Recommitment

    As Steve returns to the classroom, he's written a personal contract for himself.  With a few minor edits, it serves as a good reminder for many of us.  You should take a look. 
    I particularly like the balance of rigor for all and time for his family.  That's a tough balance to strike -- I wish him, and myself, luck in that.

   

Comments

[John Pederson]

I keep this piece from Hugh MacLeod in front of me as I try to "balance". :O)

http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/001635.html

We are hungry. Meaning is the prey.

That doesn’t mean we suddenly quit our accountant jobs and go back to film school, or give up selling real estate and start cranking out our first novel.

Some of us might, but not all. That would be far too predictable.

It means we’re starting to recognize that our work is just as much part of real lives as our evenings and weekends, that our jobs are not mere economic units that pay for “our real lives” outside the office.

Our jobs ARE our real lives, dammit, and we’re going to fight like hell to make sure that people recognize and respect this, not just our colleagues, but even sometimes ourselves.

We’re not quitting our jobs in droves to go open organic bakeries and internet startups because we’re too lazy to go get a real job in Corporate America. No, we’re leaving Corporate America because “real” is EXACTLY what we want our jobs to be.

Real to us.

And maybe we’ll stay within the corporate structure. Maybe we’ll just go find a better corporation. One that’s getting with the program. One that doesn’t take its own strength or its people for granted.

Or maybe we’ll just stay with the jobs we already have. Maybe the change that’s required just needs to happen silently, from within.

Maybe there’s more than one way to crack this nut. Maybe that’s what being creative is really all about.

We are turning off the TV. We are using the internet, reading books, attending museums, buying paint, taking night classes and purchasing art in unprecedented numbers. We suddenly feel alive and excited about life in a way that would have seemed crazy a generation ago.

We are learning to sing.

We are starting to write in record number. We have discovered blogs. 40,000 of us start new ones every day. Will it make money? Who cares? This isn’t about money; this is about getting our thoughts together.

Our thoughts are coming together because we are no longer asleep. We’re not even sleepy.

[John Pederson]

Clarification...I should have put quotes around that stuff...