Sucess and Loving What You Do

"If anything is worth doing, it's worth doing to excess." - Edwin Land, Inventor of the Polaroid Land Camera

Became aware today of the dividing line between success and failure last night.

As I was working out in what will become garden patch #3 last night, I found myself getting drawn into the smell of woodwork so much like that of a bee hive. I'm not sure what it was from - new wood on the neighbor's property or perhaps the stump which is slowly decomposing at the edge of this new plot. Tonight I ripped up up the soil with a pick, add steer manure, then worked it in with a shovel and raked it smooth. I'll water for two more night, then start planting this weekend.

After that I went to the garage and found my remaining garden wire to fence it in from Syrah the Mighty. Got out there, realized I didn't have enough, then started casting around for alternate methods in yard.

As I stood looking in the growing evening darkness and pre-summer heat, I suddenly realized how much I enjoyed doing this: working not just in the garden, but now expanded to the yard, making something beautiful out of chaos. It then struck me that I was thinking outside of the box to do this, looking for other options which would allow me to keep going when what I had at hand was not enough.

I compared this to the attitude I seem to have so often at work. It's not nearly as outward focused, driven to succeed, enjoying what I am doing and willing to work extra hard to make it happen. Too often, when things go less the right, my tendency is to almost gloat about them rather than look for ways to make things work, to glory in the fact that what I have been feeling and saying has come to pass.

It was at this point, in the wood smell and gathering darkness, that I realized why in order to succeed, one must love what they do to the point that work is play and play is work. It's that level of commitment that is necessary to gather that success.

I'm not saying that level of commitment guarantees success; a bad idea is still a bad idea not matter how long and hard it is worked. However, ideas are like gardens: only in soil that is cleared, worked, watered and weeded will they grow. That takes commitment, a lot of commitment. And the only place that commitment will come is if something is loved to the point that the work is willing to be done, the ideas constantly rolled around in one's mind, the actions taken to succeed when one is already tired from a day of doing the things one doesn't love.

So maybe all my thinking and pondering has been in the wrong direction. What do I love? Even if it's not something viable at this point, I need to start doing that too. If I can dedicate that level of commitment and action to it, maybe what I love and what I do will intersect on the road to the future.