Swimming On The Hot Side. Talk about a wild job description.
Tag: work
The Farmer
This farmer realizes that the relationship with her work, like any good relationship is, and should be, reciprocal. That the work, the land, would not be as good without her commitment to it. And, in turn, it returns that commitment to her. And, because of her intimacy with it, it returns that much more.
This. This passion. This love for what we are born to do. Whatever that is for each of us. Like her, our days should be filled with it. Every moment. We should wake up each day inching to get up to our necks in it. To be covered with it. To be a part of it. To be intimate with it.
Patrick Rhone – The Farmer.
Three years on a beat, and then you move on
Chris Anderson as paraphrased by Andreas Kluth.
The first year after arriving to your new assignment was terrifying and exhilarating. It was a vertiginous learning curve, but you could ask dumb questions without fear and note that the emperor has no clothes.
In the second year, after the emperor had invited you in a few times to explain the subtle political dynamics that require him to go garbless for the ultimate good of the nation (but surely there were more important things to write about, such as his new elevated rail project), you would find yourself writing sophisticated analyses, traveling easily through the region, admiring your bulging rolodex and otherwise feeling very productive.
In the third year, you’d find yourself returning to stories with a certain cynicism and worldweary accounting of endless process. The elevated rail project has been delayed once again because of infighting within the opposition party. The emperor has no fiscal discipline. You understand everything all too well. It’s time to move on.
Tybee Island Meetup
On Monday I got back from a week-long meetup on Tybee Island, GA. I posted some photos while there but this is the rest of what was in the collection. The horse mask was a surprise left for my co-worker, Hanni. You can get your own on Amazon.
Most of the photos are from Bonaventure Cemetery which is fantastic to wander through. Food spots include the Sundae Cafe and Huey’s. I only brought my iPhone with me for photos and ended up wishing I had brought my Nikon but such is life. 🙂
If you’re heading to Tybee check out Mermaid Cottages. Or, if you have a much larger group, Happy House.
On Keeping Busy and Staying Sane
For us, the key to staying sane at a startup is hanging out with a different social circle often; ones outside of the tech/startup world. We work with startup folks during the week and it’s refreshing to get outside of that world to reset.
Paul Stamatiou – On Keeping Busy and Staying Sane.
Solitude and Leadership
I find for myself that my first thought is never my best thought. My first thought is always someone else’s; it’s always what I’ve already heard about the subject, always the conventional wisdom. It’s only by concentrating, sticking to the question, being patient, letting all the parts of my mind come into play, that I arrive at an original idea. By giving my brain a chance to make associations, draw connections, take me by surprise. And often even that idea doesn’t turn out to be very good. I need time to think about it, too, to make mistakes and recognize them, to make false starts and correct them, to outlast my impulses, to defeat my desire to declare the job done and move on to the next thing.
William Deresiewicz – Solitude and Leadership.
Doing What You (Don’t) Love
To clarify, doing what you love doesn’t mean you love every single aspect of a profession. Every job has drudgery. When I say doing what you love, I mean you wake up in the morning looking forward to going to do whatever it is you do to provide for yourself [and your family]. And you feel that way 9 days out of 10.
Back to the cost then. It’s simply this: when you do what you love, it can often lead to being all that you do. It’s what you think about when you wake up, when you’re in the shower, in the moments of peace and quiet, and as you close your eyes at the end of the day.
As far as work is concerned, that’s not a bad thing. But you have to realize that other areas of your life will pay the cost. There may be hobbies like woodworking, gardening or cycling that interest you, but you never get around to picking up. There are the missed family events. Or, even worse, you’re present in body only, your mind on the ‘thing you love’.
Chris Bowler – Doing What You Don’t Love.
Work+ A new iPhone app from Tender Creative that aims to help you discover new places to get work done. Looks like a nifty tool. Kind of similar to an idea I wrote about previously.
Status
One of the great things about being able to work from home is not having to leave the house when you’re feeling a bit sick. I’ll be back soon, PIE. 🙂
Making It in America. What manufacturing in America looks like in 2012. Fantastic work by the Atlantic.