Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
Selfish with the Weekends? Am I Selfish?
I have more work to do at work than I have hours in the week. And not your typical, lazy 8 1/2 hours days. I’m talking 10-hour days. And I still can’t get everything done. On Monday, and all week, I’m going to journal every minute at work and see where I’m going wrong and where my distractions are, and I’ll try and figure out where my time is going and what I can automate, delegate, or skip entirely.
But back to the point of this Blog entry. When I get to my weekends, if you ask me on Friday at 5:40 when I’m leaving work, I’ll tell you, I’m going to get up early on Saturday and Sunday …early. Like, 6:00 a.m., and I’m going to dominate the 3-hours of peace and quiet until my family wakes up and starts their day. That’s like a 6-hour day.
Guess what? I don’t. I sleep until 7:00. I get up and take the dog on a half-hour walk. I come home and make a fabulous cuppa joe. I make a healthy breakfast. I hop on my iPad and read things and look at things. Before I know it, it’s 9:00 a.m. and I start contemplating going to the library for a few uninterrupted hours and really crank out some work (write some scripts, update some pending, put together some proposals).
Guess what? I don’t.
Instead, selfishly, I spend some time with my kids, make them breakfast, sometimes watch English Premier League, and tackle some chores. Sometimes, like yesterday, I head to the hardware store, my son and I both get haircuts, and we walk around the pet store researching dog harnesses because I don’t like the two we have. Then I make lunches. Then I clean up my firepit a bit because we plan to have s’mores later on.
Whoa. It’s mid-afternoon. I’m relaxed. I’m enjoying living. And I start to feel guilty and lazy and like I’ll never “get ahead” because I just don’t have what it takes. I’m a big fan and devotee of Gary Vaynerchuck and his thing is “hustle” and he’s one step shy of being the “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” type mentality and it makes me think – maybe I’m not that type of guy.
Is that OK? Is that selfish of me to want to enjoy my time and my family and my house? Is it selfish to rake my own leaves and mow my own lawn and wash my own car to (a) save some money and (b) because it all needs to get done and what’s the point of paying someone else to do it?
Gary Vaynerchuk definitely doesn’t clean his own house, wash his car, or mow his lawn.
What’s the point of all of this (for anyone who read this far)? The election. That happened and everyone was angry and yelling and people are still protesting. You’d think the way we voted for a billionaire who said he’s rebuild our economy, cut taxes, and make us safe …well, you’d think every single person in American could be a millionaire if only it weren’t for the oppressive Clinton and Obama polices. Everyone!
But guess what? We’re alllllll lazy and selfish. The vast majority of us aren’t the types who will work 12 hours on the weekend and 60 hours Monday through Friday, and delegate and farm out all our chores and tasks because most of us …and when I say “most”, I’ll bet I’m talking about 90% of everyone in the U.S. . . . most of us just wanna work a little and enjoy alotta of our life. We want to coach our kid’s soccer teams. We want to have people over for BBQs and cocktails. We want to take a walk. We want to see some sports and go to the movies, do a little shopping, take a nap, and read a book. We want to have a hobby. We want to throw a ball around with our son.
I want to clean out my gutters.
So, back to my question. Am I selfish? Or am I normal?
Don Kowalewski 