Self Love, Lucy, and A Ferris Buehler Day Off

The idea is that whatever your station in life, sometimes you just need a mental health day. You need a day when you are empowered to push the red button at the factory, and at least for you, the conveyor belt stops. That makes me think of the famous Lucy episode where she is working in the chocolate candy factory and gets behind. That clip is conveniently placed at the beginning of today’s post just for your viewing pleasure.

I was very fortunate to be raised in a family that was results oriented instead of “letter of law” you have to be at school/work everyday. Both sides of my family were, and still are in my Dad’s case, very passionate about work. They were mostly self employed entrepreneurial types with plenty of initiative. I was raised this way. That being said, my grandparents used to take my Dad out school 2 to 3 weeks a year just to go deer hunting.

In my case, Dad really could have cared less how often I showed up at school. I could go skiing, anywhere I wanted… if… I got the grades. I’ve spent about half of my working life self employed and the other half working for great bosses that get it. One of my jobs in my early twenties was working for the Ander-Ziglar Corporation which was a division of Zig Ziglar’s Training Company. Jim Ander came out from Dallas to work with me one day and felt I was pressing a little hard. He took me for the better part of a workday afternoon out to a Malibu Grand Prix track to race cars. I’ve never forgot that lesson.

My pastor, Darrin Cantrell gets it. He showed up at his son’s school last year, pulled him out of class in the middle of the morning, and said, “Hey, what do you say, we just blow this school thing off today and head for a Dodger Game?” Eyes as big as silver dollars, they headed off to Los Angeles for the game.


Ferris Buehler got it. Hopefully the Youtube clip of the movie trailer from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off refreshes your memory of the concept. If you’ve never watched the movie I encourage you to use your next Netflix choice on this great film.
Your Ferris Buehler’s Day Off should be geared to your passions and interests. If you do one, make its something that gives your adrenaline a jolt. For some great ideas go to SignatureDays.com. This is a company that orchestrates these kind of days for you. I ran across their package at Costco. Check it out.