Leadership & Lawn Mowing: This article has the potential to extend your life.

"It's wonderful what we can do if we're always doing." ~ George Washington

What I'm about to share in this article is "common sense." However, doing it will require "uncommon sense." Having common sense doesn't mean you will do what is commonly understood. Common sense simply means anyone will understand it makes sense to do it. What's common sense is often not common practice. Here's a short (3m43s) video lesson on common sense vs uncommon sense. I recommend watching it before reading the article.

What does leadership have to do with lawn mowing? A lot if you're living life intentionally. It's not about the lawn mowing. It's about the "why" behind the lawn mowing that reflects your personal leadership.

The hardest person you will ever lead is yourself. Many who should be mowing their own lawns, pay others to mow their lawns. (I'll explain below.) I've always mowed my own lawn, with the exception of last year, although I've been able to afford to pay someone else to do it for many years.

I started mowing my own lawn (nearly an acre) weekly with a push mower again this year. Not a self-propelled model, but the kind that doesn't move unless I push it. It takes me nearly two hours, and I walk nearly 5 miles during the process. Sure, I could have bought a riding mower. I can afford it. However, my objective it is to do more than mow the lawn. So, how I do it is based on why I'm doing it.

5 Benefits of Choosing to Mow my Own Lawn with a Push Mower:

1. I improve my fitness. First of all, I'll turn 48 years old soon. My free ride in life, relative to health, has been over for many years now. I must earn my health and fitness now. Those at or near my age will know exactly what I mean. Some much younger already know what I mean. If I want to remain healthy and fit, I must do things intentionally to sustain and improve my health. Otherwise, I'll continually become less healthy and less fit as the days and years pass. I see many who are unhealthy and unfit but are still able to mow their lawn with a push mower making many choices that lead to their unhealthy lifestyle. A few common bad choices is to either pay someone else to do mow their lawn, use a riding mower, or use a self-propelled walk behind mower. Their only goal is to mow the lawn, not to use mowing the lawn as a way to improve their health. By intentionally choosing to mow my lawn weekly with a push mower, I get two hours per week of vigorous exercise that improves my health and fitness. I say vigorous because I push the mower pretty fast (on purpose). You can do that when you mow weekly because the grass isn't too tall.
2. It provides me uninterrupted thinking time. I'm not interrupted by phone calls, emails, notifications, etc. Making laps around the lawn doesn't require much thought, so I can focus my thoughts intentionally on other things. Yesterday while mowing, I thought about writing this blog along with many other things. I often develop great blog ideas, book ideas, and leadership development or personal growth quotes. It's a great time for reflection and planning. As Aristotle remarked, "Thinking requires leisure time." For me, mowing the lawn is leisure time. I enjoy it because of all the reasons listed here.
3. I save time. You may be thinking, "It takes you two hours to mow your lawn. How does that save you time?" I would be doing some type of fitness during the week anyway. Remember, my free ride is over. Mowing the lawn is not the only fitness I get. I do other things such as walking, hiking, and mountain biking too. In the past, I walked more. However, I combined walking with mowing the lawn. I was walking anyway for fitness, so why not push a mower while I'm walking for a better workout (upper body is also involved and lower body works harder). I also accomplish both tasks in the same amount of time at the same exact time. Plus, I can do it weekly and keep my lawn looking perfect! If I was driving to the gym or a trail a few times a week, I could actually get the lawn mowed instead of spending two hours of travel time sitting in my car going to workout some place else.
4. I save money. Last year while I was paying someone to mow my lawn every two weeks, I was still doing things to stay fit. Remember, my free ride is over. By combining my fitness activity with lawn mowing as mentioned above, I was able to also save money. Sure, I had to purchase a push mower, weed trimmer, hedge trimmer, and blower. All of those things cost less than a couple of months of paying someone else to do it for me. And, it's a one time investment that will last many years. (My last push mower lasted 12 years, and I sold it for over a $100 when we moved from Auburn, AL to the Atlanta, GA area.) Plus, I will still have everything next year and the next...I had to pay the lawn service every two weeks while the grass was growing. Every time I mow my lawn with a push mower, I'll get healthier, I'll save time, and I'll save money! Mowing my lawn with a push mower makes a lot of sense to me. To me, it's common sense, but it takes uncommon sense to do it. Many who will agree when reading this will still get on their riding more or pay someone to maintain their lawn because this decision isn't about having common sense. It's about having uncommon sense.
5. I feel better. When we accomplish a task, meet our goals, get the bonus, find what we are looking for, or check something off our to do list, our body produces the "feel good" chemical: dopamine. The first four benefits above lead to this benefit. I accomplish a lot during the lawn mowing process. I feel good with every lap as I watch the lawn look better with every step I take. I feel good knowing I'm burning calories. I feel good knowing I'm improving my health, especially the most important muscle in my body: my heart. I feel good because I know how much I value my time, and I'm saving time because I'm going to do something for fitness anyway, why not mow my own lawn..."two or more birds with one stone" so to speak. I feel good because I get two hours of intentional thinking about my personal vision and mission. Most people don't spend anytime on intentional thinking each week. The lack of intentional thought is reflected in their life too!

I hope you've enjoyed this short, unusual, thought provoking lesson on personal leadership and lawn mowing. Leadership principles apply in all areas of our lives. We be intentional about looking for ways to apply them. Then, act on what we know we should do. There's a huge gap between knowing and doing. It can only be crossed on a bridge called discipline. It must be crossed daily.

Wherever you are, there is always an opportunity to intentionally lead yourself at a higher level.

Note: Ria and I are privileged to be teaching and speaking on my book, MAXIMIZE Your Potential: Unleashing the LEADER Within, during our opening keynote at the annual ATD (Association for Talent Development) Suncoast Conference in Tampa, FL on 9/22/2017. We hope to see you there! Learn more and register here.

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Click here now for a FREE download of the entire leadership principle-packed Chapter 11, "Get Out of the Way and Lead" from the first book in my Demystifying Leadership Series: Defining Influence. In this nearly 20 page chapter, I share about:

·      Managing vs Leading

·      Scarcity vs Abundance

·      Formal Authority vs Moral Authority

·      The 5 Types of Leaders

·      Compare/Contrast 17 Manager vs Leader Perspectives

Click here to access the first 5 chapters of “Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines.”

·      Ch. 1: I’m one of you.

·      Ch.2: I believe in you.

·      Ch.3: You’re in the perfect place.

·      Ch. 4: Common sense is never enough.

·      Ch.5: There is an “I” in Team.

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Mack Story

My passion is to help you live with abundance, achieve success, choose significance, and leave a legacy. In other words, I want to help you make a  High Impact!