Lessons from 25 ft up

There I was,

• standing on a chair

• on top of scaffolding 18 ft in the air, no handrail

• both hands over my head, trying to wrangle a 60 lb light from the ceiling

And trying not to look down.

So what was going on here?

Well, it’s long story.

But I guess we have time…

My in-laws run a music show. And they are changing the venue where they host the show.

The new location needs a lot of TLC.

In this instance my electrical engineering background was needed to help get all 16 of the old, industrial halogen lights from the ceiling and replace them with LEDs, which are way more efficient.

And the only method my father-in-law had of getting to the high-bay ceilings was this old set of scaffolding.

So, that brings us to the current moment where my 6.5’ self is up another 18’ on a 3’ wide scaffolding plank trying to balance, use my core without overcompensating and falling to my death.

Good times.

The only saving grace was that my father-in-law and his brother were also working up there with me (more like I was working up there with them).

Now, both of these guys are close to 60.

And they are still climbing around on scaffolding doing what they need to do to get the job done.

Pretty impressive.

The vast majority of people I know that age, are overweight and allergic to a hard days work.

Not these guys.

No, they were ready to do the hard stuff; climbing up 10s of feet, working on lights in a ceiling, and not complaining.

Carrying the boats.

It was super inspiring.

Because life is tough. It’s not any easier when you get older.

And you’ll rust out before you wear out.

So, why not keep moving?

I’ve found that the more I move, the more energy I have.

Now, you may be asking: “How does this apply to online writing and business?”

It applies because, energy is energy.

You don’t know what life is going to throw at you.

It pays to optimize for energy, always.

With business, online or offline, you need to pick the clients, skills, and tasks that don’t drain your energy, but add to it.

Because, running a business is inherently hard.

You’ll need all the reserves you can get.

It’s much easier to stay in the game if you enjoy it.

Similar to my father-in-law and his brother.

They enjoyed the work and didn’t complain mostly because the bigger goal we were working towards (new, better music venue) was exciting and worth working on.

And that gave them the energy to get the task done.

But it only worked because of the big goal.

Find yours.

And keep going.

There’s something exciting coming.

Swanagan