The problem of my adult life is a management problem. I have too many creative aspirations, and I lack time. Perhaps, I should learn patience.

Context

Here are all the things I want to do outside of work:

  • make all the furniture at my house
  • do the landscaping for my house
  • write my second novel that is less terrible than my first
  • actually launch the open source product
  • get a garden going that is productive (yielding brocolli, carrots, etc…)
  • build a woodshed
  • chop up two trees to season them (hence the need for a woodshed)
  • build a minecart rail from future woodshed to near house.
  • build all the outdoor furniture
  • build a forge
  • learn metal workinging
  • learn how cars work
  • buy a beat up truck and make it better
  • write essays on life
  • start running marathons
  • stop being weak

Essential Energies

The way I see it, I have three forms of energy:

  • Mental
  • Physical
  • People

My work tends to spend most of my mental energies, and some of the people energy. This means that the things I do outside of work tend to be physical.

Clustering the Creative Forms

I'll take the above list of things I want and identify the major themes and associate their respective energies:

  • making with wood → [10% mental, 90% physical]
  • making with metal → [10% mental, 90% physical]
  • making code → [99% mental, 1% physical]
  • making with land → [1% mental, 99% physical]
  • writing → [99% mental, 1% physical]
  • exercise → [10% mental, 90% physical]

If you noticed, none of the above themes have any energy dedicated towards people. The new question is how do I leverage people to help with the above efforts.

Leveraging Others

So, the open question is whether or not I'm willing to pay others to help with my creative aspirations. I think I am, and I will spell out the first level.

Making with Wood

It would be nice to have someone help with:

  • cleaning the shop after I'm done
  • help carry larger items
  • plane and sand pieces

I like the routing and assembling phase.

Making with Metal

No idea, I haven't even started. I imagine that it will follow a similar pattern with wood.

Making Code

This one is tricky since I'm very picky with my code. I think my best bet here is to get an apprentice. This will require more thinking.

Making with land

This is the most simple to solve since I can hire people to do the landscaping. The other question is whether or not I want to spend the money on it.

Exercise

I should hire a personal trainer to help learn how to make the most of my time.