It's 9AM
Here’s what you should write, she said.
I nodded.
And listened.
We ran into them at a pub downtown.
They were walking back from a spot for their anniversary dinner and stopped in to steal a restroom visit.
We were finishing up a couple of after dinner drinks and having a pretty heavy discussion.
Sometimes life calls for heavy discussions, and serious topics are best considered over a couple of pints.
The anniversary couple were friends from the old baseball team, our first and they joined us at the table.
There was laughter and the obligatory “are you still doing” questions after a bunch of catch up about the kids.
I said I was still at Amazon.
Still?
A reminder that this was a short term solution just to carry us through a couple of graduations and vacations and times when a steady paycheck was needed.
The feast and famine cycle of an entrepreneur can be a little scary sometimes, especially for a pragmatic soul who wants more “normal” in life.
Our friends daughter is a reader and never arrived at the ballpark without a book in hand.
And a second one ready in the car, just in case she finished the first.
You’ve got to love a planner.
Her Mom was a reader too, and told me I should try and write Chick Lit.
Les chimed in with her oft voice opinion that she had been trying to get me to write “book club” type stories for years, ever since she read a script on a plane and couldn’t put it down.
I tried to joke it off.
Big Easy Pieces, Big Little Lies, Girl on a Train or in a Cabin or by a Lake or in a Window, or Cool Deep Water type titles that Reese Witherspoon can make for streaming or Oprah can pick up for her club.
Not my style because it’s not what I read.
And I changed the subject back to them with questions about their work and kids.
Maybe the kernel would stick this time.
Which means reading a lot of Colleen Hoover and adult suspense book.
The hardest part is finding a writer I like.
A dilemma I know you’re familiar with.
It takes a bunch of starts and stops and Chapter Ones.
I’m not a “keep reading, it gets better” kind of guy, though I have trudged through a few books only to find out later I was in love with them.
And there is the time factor I talk about a lot.
Who has time to binge a new series for learning, when my TBR pile is as tall as I am.
If ebooks were tall.
My physical books are in the closet, and can only be stacked to the bottom pole.
Plus…
I’ve been gathering some old classics, favorites I want to revisit, and there’s only so much daylight.
Still…
It was fun to run into folks we’ve known for almost a decade, especially on the tail end of a conversation about what the next decade might look like.
Talks about big changes and questions about missed potential get me thinking about why.
The why of changes is the most important part.
And it opens up a lot of new paths to consider.
Why stick with something you hate?
Why not do something you like?
Why do you think this way, act this way, do this thing?
All asked in a non-argumentative way, because they are to the man in the mirror and that fool deserves some empathy and kindness from his own worst critic.
Sometimes.
And when the man in the mirror answers back, I don’t know, then it’s time to run.
Run and consider.
Because…
Routine is good for getting stuff done. We’ve talked about the habit of time in the seat before.
But a routine can turn into a rut and it’s often difficult to recognize just when the shift occurred.
Especially when you are the kind of person who is trained to work and thrive in discomfort, because pain is temporary, suffering is optional.
Routines that turn into ruts and it’s easy to tell yourself that it’s just for a little while.
Until a little while turns into seasons, and seasons pass and you are left staring at the face of a person in the bathroom and wondering why it takes old friends to point out obvious “whys.”
Which begs a question.
Another “Why” one.
Why are we so quick to fool ourselves?
So quick to settle, so quick to accept?
Especially me, who preaches the power of routine leading to success, when you built the right habits into that routine.
What happens when you keep doing the “not quite right” routines?
I’ve got a lot of food for thought today and I’m starving.
Time to serve up a big bowl of why do you do that, and make sure I clean my plate.
The man in the mirror needs some questions answered.
I know why.
Do you have a “not bad” habit that isn’t working for you?
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