On January 14, a Sunday, we got back home from a little trip. It was 39 degrees and the wind was blowing hard.
“I’m going outside to cut some trees up,” I told my wife. “Really? It’s cold out and so windy.” “I know” I said.
I get my chainsaw, gas can, bar oil, scrench, helmet and gloves and go. I spy the sickly trees I want to cut down and cut up. Some dead. Some were being choked out by giant vines that had their way. I can see these trees from my house and barn.
Soon chips are flying into that wind. Sweating, I took my Carhart coat off. The vine choked trees I cut are not cooperative. The vines connect to neighboring trees and hold it up. They don’t fall, and when you do get them to fall, they certainly don’t fall the way you want.
Once dropped, there’s a tangle of vines like giant tumbleweeds to cut. It’s very hard work. The overcast sky gets darker as nightfall approaches. I’m winning. I love it.
How could I love THIS?
A have a purpose. A couple actually.
I am 59. I plan on living to be 100. I know that hard physical exercise is good for me. During the week in the winter I hit the gym 2 -3 times. On the weekends I am outside getting it.
I want to live. I want to feel good. I want to be useful. I know am choosing the pain of discipline, so I don’t have the pain of regret.
I also love the way the woods look when I am done. It’s forestry management. But that is secondary to hanging onto life.
I get a huge secondary benefit too. A normal day seems easy.
Hard work sucks when you don’t have a purpose.
Your purpose could be to be the best at what you do. To do work that you are good at and makes you feel great about yourself. To serve others. To find out who you are and how good you can get. To get a result.
Whatever it is, find a purpose in hard work – the hard work that you find a purpose in. And once you find a purpose in that hard work, it’s not so hard anymore.
If you avoid it, you will be average.
Hey, I don’t know how I ended up here. I am 36, a woman, from Uruguay in Uruguay, and I am enjoying your blogs. Cheers!
Larry I read Think daily every day. I own an electrical business and sometimes it’s just so hard every day trying to stay focused just on certain tasks. But everything that you say has such a meaning. And boy this was a good one about hard work, In which seems a lot of people do not want to do any more
You’d be proud of me – I brought inside some firewood this morning and also split some kindling. It’s a great way to start the day before heading to work and I will have some nice dry wood for a fire this evening.
Amen, brother. Do hard things.
This is exactly how I live. Gratifying. BTW
We have a lot in common. I also did Baja with Chris Haines and your company did my basement 17 years ago. I’m 58 and still ride a Husqvarna FX 350. Live life never stop….
Exactly right. I’m going die in the squat rack at 115.
Hey Larry, I am sure you have seen this one but, if not, I thought you would appreciate it.
“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both.” James Michener
Outstanding thoughts. I appreciate your daily blog and the wisdom you impart. You have been blessed.
🙏