Good Morning Friends!

I trust you're well and enjoying me land in your mind on Sundays again. I have a couple of things on my mind I'm going to share with you this morning that I'd love to hear your thoughts on. I was lucky enough to take a month off work to be with the wee one and family but it's prompted thought around dedication to life.

Most of us, once we're out of studying, are consumed by life being busy. The one area I want to talk about today is how all-consuming work can be. Whether you're early on and trying to earn your respect or whether you're deep in and it requires a lot of your head space, even when you're off. It's made me think about how we can, sometimes blindly, fall into doing things that don't matter.

Look, I think it's inevitable that there will always be times when we have to do things we don't want to. Nobody gets to bypass that, and if they do, they definitely don't share the gratification of resilience or fortitude that others gain. Yet, we don't want to sell our soul with nothing to show for it. This idea has of course been coined before but dedicating your life to a craft that you can only earn is an argument that needs fought for again.

Why? It's easy to postpone. There is no tangible success metric to prove it's worth. Those who are deemed successful are those who become well-known or famous but is that not a by-product (positive and negative!) of the work? I think getting famous from doing something well is good acknowledgement for dedication but brings unwanted distraction and attention away from the thing that feeds your soul.

So balance is key. Your dedication is your focus. Nothing else matters. And it's not everything in your life but it's enough to fill you up. Obsession is for a small percentage of people and that's okay. I'm not obsessed and never will be. I just want to add up all the bricks of my life and build a foundation that will make me happy whilst I'm here. And one of those bricks is earning a craft.

One life lesson I always find helpful whenever I ask why I'm doing it is the idea of infinite vs finite. Would I be happy with myself if I did this forever? I'll never always be correct but knowing I went down that path gives me the reassurance that I'm heading in the right direction.

Have a think about the bricks or components in your life. Where are the gaps? What is something you've earned and is actually amazing in your life that others would bite your hand off for? Where are the opportunities for you that fit your values and personality?

As always, a pleasure writing to you and have a wonderful rest of your Sunday.

Best,

Lawrence