Goodwork Almanac

Tag: self improvement

  • Making the Leap

    Making the Leap

    Finding and pursuing your goodwork

    Many people will begin the journey of their life’s work doing something entirely irrelevant to their nature, their goals, and perhaps even their character. I started work at seventeen at my local movie theater, working the concessions counter part-time on evenings and weekends. From what I can recall, I was paid a low wage to get berated by the general public because they made the mistake of ordering movie theater nachos and hotdogs. This was my first encounter with work. And it was not great. It was also where I grew my appreciation for employees in the service industry, a place where brave hearts fear to tread.

    Throughout my twenties, I worked a handful of odd jobs. I traveled both Europe and the U.S. working on small farms in exchange for room and board. I worked in a bookstore, as a house painter, as a plumber. I worked one shift as an overnight shelf stocker at my local grocery store before deciding it wasn’t for me. In each job, I felt keenly that I did not belong. Each time I tried something that did not work out, I felt a lot like I was being rejected by the world, like I would never belong anywhere. There was always going to be this friction or resistance when I wanted to pursue some aim.

    What’s worse, I looked around and some people were actually passionate about their work. They didn’t drag themselves to their jobs, they didn’t complain about the ins and outs of their profession. They liked to work. And it wasn’t an isolated incident! You could see people working in restaurants, gyms, bookstores, offices, landscaping companies, and they actually wanted to be there. You could see it right off, it was something in their eyes.

    I wanted to have what they had, I wanted to do something that I felt connected to, that I could be engaged in. I wanted to make something that had utility, that provided value. I wanted to make something that could provide joy, guidance, and beauty.

    In my mid-twenties, I got a job in assembly manufacturing, gluing one part to another part and screwing wires into circuit boards. It wasn’t what I wanted but it was something. It was in this period of my life that I started to change how things were going to be. I had changed my attitude toward my path. I wasn’t going to quit at the first chance and I wasn’t going to let the negative aspects dissuade me from continuing on.

    As I was soldering circuits at work one day, I had my first mental glimpse into the future that I wanted to create. Since then, I have realized the various pitfalls common to this process and I have discovered some practices in mental outlook that have helped along the way.

    This, by no means, is to suggest I have attained success and prestige in the field of my goodwork but merely that I have found the path and have begun to understand the process. I hope the same for others. When travelers meet, they may talk about the places they have been and the experiences they have had there. They say things like, “Did you ever make it to Edinburgh? Me too, there was a little pub there I always liked.” And then maybe, “Oh yes, we went in late summer and the weather was nice but I returned some years later in March and it was much colder than I would have liked. But all the lines were short and the castles empty for us to enjoy alone.” That’s something along the lines of what I aim for here. Travelers meeting and exchanging notes.

    EFFICIENCY v. EFFECTIVENESS

    One of the first lessons you learn in any pursuit is that things do not go smoothly in the beginning. The beginning of any endeavor has us accruing endless costs and expenses and the few wins here and there can spur us on but certainly do not begin to cover costs, let alone provide for growth.

    When I began my various gardening projects, I wanted things to go smoothly and efficiently. Digging garden beds in the sun feels anything but smooth or efficient. But I would remember that the point of digging the beds was not to be efficient, as it only had to happen that one time. The point of these large time and labor costs was to be effective. To get it done and get the plants in the ground. So, it took several more afternoons than I had planned to get the soil prepared, and it took more than one trip to the hardware store for different tools and materials. The costs kept mounting and it destroyed my expectations of a smooth and inexpensive project. It didn’t matter. When the project was done, the garden was ready for the planting and I would never have to dig the beds out again.

    The same is true for other pursuits. School, for example, is not an efficient process but an effective one. It is more time consuming and more expensive than you plan on but the point is not to get to the end as quickly and efficiently as possible but to put the time and study in that is required for you to get your degree. Going through the effort to set up the assembly line takes the majority of the time and energy and then when it is running smoothly you can put your mind toward efficiency and productivity. You will not make a ton of money on your first few clients, or on your first transactions with a new client, because creating the new relationship is about effectiveness, not efficiency.

    Advice for this phase of your goodwork involves mostly mental rewiring. Because this phase does not involve the gratification of rewards but the collection of costs, it can be discouraging and frustrating. Try to adopt an attitude towards these challenges that reinforces your path – they are like milemarkers showing you the way. They may test your commitment, make you question your abilities, but they tell you that you are on the right path toward achievement.

    Try to separate your activities into projects and production. Projects are your high cost endeavors with no return in the short run. Production is highly rewarding and more efficient. If you make the mistake of thinking your project will be as efficient as your production, you may become unnecessarily discouraged and frustrated. Instead, take it for what it is. Keep the faith that this project will eventually lead to an increased capacity for whatever your goodwork is, and do the work with that in mind. High expectations and delusions of grandeur will burden your mind and your project and may turn into procrastination, overwhelm, and maybe even quitting.

    LOGORRHEA, THE ROLE OF PLANNING and ORDER

    Logorrhea is defined as the excessive use of words. The way I use it here, I am also including other logical forms like plans, dreams, expression, calculations, thoughts, and discourse. It is quite common that people will get trapped in a state of logorrhea when they go about beginning a project or task. They talk about doing it, they fantasize about it or the rewards they will get from it, they will read about it and watch videos about it, they will write out detailed plans and to-do lists about it, they will crunch the numbers about it. Going even further, they will chastise themselves for not doing it sooner or not doing it as good as someone else. They will hate the obstacles and focus their energy on them rather than their aim. They will look for recognition and accolades, they will search for reasons, answers, and reassurance. They will imagine the perfect circumstances, look for them, wait for them. But all of these things have one thing in common: none of them will replace actually doing the thing.

    To avoid this pitfall, try to keep your planning, accounting, and advertising in balance with actually doing the work, making the product, and pursuing action that brings substance. These planning activities should be limited to a small percentage of your time and the rest of your time should be used in working the plan and bringing it to fruition. There is always going to be a need for thorough plans and accurate accounting but the key is not to be carried away by the allure of purely abstract thought. You think, “Maybe if I change this around a little bit, I can make a few extra dollars per unit and then if I increase my sales by about ten percent a year it will compound to this amount after ten years and if I just capture one percent more of the business in the market I can make this much more money…” And soon enough you’ve done nothing but crunch numbers about goods and services that do not exist. You can’t eat a garden plan, so be sure to plant those tomatoes!

    Do not complain, do not explain. It is my impression that people engaged in work waste precious time and energy in two key areas – complaining about the work and explaining themselves. There is a time and place for the expression of these two things. If something is bringing about far too many complaints, maybe it is time to sit back and consider if there is a better approach. And explaining yourself to others will always be necessary in this world of navigating other people, until we become telepathic. But watch carefully that you do not give in to endless complaining that has no ideas for betterment – this is whining. And make sure you are not spending excessive time and energy explaining yourself to others, as this may build the habit of seeking validation from others rather than satisfaction in the results of your work.

    MAKING THE TRANSITION

    “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt

    This cannot really be called advice but is actually an immutable law of nature. We have to focus on what we can do since the alternative is what we cannot do. We have to use what we have since it is impossible to use what we do not have. And while we may end up in different places and conditions throughout our journeys, we must recognize in each moment where we are in reality in order to make real progress. The grass is greener where you water it.

    People start their journeys toward their most meaningful work from all different backgrounds and positions. Some find a way to make it happen with relatively little education or support, these are entrepreneurs and business owners. Other lines of work like medicine or teaching require more educational inputs and involve a long process of improvement that is not as open to ‘overnight success’. I certainly don’t want to get surgery from someone who did not go to medical school and is just hustling for love of the game.

    Whether the journey to your work is long or short, it is common to start from a place that is far divorced from the path you’d like to be on. Personally, I have been working in assembly for several years now and am actively engaged in changing that path. I am not sure what that will look like over the next few years but I know I will continue to work to get closer to doing something I care about, which helps others, and in which I can become a true master.

    Patience is a difficult concept to grasp at times. The moment you think you have achieved patience, you start looking around for your reward… oops! That’s the point of patience! Keep going. There will never be a moment when you outgrow the need for patience. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to how long your journey will last but let’s just say, for the sake of ease, that it will last you the rest of your life. While you are on the way, make sure you are becoming the type of person you would like to be, someone you can be proud of. The daily work does a little work on us, too, reforming us like clay over months and years.

    Begin your journey where you are, have the humility to recognize and respect your starting point. It is easy to get used to the movie montage transformation, the zero-to-hero training sequence, the overhaul makeover, and the end credits rolling at the perfectly written conclusion. Our lives are not like that. They are littered with beginnings and endings of many different phases, interests, and personalities. This could be said to be the reality of goodwork. There is no end to goodwork because there is no moment in your life in which you would ever be content to live without connection, value, or creativity.

    CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

    The silver lining to the fact that you must start where you are is that you can also improve much faster than you think you can. As long as you are continuing to be honest with yourself about your limits, your resources, and your starting point, you can begin to make small gains in skills and resources that will compound over time.

    A pitfall to avoid: assuming that your progress will always look the same as it does now, when you are beginning your pursuit. If it takes someone six months to save one thousand dollars, they despair that it will take them decades to get to where they want to be. But they do not account for the process of continuous improvement that they will undergo as they keep to their journey. In this example, they may begin to earn more as a result of a job change, they may find unnecessary expenses to cut from their budget, and the money they have saved begins to earn interest. They thought it would take them several decades to get to their goal but it ends up happening at an accelerated rate.

    The prerequisite for continuous improvement is to commit to life and engage with the work. If you are constantly looking outside of yourself for happiness and fulfillment, you forfeit the ability to create your own. You will not be able to improve on something you refuse to work with, so you must be dedicated to this practice.

    It may be discouraging to begin with little gains here and there. Certainly, these first improvements will seem unremarkable or insignificant. You may even feel embarrassed that things are going so slow, or that you are not making the leaps and bounds you envisioned for yourself. Consistency above all else will win you continuous improvement.

    Conclusion

    So, you start where you are. It is anything but perfect. The goals you wish to attain are specks in the distance. The point is to begin. Not to begin perfectly, not to fulfill your potential all at once, but just to get started. This is one of those pesky lessons you have to keep learning all your life. To be honest, I am not good at it. I have always wanted to be the prodigy, the natural, the chosen one. I want to pick things up quickly and without effort. That is a habit we have to work on, to learn that effort and work are glorious things to undertake and not an inconvenience from which we should escape.

    Thank you for reading!

  • Farmstrong

    Farmstrong

    When personal development is discussed, strength is often one of the first attributes people desire. Perhaps they feel physically weak or ineffectual, bullied by others who are bigger and physically stronger. They want to get stronger so that they never have to feel so small again. Others do not feel emotionally strong, they feel they cannot speak up for themselves or endure the burden of everyday obligations. They ask for strength so they can make it through another day. If we are to carry on, we must ask ourselves what it means to be strong.

    In our age, virtues and values are interpreted through a warped lens. The virtues or values themselves may be good and useful but because they are distorted by misunderstandings, they are turned into useless and harmful versions of themselves. Through this lens, values such as youth, productivity, efficiency, and detachment are championed to a degree that causes many imbalances.

    Our fixation on youth has made us neglect our health and longevity, as we try to continue to live as children in a dreamy and consequence-free lifestyle. Even when people try to mimic longevity, they pursue it in a way that they may achieve eternal youth. An entire industry of health gadgets promises to make us ‘age backwards’ when we could simply age gracefully, try to live long and happy lives. Many feel the push and the urge that they must continue the creativity and productivity of their youth long after middle age, neglecting the natural limits of our capacities or the developed talents we might otherwise put to use such as wisdom and guidance. And our emotions are not contemplated, integrated, or healthfully processed but shut down, ignored, and treated as inconvenient. This often leads to emotional outbursts that are far worse and more ill-conceived than the original emotions. I think of my coworker making fun of the younger generation for crying while he walks around work berating people and having angry meltdowns every other day. So much better!

    I do feel there are values here that are worth embracing, if only we can find a healthy way to do it. Youth is something that can be celebrated, and we could also put more effort towards navigating the loss of youth and the gain of experience, wisdom, and self-control that comes with later ages.

    Longevity is a wonderful goal. I would love to live a long, happy, and productive life. But it would be unwise to try to remain twenty forever, not to mention creepy and unnatural. Instead, we should encourage the development of our personalities and goals as we age, trying to live healthy lives of connection and value, until we can become the wisdom-bearers, the old sages, the elders.

    Finally, it is wise to learn the nature of our emotions so that we do not let them overwhelm and control our behavior. This is the main tenet of Stoicism, and it has nothing to do with shutting down, ignoring, or rejecting emotion but learning about yourself through emotion, accepting them when they arise, and maintaining your sense of what you can control so that your emotions do not control you.

    In any of these cases, strength is asked of us. Physical, emotional, and relational strength is developed throughout life, slowly, sometimes painfully, as we work to become the truest versions of ourselves and bear witness to others becoming themselves too.

    Photo by Elkhan Ganiyev on Pexels.com

    There is a certain archetype that comes to mind when I imagine the abundant, healthy life of a fully formed individual: the farmer. I imagine them as a burly and stout-hearted person, strong grip, calm eyes under a discerning brow. They are quiet, but their intelligence is demonstrated in the deftness of their movements and the skill of their craft. They do their speaking with action rather than words. When they do speak, each word is dense with meaning. Words carry a premium; words are slow and burdensome compared to the act itself. There are years of setbacks and resilience in their eyes, you can count them like rings on a tree. And after every catastrophe, their strong hands pick up their well-worn tools and begin again.

    Physical Health and Longevity

    The nature of the farmer’s work tends to be physical. There are chores enough to keep the farmer occupied as long as they’d like. Often their work can overtake their personal lives. This is where a healthy relationship to one’s work and person calling can come in handy. We want to be profitably and meaningfully employed but losing health and enjoyment from overwork is entirely possible and should be avoided.

    Photo by ahmad dian fitrah jamaluddin on Pexels.com

    Having regular, physical movement throughout the day keeps the body healthy. Many people today have sedentary jobs or professions and do not opt into a regular exercise routine. Those with physical jobs accomplish both the demands of their work and also the demands of the physical body – to move, and keep practiced in movement, for as long as one can.

    One of the primary goals of goodwork is to ‘Stay as strong as you can, as long as you can.’

    Farm chores also tend to include a lot of low-impact movements paired with higher-repetition strength movements and occasionally the high-effort compound movement such as picking up something extremely heavy or lifting something above one’s head. If these movements are done with a mind toward joint care and proper form, they are the building blocks of a healthfully aging body which retains much of its strength and endurance while sedentary bodies tend to wither, break down, and accumulate compounding injuries.

    There is much information available to us now that suggests the importance of exercising our muscles as a practice throughout life in order to improve the condition of our later years. Developing our muscles through vigorous exercise improves four areas that people tend to struggle with as they age.

    First, it will help with balance. Imbalance leads to falls and slips and the injuries from these falls can compound over time to worsen the condition of our lives. The skeletal muscles, their strength and agility, as well as the strength of our core muscles, assist us in keeping balance.

    Secondly, it helps with our hearts and circulatory systems. Many people will have issues with their heart and arteries as a result of sedentary living and diet issues. Regular exercise helps prevent heart disease and arteriosclerosis, the hardening of the arteries over time.

    Third, it helps us keep stronger bones. When the body is sedentary, the bones may become weak and brittle which will lead to breaks. These injuries lead to more sedentary living, in order to give them a chance to heal, but may also affect our mobility and strength forever after. Lifting weights and exercising muscles helps to strengthen our bones and keep them strong even as we age.

    Last but not least, regular exercise helps us keep our minds sharp, improves and maintains cognition. Many people will struggle with routine cognitive issues such as memory degradation and slowed processing time as they age. Some will struggle with more severe cognitive decline such as dementia. Regular exercise can lessen the likelihood that we experience these effects and diseases. These four areas (balance, cardiovascular health, bone density, and cognitive health) are all improved by an active lifestyle integrated with strength movements that prioritize proper form and joint health.

    The kind of physical work I am describing can destroy a person if they are not careful and do not have a mind for their limitations and recovery. There are countless people who have neglected their limits only to injure themselves with recurring stresses, do not pay heed to bodily or mental recovery, and as a result push themselves into a state of decrepitude and decay. A life without boundaries is self-destruction. I have worked with many people, especially in the trades, who have pushed themselves and others beyond their limits and have suffered setbacks and injuries as a result. This kind of behavior inspires negative associations with work and unhealthy relationships with each other, as well as an unhealthy relationship to one’s body.

    Photo by Ebahir on Pexels.com

    Community and Connection

    A farmer’s lifestyle can be said to contain two important relational elements. Those are strong individualism and connected community life. There are many opinions floating around that overemphasize the importance of rugged individualism to the point of isolation. And there are many opinions that disparage individualism to the point of neglecting individual development and expression entirely, preferring to focus on the ideas of community life and collective markers of well-being.

    But what is the community made up of? Individuals. And how can the individual exist without the support and care and connection of the love of their community? You cannot separate the two. If the community is made up of people who refuse to take individual responsibility for their lives, disconnection and chaos ensue. If the community is made up of people who refuse to acknowledge their connection to community members in mutually beneficial relationships, everyone becomes isolated, ineffectual, and hollow.

    Of all the farmstrong people I have met, they have done well to develop both the attribute of their individuality and the deep connection that comes with community-making.

    Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

    Their work is reflective of this. Each farm is unique and specific, it must be worked in a certain way and it is not often that the same methods will apply to many different areas of the land. They must take responsibility for their work, which they do in direct relationship to the land they inhabit. At times it can seem the working farm is isolated or remote, being tucked away into foothills and valleys far from the bustle of the cities and towns, traditionally. But the farmer balances this when they come into town to sell or trade their goods. They must maintain this connection if any of their work is to be meaningful and productive. And often they create a niche on their own land to host visitors, helpers, family, and neighbors.

    I lived and worked on several farms in my early twenties, traveling through Europe and the northern United States. Each farm had deep connection to its community and to the other farmers in their area. On an olive farm in Italy, we hosted a dinner for thirty people working and living on neighboring farms. They each brought their specialty olives, a recipe they each inherited and loved from generations past, and we shared in the moment and the connection of our work together.

    We walked up the hill to town where they were having an autumn harvest festival. The hunters brought wild boar, the farmers brought their food, the locals brought homemade wine. We sang and danced in tents in the town’s parks and we stumbled back to our beds around nightfall. On a goat farm in France, we made cheese and hosted cheese-making classes as well as cheese tasting events. We slept in a hut folded into the treeline, warmed by a little stove at its center.

    Each day was about meeting the current task in a personal, direct way, whether it was collecting the olives or pounding fence posts. It was also about finding connection and harmony within the community we wanted to cultivate.

    Photo by Mark Stebnicki on Pexels.com

    Mental Health

    The nature of the farmer’s outlook tends to be, consciously or unconsciously, practical and persistent. They work with the ground and are, by no coincidence, well-grounded. It is the reality of their work that they must accept unforeseen circumstances and work to overcome them or at the very least to endure them. I think this can be a unique outlook, given these various forces.

    The farmstrong know that they must contend with reality and so their fantasy worlds are tempered by the capacity of their work to bring things out of their imagination. Their continuance in their daily chores and projects suggests a vote of confidence in the future, though they are more than willing to embrace the uncertainty of their lives and profession, with which they are painfully familiar.

    Photo by Makara Eam on Pexels.com

    Experience of the disappointments of life’s endeavors do not embitter them towards honest effort; in fact, honest effort is quite often their guiding light and daily devotional, it imbues all their work with ritual goodness and attention, and the firsthand experience of disappointment cultivates a healthy detachment from the painful images of expectations. ‘Oh, well…’ might be a common refrain of the farmstrong.

    I have often found myself enamored with people of this character, who can so easily have faith in tomorrow that they may content themselves with the honest work of today, this moment. It can be somewhat more common to see the unrelenting plans, schemes, and hollow wishes of those who are resigned from daily life and content themselves with fruitless daydreaming. All dreams and no delivery. I have certainly found myself distracted by endless waves of planning, rather than returning to the humbling act of daily work.

    Photo by Beyza Yalu00e7u0131n on Pexels.com

    I have often thought of the farmer as the Stoic ideal. Not all farmers are like this, of course, but the ideal itself is the absolute picture of resilience, courage, wisdom, and virtue. After getting a taste of life on a working farm, you begin to understand why this would be the place to create that tempered steel of pure stoicism – the chores must be done no matter the weather, no matter the circumstances, no matter the mood. Whether it is freezing winter or pouring rain or gale force winds, the livestock must be fed and watered, the work must continue to get done. Whether it is a little Russian babushka tending to the cows or a goatherd in Greece walking the hills and the fields, there are those whose work has polished them against the difficulty of life and as a result they exude a strength and endurance that is without comparison. They may never set out to fulfill this ideal of virtue, and they may never put a word to paper about it in order to describe their process or their thoughts, and yet they have embodied this philosophy better than the most prominent minds of antiquity.

    A word on Stoicism, a sometimes-misunderstood term. I have occasionally seen Stoicism portrayed as the rejection or suppression of emotion, perhaps an enthusiastic withdrawal from life, or a cold and uncaring posture taken with an attitude of disregard. After reading some of the classic Stoics, such as Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Seneca, one may come to know the nuance of this philosophy better and to consider it a great deal more relevant than other systems of thought from ancient history.

    It is not about stifling or repressing emotion but consciously approaching emotion in a way that allows us to contend with it. When we meet with our emotions in a calm and level-headed manner, we can better understand where they come from, what they are trying to express, and how best to integrate them in a way that does not disturb our lives. It is also not about withdrawing from the necessary actions of life but rather focusing on what we can control and engaging in these things with virtue, rather than losing ourselves to the uncertainty and doubt of events and circumstances entirely outside of our influence, which may pull our valuable time and energy away from constructive and useful action. It is about engaging with life and committing to life in a way that we are prepared for setbacks and inconveniences and whatever else fate may send our way.

    Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

    One may encounter difficulties but with the right practices they may work through these difficulties without adding a greater burden with their own unhelpful behaviors. Surely, we have all been in a difficult spot before with someone who would not stop complaining, making negative predictions, or refused to work through the issue. This not only doesn’t help the situation but makes it much worse.

    Conclusion

    These attributes do not have to belong to the farmer alone, of course. Anyone of any background can develop these habits and channel these characteristics through their own work and relationships in order to build resilience, strength, and connection into their lives. That is the aim of my sharing these thoughts, and my continuing to write on subjects related to the farmstrong idea in the future.

    I find that there are many misconceptions about strength, stoicism, individuality, and work in general. Useful ideas are co-opted by the irresponsible and the immature every day, so I think it is important to bring these terms back into the expression of usefulness and maturity. I hope to shine light on topics that have been painted with a negative brush and perhaps come away with a more constructive view of things.

    If I could ever express my view on these topics and provide a useful thought to someone in search of answers, I would be delighted with my contribution. I value minding my own business, so I’d like to reiterate that I am not telling anyone how to live but merely discussing the lifestyle and characteristics of interesting people and philosophies.  

    Below I have provided a link on the benefits of strength training, as a reference for the claims I have put forth in this post. I encourage you to read further on the topic, as I am a layman.  

    https://emedicalhub.com/strength-training-for-longevity-why-lifting-weights-is-important-for-aging/

  • Vectors, Niches, and the Art of Placemaking

    Vectors, Niches, and the Art of Placemaking

    If we conjure up the image of a plain, manicured lawn, chances are there is no room for anything else. There are typically no other bugs, animals, or plants that can coexist within a perfectly manicured lawn. Only that one type of grass, that one length of each blade, perhaps even a sign that says to ‘keep off’. In fact, there are concerted efforts to rid the lawn of anything that may inconvenience it or compete with it. Millions of dollars are spent each year on chemicals the average user is entirely ignorant of, being poured out on lawns, driveways, and sidewalks to spare us the sight of the rogue dandelion, to kill the insects, to preserve that uniform mat of green lawn.

    Now, if we conjure up an image of a healthy and abundant garden, we reckon with an entirely different world. In order for it to be abundant and productive, we imagine there to be many different plants, many different insects, and a general happening of all with all, everything mingling together in some complex system we can scarcely understand. The beginner gardener starts out by learning that there are beneficial and harmful insects and they are careful not to be so enthusiastic about killing the one that the other is destroyed in the process. The intermediate gardener learns that there are even certain plants one can cultivate in order to attract the beneficial insects or repel the harmful insects. The advanced gardener knows that if they do their job well in organizing and arranging the garden for its health, then each will care for each and a certain balance will be attained that does not require their constant oversight or intervention.

    The two images I have just described are examples of the difference in creating niches or encouraging ‘vectors’ of abundance. This is similar to the idea of placemaking in designing public spaces. These ideas, arguably, are mainstays of the best practices of goodwork.

    A niche is that crevice, nook, or cranny of the world in which something can find its natural position. In ecological terms, a niche is a condition or environment in which a plant or animal thrives, encouraged to express its true nature. A vector is a directional magnitude that implies transmission, communication, or aim. I think of a niche as a corner of the world and a vector as all the possibilities that can pour out of this little corner.

    A niche is a foothold, from which something can launch into full expression. And placemaking, in this instance related to goodwork and to gardening, is about cultivating many places where a niche could support life and where life could then support vectors of abundance.

    Joel Salatin, a renowned farmer using regenerative agricultural methods, would refer to this practice as “Honoring the pigness of the pig, the cowness of the cow, or the chickenness of the chicken.” Each plant or animal has a nature which it most easily expresses in its particular niche. To honor that plant or animal is to create a niche that allows it to express its true nature.

    Joel Salatin in front of his flock at Polyface Farms.

    The pig is a forager; it roots around with its snout in the dirt for morsels of food. The cow is a grazing ungulate, partial to herd mobbing on a diet of grasses and forbs. A chicken is an omnivorous scavenger, picking and pecking through seeds, grain, insects, and grasses. So, what happens when you constrain the pig, cow, or chicken to a tiny enclosure, with no access to soil or sunshine, feed it a diet far-removed from its natural inclinations, and otherwise expect it to produce abundantly? Well, you get two things, the image of the modern farming method and a slurry of disease, waste mismanagement, and low-quality food. One practice is about creating places, honoring a niche, and being a part of abundance. The other is about wanting abundance, mimicking abundance, but otherwise skipping the work necessary to be a part of its true nature.

    This practice does not concern only natural environments or the components of animals and plants. It also has a great deal to do with how people relate to each other through the physical space they inhabit. Master sushi chef, Jiro Ono, is a great example of a craftsman with an eye for cultivating a place. His restaurant is like a niche in this way, which caters to a specific aim and sensation that he wants to communicate to his guests. It is a small and humble-looking restaurant, with only ten seats at a long bar-top. The lights are warm and low. The sparse design does not feel minimal or bare but sleek, clean, and harmonious. With a smaller seating arrangement, Jiro is free to cater to the guests based on his observations; do they eat with their left or right hand, what size sushi will they eat in a given time in order to keep the pace of the meal. And while the elegant simplicity of his place is felt deeply as graceful and easy, it is in reality built on many hours of disciplined work, attention to detail, and an attitude of mastery that makes Jiro desire to continuously improve his process over the years, even as he continued to work into his 80s, 90s, and now, having turned 100.

    Jiro Ono, in the film ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’

    There are also countless ways to make a place or niche for people in one’s daily life. Your own home could be an example of a niche which you form yourself day after day with the habits you keep and the ideals you hold dear. Making a place for yourself can be an art, a practice. You can make it open and welcoming to others as well. Those who come to visit may marvel at some unspeakable quality your home has that feels inviting, warm, and encourages connection. It does not have to be filled to the brim with shiny knickknacks or gadgets, it does not have to be decked out with expensive furnishings and decorations. It merely has to have that perfected quality of a place that is made with intention and a mind for harmony.

    Even something as plain as a conversation can be made into a place for stopping off, a place for resting, a place for an encouraging word or a supportive idea. How desperate people are in their daily lives for some sense of belonging or support that a conversation alone may be memorable enough to last them the year! Think of the last time you received a compliment, how long that impression has lasted. People can make places for each other in easy ways that make the process of routine actions more bearable and even beautiful. Letting someone go ahead of you in line, handing out compliments that come to mind, assisting someone in some dreaded chore. No task is so low that it cannot serve as a matter for our attention.

    A farmer who raises cows does not actually raise the cow but tries to create an environment in which the cow cannot help but grow healthfully. A therapist does not give the patient right conduct, good thoughts, or healing but provides an environment of communication in which all of these things are allowed to develop of their own accord. Feed the birds, the worms, the bees and your garden will feed you with ease.

    There is a subtle and indirect logic to this aspect of work, as opposed to the image of effort, skill, and discipline that is often conjured in the mind when thinking of achievement. There is a place for effort, skill, and discipline; these are indispensable things. But the indirect work of preparing a place may take you further, and with greater ease, than the repetitive and frustrated attempts to create something from willpower alone.

    How to make a place, a niche.

    Begin by organizing your corner of the world. This may sound bland or ineffectual. But you must remember that there are many people who seek to better the world by focusing on the weeds in other people’s gardens. This gets us nowhere. The people who succeed in making a place are those who do what they can, where they are. They plant a row of flowers, a native bush, they forego weed-killer or fertilizers. They help their neighbors rather than trying to save the city. That is oftentimes more heroic. This wisdom is handed down by Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor and practicing stoic. He noted how the insects put in order their little corners of the universe and kept the world going by doing the work that was natural to them. Our work may be drudgery sometimes; it may be joyful other times. But it is our work, and we continue to do it because we are helping to put together our corner of the universe.

    Design it with a visitor in mind. When you set out to create a place for something or someone, you must keep them in mind in order to make it inviting. You wouldn’t try to make a place for a mouse the same as you would for a cat. Mice like little crumbs, dark corners, and quiet. Cats like cozy sunbeams, high perches. Cats like mice. We must take into consideration the nature of those we wish to see thrive and go about creating a place that is best for them. The cows like tall pastures of polyculture forage, not dry dirt fields covered in dung. Chickens like to scratch and peck, chase each other a little bit. You learn to fall back in love with observation. The situation you create will invite the most suitable visitors, not necessarily the visitors you want. So, you must become adept at observing what your most desired visitors want, dream of, cherish, are fearful of.

    Be comfortable with silence. Silence in all its forms can create tension. Unanswered questions, untaken paths, an averted gaze. But constant noise and effort do not make the place, they simply make it uninhabitable. When you first make a niche, it may go unanswered for some time. You must keep the practice of cultivating this niche until your visitors find it. Practice silence and people will begin to tell you about themselves. The bees will come to the garden when the wind stops blowing. The water clears, the haze lifts, the situation becomes clear. Practice silence enough and you may even hear yourself again. Here’s a lesson from the worms: do your work in quiet obscurity and you will reform the earth.

    Accept it, Expect more from it. It is okay that things are the way they are right now. It is also okay that you want to make them better. Both of these things can be negotiated in time and patience. If you do not accept how things are right now, you will never be able to function in your work. If a sculptor did not accept the hardness of the stone for what it was, they would never be able to work with it. Part of accepting something is accepting that it may be disappointing, or not all that it could be. It is a beautiful thing that someone can take a neglected or disordered thing and make it into a productive or useful thing. That is why we can accept something and also expect more from it.

    Optimize the Unremarkable. We are drawn to herculean efforts, dramatic transformations, and fast turnaround times. When we do not get big returns, we are inclined to feel disappointed. This can also be called the lesson of compound interest. Small, incremental changes over time compound to create great change while short bursts of effort can leave us empty and fatigued. Kaizen, or continuous improvement, is a business term stemming from Japanese industries following World War Two, and it can be dissected as an entire philosophy unto itself. More on that later. But the point is to abandon the monumental task and focus on optimizing the unremarkable tasks. Of work, of life. How much better off would we be if we optimized our daily routine to get the best sleep we could? And the gardener who optimizes their soil health will find themselves far better off than those who optimize for straight rows.

    Conclusion

    There are many examples of places we can make for each other. The morning routine, the lunch date, the afternoon walk. The kitchen, the living room, the garden. The restaurant, the gym, the office. Each place should be regarded as something to be honored and treasured, as part of our goodwork and part of our daily lives. We can make it clean, make it easy to work in, make it pleasurable to share with each other. When you are finished exercising at the gym, you clean off the equipment and on some level you can say ‘thank you’ to that space for helping to make you stronger. When you are done with your dinner, you can thank your server and stack your plates neatly to be bussed. The clear delineations of ‘jobs’ don’t really matter here as much as the process of our goodwork, which belongs to the spaces we inhabit and not necessarily to specific people. Creating a place, cultivating a niche for yourself or for others, is about deciding what kind of world you want to live in. Would you like to live in a cleaner world, in a nicer world, in a more abundant world, in a more efficient world, in a pleasurable world? Good, me too. And we can do that by being clean, being nice, cultivating abundance, and bringing pleasure to people’s lives. In any manner of way, we can choose to do this each day.

  • Leonardo Da Vinci

    Leonardo Da Vinci

    Spotlight on Goodwork

    I have recently had the pleasure of exploring the life, work, and creative mind of Leonardo Da Vinci, mainly through Walter Isaacson’s biography which I highly recommend and also through Leonardo’s collected writings from his notebooks. Originally, I had wanted to know more about Leonardo because of a vague attraction to the idea of a natural genius, the Renaissance man, as well as the mystery that surrounded him as a figure. Before reading into him, I only knew of a handful of his most famous artworks and very little of his actual life. I will not attempt to reproduce his biography here, though I recommend to anyone who is interested to research him more at your convenience. What I will attempt to put down here is a list of lessons I had gleaned from the man and his life while reading about his endeavors, his beliefs, and his character. I feel these lessons relevant to goodwork and to daily life in general.

    Lesson One – genius is comprised of boundless curiosity.

    Leonardo da Vinci’s Recto The skeleton.

    More:

    Original public domain image from Wikimedia Commons

    Leonardo was born as an illegitimate son to a prominent notary. Because his father did not recognize him as legitimate, he was not expected to follow him in his trade as a notary. This was quite fortunate, as it gave Leonardo the freedom to indulge in many other interests and paths throughout his life. Perhaps beginning in this way, without a prescribed path, forced him to consider every path as possible. As a young man he explored all of these possibilities with an insatiable curiosity, always attracted to questions of natural science and never satisfied with routine information.

    A famously quoted entry in one of his to-do lists was, “Describe the tongue of a woodpecker.” This gives us some insight into the level of detail with which he viewed the mundane, the things which are often taken for granted. Leonardo obsessively studied the nature of water to the point of hyperfixation. His notebook is filled with elaborate drawings of water in various states of motion and he attempted to learn more about the mechanics of water over the course of his life, pursuing many inquiries into the budding science of hydraulics. Einstein, similarly, said that his genius was due mostly to the fact that he “stayed with problems longer.” Not content with initial conclusions or the dismissive attitude of convention, the very curious explore details as far as they will lead them – in Einstein’s case it led him into the subatomic realm. In Leonardo’s case, it led him into a deep exploration of the natural world. They often went further than others in an attempt to understand and as a result they could not easily be understood by others. But in each case, Einstein’s as well as Leonardo’s, it was a great deal owing to curiosity that their genius was so developed and so famous.

    Lesson Two – the desire to be useful.

    Leonardo wrote in his journal, “The power of my limbs will fail me before the power of being useful.” Such a simple sounding and humble desire, to continue to be of use as long as one can. I would hardly have expected this to come from a genius of the Renaissance, who I had assumed would be intellectual and concerned with theory, hypotheticals, and fantastical daydreaming. And of course, Leonard was well versed in those things. But he also had this drive to bring his creative ideas into reality in order to make things better, even by small degrees.

    An entertainer and aspiring engineer, he wanted to bring his intense curiosity and exploration of the natural world back into the world of enjoyment, usefulness, entertainment, and fundamental humanity. This desire is actually one of the main tenets of goodwork as a philosophy, to be of use whenever one can. There is also much to say about what this does with one’s relationship with work and with their community. Often, we can lose ourselves in self-referential and abstract work which we do not see completed to its end. In my experience in manufacturing, I have only ever been part of the assembly and construction of certain products, and only in my limited involvement. Feeling immense joy for the completion of a meaningful project and seeing its benefits conveyed to its recipient, the community, or the world is an unfamiliar territory for a lot of modern jobs. That being said, I do believe there are many opportunities to cultivate a sensation of accomplishment and satisfaction and pursue it as part of the purpose of our lives. Not merely to fulfill our own wishes and ambitions but to aspire to be as useful as we can be to others. And not to be contented with one narrow skill or activity which may be of value, but to explore many facets of ourselves that could have valued and useful applications.

    Lesson Three – the multitudes of humanity; jack of all trades, master of none… or one… or two… or…

    Leonardo Da Vinci was a polymath, a person of varied and comprehensive learning and skill. As a young man, he was apprenticed to a local Florentine artisan named Verrocchio. Verrocchio was himself a painter, sculptor, and goldsmith, which was not unusual for the time. Many workshops involved interdisciplinary work undertaken by trained artisans who found it natural to combine semi-related pursuits under one roof. As such, Leonardo was trained in the use of many different tools and skills, not only as a painter. This work would benefit him greatly later in life when he found it necessary to build some ingenious tools and machines.

    In the modern age, starting before the Industrial Revolution, people found it wonderfully beneficial to specialize in their profession and to pursue specialization to a greater and greater degree. This can accomplish great economic feats and makes for a highly effective and productive civilization. But the drawbacks, seen in extreme specialization, are a kind of a dehumanizing effect in which one becomes just another cog in a mechanized framework. For some focused and dedicated people, specialization is the name of the game and they may become decorated surgeons of one specific organ, deeply passionate intellectuals involved in one area of academics, or the many outliers who distinguish themselves in physical, spiritual, or economic development which others cannot fathom. And for still many others, the development of multiple interests, skills, passions, and accomplishments feels more human, dynamic, and nuanced.

    Having multiple interests can, in fact, help the development of each of them more than if someone were to develop a myopic view of their pursuit in a vacuum. Leonardo was one of the first people to investigate human anatomy. He recorded his investigations in many intricate and hauntingly beautiful drawings of the musculature, the skeleton, the brain and nervous system, the heart and circulatory system. His science informed his arts and his arts informed his science. Combining different pursuits may shake something loose which helps your development in an unexpected way. One might catch a glimpse at the underlying principles of existence, just by looking at the world from different viewpoints, first as a painter, then a sculptor, then a scientist, then an engineer. Maybe not those things in particular, but in any case, the multitudes of interests you find it necessary to follow in your life. Whether we explore many paths in our lives or dedicate ourselves to a singular ambition, we can do our best work when we are familiar with many different tools.

    Lesson Four – Commitment to life, commitment to mastery.

    The irascible genius who neglects the obligations of his daily life in order to achieve greatness is such a popular story in today’s world that it is practically a cliché. Stories of unfettered obsession and of surpassing one’s limitations excite the mind. In Leonardo’s case, his genius was certainly, at times, of the isolating type. But his story is not one of self-sacrifice for the sake of his work but a story of an extremely disciplined and curious man who did his best to muddle through life while entertaining his drive for mastery.

    Leonardo wrote in his notebook, “A life profitably employed affords a happy death.” He did not mean profitably employed as merely earning a lot of money throughout one’s life but rather being continuously engaged in work that is beneficial, ambitious, beautiful, and meaningful. At the same time as he was engaged in this work, Leonardo always struggled with his attention to detail and his desire to achieve perfection. This led him to leave many works incomplete, such as St. Jerome in the Desert or the Adoration of the Magi. His aim for perfection also led him to spend so long on commissions that payments were refused or fought over and entire artworks abandoned.

    Throughout his life, Leonardo seemed to struggle with a commitment to life and a commitment to mastery. At times, his commitment to perfection prevented him from fulfilling some of those aims that may have been extremely useful and meaningful. At other times, the need to be pragmatic and tactful may have denied him the pleasure of pursuing the perfection he envisioned, spurring him forward. I am sure many of us can relate to this paradox. The obligations and practicality of daily life have us dreaming of a far-off perfection. Our dreams of perfection prevent us from the meaningful work which we could cultivate right here in our daily life. It is a hard lesson that one must learn the hard way, again and again: to balance the commitment we make to life with the commitment we make to mastery.

    Lesson Five – The Magic Square; Collaboration and Individual Achievement.

    One of Leonardo’s ‘hobbies’ was to do mathematical exercises in his notebooks. There are some geometrical calculations that are ornate and useful, though there are some mathematicians that say that Leonardo did not necessarily provide anything new or valuable to the field of mathematics. It was simply another part of his endless curiosity and his exploration of the world in which he found himself.

    One particular mathematical exercise he played with over the years is called a ‘magic square’. These magic squares are grids of numbers that add up to the same value whether you are adding the columns, rows, or the main diagonals. (An example is provided in the image above). I do not think the symbolic and metaphorical quality of these exercises were lost on Leonardo, who enjoyed finding harmonies in a complex system comprised of individual parts.

    In fact, the artisan workshops of that age were very much like a magic square, in that collaboration between many individual artists created a harmony that far exceeded any particular individual’s talent. While the products of these workshops were collaborative efforts, it was also important that each individual express themselves exactly as they were, or else the ‘magic square’ would be ruined.

    There are many art pieces of magic squares in Europe that are engraved with the phrase “Whatever thou art, act well thy part.” Whatever you are, act well your part. Paired with this image of mathematical harmony, it is a powerful message about the individual being valued, developed, and attaining natural expression, all while collaborating with others in a harmonious way to create something larger than each of them.

    There are many extreme views that say that only collective realities exist, or only individuals exist, but they lose the nuance of humanity which Leonardo was well aware of and practiced every day; individual expression is just as much a part of humanity as is connection, communication, and harmony. Imagine if Leonardo’s talent was stifled in order to exalt the artists’ collective workshop. Imagine if Leonardo had never made these valuable connections, or never collaborated with other prominent artists of the time. In either case, we would have been denied the beautiful and transcendent works of a genius, of the archetypal Renaissance man.

    Conclusion

    After doing a deep dive into the facts of Leonardo’s life, I have come away with many valuable lessons. While this post is by no means intended as a biography of the man himself, I wanted to put down a handful of these lessons in good work (and goodwork!). For anyone who would like an actual biography of Leonardo, I would recommend reading Walter Isaacson’s ‘Leonardo Da Vinci’ as it is so thorough and thought-provoking as well as being an enjoyable read. If you are interested in hearing some of the man’s thoughts themselves, I would recommend checking out a book on his collected works, typically snippets taken from his many codices.

    As for me, I want to begin following my curiosity more, I want to dedicate myself to mastery and idealism, I want to embrace and cultivate ideas of the fantastical and purely creative imagination, I want to engage in meaningful and useful work each day, and find a workshop of likeminded artisans to share my passion with. For Leonardo!

  • The Problem with the Present

    The Problem with the Present

    It is that time of the year in the garden. The plant starts have all been transplanted, the seeds sprouted and everything looks… terrible. The garden is currently suffering in its early days. After transplanting, our tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash were all distressed and doing their best to recover. They are wilted most days in the sun, turning yellow as they reach their roots out for more nutrients, and the bugs just love to gorge themselves on the weak little leaves! Some animal came by and helped themselves to the tops of some of our tomato plants, so those are gone. As an added kicker, there is a bumper crop of weeds due to a lovely spring rainfall we have been having.

    The present is all there is. Yes, and that is sometimes the problem. How many different voices are out there, trying to remind us to live in the present or experience the moment?

    Buddha said “Don’t dwell on the past, don’t dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” Albert Einstein said, “A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.” Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Only the present moment is real.” I love all these thoughts. The people who have expressed them were much more intelligent than I am. But whenever I heard this advice, or different versions of it, I always felt some discomfort in it. As if there were something more that this was missing, a little thorn in my mind that demanded to add its two cents to the popular sayings of mindfulness. I guess it would be something like: “The present is all there is… and sometimes that sucks!”

    I really want to labor the point that I love the practices of mindfulness and that I think living in the present moment is a habit we could all cultivate to improve our mental health and clarity. It is important to remind yourself that the past is past, that the future is not here and not within our control. Those are useful thoughts.

    Consider this hypothetical – your friend comes to you in despair and says they are going through one of the hardest times of their life. Everything they do seems to go nowhere, everywhere they turn feels like a dead end. Their daily life feels futile and unfulfilling and they have begun to feel quite lonely as a result. They turn to you for a word of wisdom. You say, “Don’t worry, this is it. This is all there is. Live in the moment!”

    In this particular moment, this thought is not useful. For someone going through the difficulties and pains of existence, it is precisely that the present moment is all there is that their suffering feels protracted and insurmountable.

    I am being somewhat dramatic to make a point. And I am definitely not comparing the difficulties of life with a few wilted tomato starts. These observations point in the same direction. The present is one piece of what we experience, whether we like it or not.

    Reality can be devastatingly unsatisfying at times. The urge for alternative pathways in life, the myths we tell ourselves about do-overs, the thought that it could all be different if we just change this or that element – these things are not going anywhere anytime soon. They are part and parcel to the regular woes of living, and we should probably learn to navigate them if we are to attain a peace that we can actually enjoy in the present. If an individual feels the present to be unsatisfying and painful, do we console them by saying that’s just how it is or do we tell them “The good news”: the fact that we can work toward a future that is more promising, more satisfying!

    Sure, there are pitfalls and mistakes to be made along the way. You may end up living entirely in the future and feel anxiety in that regard. You may accidentally cultivate an unpleasant attachment to the past. If you are not careful, you may arrive at your destination only to realize that your desires are self-perpetuating and will leave you unfulfilled no matter how much you achieve. These are all things we must consider as we make plans and work toward our ideals.

    Properly handling Past and Future is difficult work. It is dangerous. It is the sign of a mature person when they can walk through their memories without setting up camp. Or in building a plan for the future that can change how they act today in their habits and relationships. It takes courage, discipline, and not a small dose of humility.

    Driving comes with a lot of dangers and risks as well but we take the time to teach people how to do their best to get where they are going while paying attention to all the hazards of the road. It still doesn’t help some people – they’re insane and they’re all on i25.

    The past.

    When living in the present moment, it is quite common to stumble across a random memory you did not know was still floating around. At times, they are quite painful. Other times, they are more enjoyable than our present moment and we feel a sickness called nostalgia.

    Often, I will be working away when I am flooded by a sensation of memories that dislodge my very Being. I am inundated with details, old feelings, names and faces, all the old situations I thought I was done with. And I ask myself, “What do I do with all this information? What do I do with all these memories?” Memories aren’t grass stains, they don’t just wash out. Push them down, keep them locked up, they keep on appearing.

    I was in my garden the other day when one possible solution came to mind. Memory as a salve, memory as a tool.

    As we know, my garden is particularly disorganized and sickly looking right now. Looking out at this devastating sight, I remembered what the garden always looks like during this time of year. Hopeless, wilted, defeated. And then something happens in late June, early July. You kept watering, you kept weeding and all of a sudden everything bursts forward.

    In the present moment, when things look horrible and you think defeat is the only outcome, it may help you to search your past for other moments when things seemed bleakest.

    We also want to steer clear of romanticizing the past. Don’t look back and say, “it was better then.” Look back and ask, “what did that moment have that I can recreate now for the benefit of all?”

    Sometimes, memory may just be about cultivating simple pleasures. When I was 17, I loved the lilacs blossoming in spring. I always felt the urge to cut them and put them in a vase inside. I wanted to possess them and keep them. But I thought to myself how much deeper my experience of them would be if I simply committed them to memory. “I’m taking them with me right now,” I thought. The cut flowers would have faded inside a week but those lilacs will bloom forever in the light of my memory.

    The present.

    It can sometimes feel that people are overly mystical about the present. But there are, in my mind, just as many shortcomings to be had living in the present as in the past or future.

    Our estimates of the present can be just as inaccurate as predictions of the future. You would think we would be able to size up the present situation fairly well, since we are rational creatures and we have the advantage of living in the present moment – we are in it, rather than judging it piece by piece from a different era.

    In reality, we have a hard time analyzing our situation without involving our preconceived notions and biases. We can just as easily come to an incorrect conclusion about the present as we can in trying to make a prediction of the future.

    You may train yourself to live in the present moment but you still fall victim to making incorrect estimates of the opinions of others. You focus on things you cannot control in the moment, you focus on things that are none of your business in the moment, you use this information to make decisions in the moment that decide your habits and then your fate.

    With the present feeling somewhat unfulfilling occasionally, it is natural to look around to compare our situation to someone else’s. This would be a grave error. Not only does it lend itself to envy, it may cause much confusion and anxiety in regard to whether or not we are on the right path. When we compare our present to another’s, we might be comparing our day 1 to someone else’s 10 years of experience. We may become overwhelmed because we don’t “have it all” right now, when we could very well work towards getting what we want over the course of an entire life. You may be able to get everything you want, it just may not be all at once.

    The future.

    When we consider our memories and our perception of the present, what are we left with? The present is a little unsatisfying, memories are a little painful. Life is a bit unsatisfying and painful. So… now what? The mind turns toward the future.

    Looking to the future has gotten a bit of a bad reputation. It is commonly associated with anxiety, fear, and visions of apocalypse. But just like anything else, it can be useful when taken up by the right handle.

    There are going to be some things we know about the future. We know there are going to be hard times, though that probably isn’t very exciting to think about. Then again, knowing is somewhat comforting. There are going to be uncertainties and questions. There is going to be work.

    You will do everything you can, because that is all there is you can do. You will be you when you arrive but you may be something else afterwards.

    There are going to be different seasons of life, though you may not know what order they’re coming in. In nature, fall follows summer. In our lives, we do not know what follows.

    Marcus Aurelius said that we should not worry about the future because we will show up with the same weapons that currently arm us against the present. If you know you can endure pain now, then you know you can endure pain in the future with the same tools at your disposal.

    When you come across someone who has absolutely no plan for the future, it shows in the quality of their life. They don’t think about the consequences of their actions or the long-term effects of their present decisions. They say things like “we only live once” and “why not, there may not be a tomorrow!” but then tomorrow comes… and it keeps on coming along, one tomorrow after another. These people give themselves much more pain when they sacrifice the future for present gain or temporary pleasures.

    The world is full of people making decisions with little or no thought to future consequence. Agricultural practices that are focused on present production sacrifice a part of their future sustainability. They have cut themselves off from part of their potential because they were mystified by what they could do in the present moment, what they could get right now. Delayed gratification is a sign of maturity.

    “To plant a garden is to believe in the future.” Audrey Hepburn

    Some months ago, I was working with one of the worst coworkers I have ever experienced. He was rude, vulgar, had no sense of boundaries, did not have any work ethic, was constantly spewing his negative thoughts and opinions, and would never stop talking. The work was just as repetitive as he was. I was working nights during the winter and did not get a chance to see my fiancée very much, as we had opposite schedules. It was a difficult time.

    I remember on a particularly challenging night, I was close to losing my mind. I wanted to walk out of that place just to be rid of that discomfort. But I tried to breathe and I consoled myself by repeating the phrase, “You’re going to keep going. You’re going to get out of here.” It was at that moment I realized one could just as easily console themselves with the future as fret over it.

    If we never considered the future, we would never start anything worthwhile. We would look out at a dusty field and say, “I guess that’s it.” If we did not picture the harvest in our mind, we would not sow. Sure, it hurts to think about the things we do not have, sure it is painful and self-sacrificing to begin the long work we need to do in order to achieve our aims, but the mature person knows the future has more potential than the present as long as they keep showing up.

    Sustainable practices are about looking at what we do now and deciding how long we can keep it up for. Sacrificing the future for present gain is how we get exactly where we are now. Sacrificing a part of the present for the sake of the future is sustainable, is delayed gratification, is the tradition of great civilizations and communities.

    Conclusions

    Is this post still about gardening? The garden is a metaphor, it’s about life! I pull the carrots, and they teach me about economics. I plant tomatoes and I am learning the oldest lessons in psychology. It’s all there in the garden because it’s all connected. I am a metaphor farmer.

    So, what do we do with more than our fair share of past, present, and future? The key is to focus on what you can control. You can look into the future and make a practical savings plan because you can control how much you start to save now, today, this moment. You can plan projects, events, and achievements because these things involve you and the things you can do now, they involve your habits.

    You cannot control the past, but you can control what you tell yourself about it. Was it an embarrassing disaster or a learning experience? I would say we look at our memory as a bank of wealth that we have at our disposal. What has worked and what has not worked? For you and even for other people you know about, there is no limit to this wealth. We use this memory to help us accept the present. Not better than it is, not worse than it is. We must live here, so we must get used to it.

    Then, holding our memory in one hand and our present in the other, we can build a plan. Something we can work on, something we want to work on, as this is the kind of work that is day-in and day-out. The work of life does not stop. Jung said, “Adaptation does not happen once and for all.”

    Now your plans are dashed against fortune. It is harder than you thought. It takes longer than you thought. Yes, that is another thing we know for sure about the future, there will be many attempts. Then you take up the torch again and make another plan. Sow more seeds, plant more starts, keep watering.

    The present moment can sometimes be awful, that is true. It is for this reason that we must appreciate when it is not so awful. When it is pleasant going and we feel ourselves on our own paths and we have people in our lives that we want to share these things with, we must not make the mistake of not paying attention. After all, the present is all there is!