The Glass is Too Big - Home

A week ago Tuesday at noon, an over-worked, stressed out software developer (OK it was me) climbed into his car, and embarked on a solo journey wandering across a wide swath of America, to a new media conference and back the following Monday at 9:00am.

That journey covered 3200 miles through 15 of these United States over the course of those 7 days. I saw a wide variety of terrain, a fairly complete survey of changing regional cuisine, a sampling of how the economy is doing in 1/3 of the country, had interesting conversations, met people I'd previously only met online (great to see all of those people in person), drove along winding country roads, left outrageous tips at restaurants across the country, bought hot dogs for a shared meal with a homeless guy in St. Louis and ate fried creamed corn just outside the World's Largest Truckstop.

I listened to a lot of podcasts, a few audiobooks, lots of music and some contemplative silence. I spent time reading, reflecting, talking through ideas, and generally getting away from the stress that the last 6 months has piled on to me.

I returned refreshed (which will hopefully last more than a few days), with a renewed desire to take on the challenges in front of me.

One of the things I've learned about myself over the past few years is my natural tendency toward imbalance and how that can end up doing a lot of harm to the attributes of my skills portfolio and personality that people enjoy and sometimes pay for.

I'm good at what I do because I combine various disciplines and perspectives and apply them to situations in unique ways. That comes from being deeply interested in the world around me and curious about nearly every topic I can think of. However, when I let myself, I skew toward a single endeavor, like the big project I'm working on now.

In doing so, I actually injure my ability to do that project to the best of my ability. That became clear again as I was traveling. As I thought about working on other projects, podcasts, and just let my mind wander on whatever topic was in front of me, I found myself coming up with good ideas for the billable project along the way.

That goes right along with everything I've read in book after book about how the mind works for lateral thinking and strategic intuition. The conference itself challenged me to do something about it and carve out the necessary variety I need to be at my best.

So, I'm setting out on a deliberate process to make sure that I engage in several areas on a regular basis to keep that equilibrium. I'll keep charging ahead on my billable project and probably keep above 40 hours a week. But, I'll also be making sure I put in time working on my writing, working on my non-billable software projects, some art, music, reading books, doing something with the 3 hours of video I captured on the trip and getting back into podcasting.

On that last item, I've got 2 main ideas that I'm moving forward on, one more solid than the other. That "more solid" idea is a podcast that embraces the multi-disciplinary lifestyle, called the Polymath Podcast. I'm looking for a couple of co-hosts to get this thing off the ground, so if you're interested, let me know.

I know that for many of those endeavors I won't be getting very far in a given week.  However, a slow and steady investment is what I'm aiming for: one that's sustainable. I want to leverage the benefits I've seen come from that cross-cutting approach and feel challenged to kick it up a notch.

We'll see where things go from here. Regardless of the destination, the journey is its own reward.

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