A Garden of Work

There are projects from my career that I’m very, very proud of (1). They’re on my resume. They’re part of my work experience. Summarized “correctly,” these projects are backed with data on what was improved, for whom, and in what timeframes.

But there is a greater “resume” that tends to go unwritten. It’s more like a collection of life’s work, tended to like a garden, made up of all of the projects we take up in our personal hours. These aren’t projects that make it to a resume. I should hope the best ones don’t. I think of this collection of projects as a personal “garden of work.”

The way you care for this garden varies by the individual but, broadly, as in life, the tending is seasonal, where some seasons call for more attention and care and others can get by with less. Some things you plant in advance have a way of blossoming in the seasons ahead. Others, despite your best care, might not blossom at all. Some areas may blossom handsomely without much effort whatsoever. Other areas might need total clearing and a fresh start.

We all have this garden of work, although some of us have had the good fortune of landing in fertile soil so perhaps their garden won’t take as much effort as, say, growing citrus in Siberia (2).

Why reflect on a garden of work at all?

Like any area of life, overly focusing on one thing can come at the detriment of something else. I find this especially true in times when I’m feeling stuck and as though I’m not progressing as planned. When I find myself in such a state, or ruminating on things beyond my control, I try to come back to think of the broader space – a garden of work – and how I want it to look and feel, and focus on tending to that.

Tend to a garden of work.

Footnotes

(1) Look, “of which I’m proud” just doesn’t flow here

(2) GMOs for the win, and some more