It Sure Beats Working

Who's Mowing Your Lawn?

It takes me about two-and-a-half hours to mow my lawn.   It’s about an acre, and although I’ve got a rider mower, the machine is ancient (slow) and there are a lot obstacles in the way.  My wife sometimes asks why I don’t get my oldest son to do it or just find some other way, so that I don’t use up that time every Saturday morning.

I realized recently (yesterday) that I don’t mow the lawn just to get it done.  I also like how the activity keeps me in touch with “the property.”  Mowing the lawn requires covering just about every inch of it and it just sort of keeps me in touch -- at a very granular level –- with where I live.

Running my own business feels the same way.  I like the fact that as a solo professional, I do everything from vacuuming my office, to going to the post office, to selling and creating the client work.  It keeps me grounded in the work; it makes it feel real.

That’s very different from when I worked in middle management within a large company.  There, I didn’t see the top or the bottom (or the sides) of the way we did business.  I just did my one little compartmentalized thing… it was like living in a house where the lawn was always mowed.

How about you?  Do you like the “lawn mowing” tasks related to your business, or would you just as soon have someone else take care of them?

Hobby or Job?

Following up on yesterday’s post (two days in a row, how do you like that?), I finished Hugh MacLeod’s book last night.  Lots to think about.

In chapter 35, he raises an interesting question, essentially suggesting that if your hobby becomes your job, you no longer have a hobby.

I’ve always looked at it the other way: If your hobby becomes your job you no longer have a job.

What do you think?  Is making a living doing what you love a blessing or a curse?

Advice on Advice

I’ve been reading Hugh MacLeod’s new book, Ignore Everybody.  And 39 Other Keys to Creativity. I like the book and I like his point of view and voice.  

Some of what he says I totally agree with. (“Good ideas have lonely childhoods.”)  Some of what he says I think is completely wrong. (“Keep your day job.”)

Either way, what I’ve noticed about expert advice from successful people is that even if they are in fact expert (a big “if”), and even if they are in fact successful (an even bigger “if”), when they show you the path, they’re really just showing you their path.

It’s not a universal truth -- it's a data point. 

If you like it, use it.  But if you don’t, feel free to just keep walking.  Your job is to figure out what works for you.