When You Need something Done, Ask A Busy Person

I just came in from retrieving my mail, at 10:30 am, and my neighbor Ann drove by. "Don't you ever work?" she asked. I replied that I had concluded that work, as a daily activity, was extremely overrated.

I've worked since I was 15, either at getting 2 degrees, or for money. I'm my father's son, who came back from WW II, and worked 3 jobs to support his family. Later, in his late 40s, as his sales job had become more automatic (he earned commissions from his clients without having to see them) he began to take it easier, and then he retired at 60.

Over the past 14 years, no one outworked me as I built my practice. Now, though, I've convinced my partner that the smarter thing to do is to refer out the majority of cases. Getting a 25% co counsel fee on a case where we do no work is often preferable to 100% of the fee ina case where you lose sleep from worry, venture costs, and, most of all, WORK!

It's funny --some of the busiest people I know don't really work. I have one friend who's been on disability payments for 15 years, and volunteers at a bunch of stuff, and never has time to meet for breakfast. This fellow is a world class putterer, and can turn a trip to go buy batteries into an event akin to a Himalayan expedition.

My mother has never worked outside the home, and is near 88, and is rarely in her condo. My sister, the mother of 2 kids nearing middle age, typically hurries me off the phone because she has "too much to do."

As for me, I'll put in the time at work only for a select few cases. I no longer have my ego tied up in "appearing busy" as a professional when I'm not.

Today --I have a dental cleaning scheduled at 1145, and then I'll probably have lunch, with my newly polished teeth. After that? Well, the biggest Barnes and Noble in Florida just happens to be located 2 miles west of my dentist.

I'm inspired by John Lennon's line about "just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round..." He jumped off the "merry go round," as he called it, and seemed to savor his life more, before that very bad night next to Central Park...

So the answer, Ann, is "Yes I still work, but as little as possible!"