Can you think of any specific ways that what you do in your personal life impacts the work that you do? It might be something simple, like pictures of your family on your desk. But it could also extend to skills you learned at home being used in the office. Maybe something you read on your own time became meaningful somehow in doing your job.

Despite your best efforts, it is impossible to keep home and work completely apart (and perhaps you shouldn’t even try). What are some of the ways, positive or negative, that your personal life influences your work life?

Related questions: How has remote work changed your workplace culture? Who would serve on your personal board of directors? What do you do with a day off work? What is your dream job?

Politics: Local Or National?

When it comes to politics, which do you pay more attention to: politics at the local level, or at the national level? Which one is more important?

Share why if you wish.

Politics: Local Or National?
© Kama