To some my life seems like a non-stop vacation. I’m a ski bum, a slacker, someone who rarely works. I’m always off on some adventure, snowboarding in the winter months, hiking and kayaking in the summer months. And from one point of view this is true. Over the last 12 months I have spent a great deal of my time snowboarding, hiking and kayaking. But I’ve also been focused on writing code and building apps.
Writing code and building software is a passion of mine. It’s the one thing I’m most passionate about. I’ve been writing code for more than 30 years, and I cannot image doing anything else with my life.
Over the last year I’ve been enjoying my passion more than ever. I’ve written more code in the last year than I did in the previous 3 years combined. I realized just this morning I have worked on and contributed to 22 different apps in the last 12 months, of which 15 are available in the App Store today. That’s a lot of time behind the keyboard.
Business is booming and life is good. So what changed? How is it I can live the ski bum, slacker life and still get a ton of work done? How is it I’m able to work on more apps today compared to a few years ago and still have time for adventure and family? The answer for me was to cut out those things from my life that I enjoy but do not love. (I already cut out those things I hate years ago.)
I stopped writing. I stopped organizing meet ups events. I stopped speaking at conferences. And while I haven’t completely stopped attending conferences and meet up events, I’ve cut way back. In the last 12 months I’ve attended one CocoaHeads event, one conference, and I socialized in San Francisco for only a 3 days during WWDC. This is a big change from just a few years ago when I was writing more words than code, attending and often times speaking at a conference every other month on average, and attending and organizing multiple social gatherings and meet ups each month.
I’ve also made changes to my daily routines. I don’t spend as much time reading news and following the latest happenings on social sites like App.net, Facebook and Twitter. I still make posts to these sites, but I limit the amount of time I spend reading what others have to say. And I’m not as active as I once was in chat rooms and irc. Cutting back on these distractions gives me more time each day to focus on things I love doing.
Some friends and family members have pointed out that I seem happier since moving to Stowe, and they are right. I am happier these days, but it’s not just because I moved to Stowe. It’s because I’m doing more of what I love, and I accomplished this by doing less of what I only enjoy.
By not doing the things I enjoy, I’ve been able to spend more time doing the things I love.
Posted in business. Tagged in indie life, life.
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