Weeds And Habits

I spent a few hours this morning before the 95 degree weather rolled in full force pulling weeds in my yard. Don't let anyone tell you it's a peace of cake, because currently my back is sore and I'm covered in dirt. For the sake of my lazy agenda, I have spent the better half of the 4 months in my new house pulling weeds "to the best of my ability"... or truthfully, moving them down and occasionally ripping some leafs off. They kept coming back, so I kept repeating my actions. Rip leaves, mow, repeat.

The last month I have grown increasingly annoyed by the weeds. They are cramping my style and vision for a nice yard, and despite my efforts (which is actual work), I had little to show for it. Weeds grow faster than grass I learned.

Two weeks ago I grabbed a tool at my local hardware shop, I was told it makes it easy to grab the roots and get rid of these suckers one by one. So that's what I did this morning; I got on my hands and knees on my grass, and one by one used this tool to dig down, lift, and pull up each weed to ensure they stay away for good. The problem is... after two hours, I got through half of my front lawn. Half. HALF. And my backyard is twice the size. Along the way, I opted to pull up some tulip plants, as they didn't flower this year and they began to take over the front entry way of our house with tall, boring green leaves.

As I dug them, I noticed the root system was complex. This wasn't a simple grab and pull... the roots were large, they shot out in different directions, and they were very difficult to remove. What I thought was going to be a 10 minute job turned into 30, and I my knees can tell you the rest.

As I was finished the audio book "Atomic Habits" to make this mundane work more productive than a clean yard, I realize the significance of what I was doing and how it could lend itself as a life lesson.

It is incredibly easy to let simple, sometimes even good things run wild in our lives. What began as a day of rest becomes a sabbatical from the gym and our health suffers. What started as a half day at work because you needed a break turns into a crushed pipeline and poor performance due to an increase in lack of activity. And often in these moments, we wonder how we got there. How did this happen?

Much like my bulbs by my front door, 4 months ago they were a cute little plant. My lawn was neat and clean cut. But I didn't lend my yard the care and attention it needed, and suddenly I am walking in my front door annoyed, and looking at my yard frustrated.

I see my neighbor to the left outside almost daily, in the cool of the morning, with a small tool in hand pulling weeds in her yard. I have marveled at her grass. I even told her landscaper "if you make her yard look that good.. I want to hire you". He came over to our yard, looked around and said "you know why her yard looks so good? Because she takes care of it every day, pulls weeds, etc. We just mow and edge".

I was astounded. The power of one habit done regularly, a simply discipline vs. the lack on yield drastically different results.

It has me slowing down to not just examine my yard and habits I need to form to get my desired results, but also examine my life and the habits I need to get better at building to yield better results.. because left unattended, things like my career, my marriage, fatherhood and more can become overgrown with weeds and complex root systems.

My first habit I sought out was to read more. Few people know me well enough to know I can't finish a book to save my life. I lack the attention span to sit down and focus for 20-30 minutes at a time. And at night I just fall asleep. So when my daughter was born in May, I decided to try audio books while I was doing other things that required little focus (feeding my baby, rocking her to sleep, mowing the lawn, trimming a tree). I finished Rich Dad Poor Dad in less than a week... and in an effort to get better at building the habit, I subscribed to a trial of Audible for 4 months and book number 1 was what I was looking to get better at.. Atomic Habits. And while listening to Atomic Habits, I viewed my tasks differently. I started to look at results I wanted (a well manicured yard I was proud of) and working to build the habits that would get me my desired result.

I guess the point is... as James Clear states in his book.. (paraphrase) it is not the first coin that makes someone rich, but the compounding impact of coin after coin being accumulated. So in a way, one can argue the first coin made them rich depending on how you look at it. But it is the true discipline of collecting coin after coin after coin that makes on rich. The power of a habit.

If you focus on what you want to change, you can build a habit system to the desired change you want. Rather than asking "what habit do I want to build", look for where the weeds are running rampant, look at the things you wish to be different and then work backwards towards your first step. Maybe your day is "full of weeds" with work, with your spouse, with your employee's, etc.

I, for starters, will be pulling weeds on a regular basis. Because if I don't... I'll always be mowing them down frustrated it's not as nice as my neighbors.