I’ve been tackling my mum’s garden for the past few weeks. She’s 75 and not as mobile as she was. The garden is too large and kind of got away from her before anyone noticed what was happening.
One year it’s OK and then the next year, we took a closer look and it had turned into a neglected jungle — infested with weeds, collapsed borders and significant overgrowth in the wrong places. Both lawns had become a tribute to moss and this recent miserable wet winter has not helped at all.
So I pitched in. Me against the garden. And it’s occurred to me as I’ve got sweaty and scratched that’s it’s the perfect metaphor for any neglected practice or area of life. It’s not what I want and I’m going to have to work hard to get it how I want – just as with any other area of life.
Here’s what’s dawned on me so far:
- I prefer big showy gestures to hard sustained work
Being a hero is easy — cut down a tree and dump the logs, blitz weeds, wield a strimmer with gusto. What I’ve noticed in this project is my liking for these dramatic gestures over the kind of relentless attention to detail which it takes to turn a neglected garden round.
Oops. Where else am I like this? What else could do with nitty-gritty work after I’ve done all the easy bits?
- You can do a lot in 2 mins
Credit to my mother-in-law for this tip – she kept her own big garden under control for years. The secret is to pull a weed out everyday. It’s easy to give into despair when there is so much to do. It’s also easy pulling out weeds while you’re thinking about this.
- Mood doesn’t matter, action does
The garden gets better when I do something regardless of how I feel about it. The physical act of chopping and mowing and digging can happen whatever mood I’m in. Sometime your moods are a big help – “I feel like it”, sometimes they will try to stop you acting – “I don’t feel like it”. Keep moving seems to be the antidote. And once I start moving my mood seems to ‘catch up’ with my body and get with the programme.
- No garden can resist me
I saw Will Smith interviewed and talking about determination. “The only thing different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill … either you’re getting off first or I’m going to die” — watch for yourself here:
Weeds are a pesky nuisance and when you pull them up, other weeds see it as an invitation to join the party. In the end though they cannot win.
Easy to say, hard to remember when you’re in the trenches.
- Stop and clean your tools at the end
Stopping to clean your tools when you finish is important. It’s a good closing ritual to a piece of work. It lets your mind know it’s time to do something else. And when you come to the work again, you are ready. There are all the tools, lined up, clean and ready to go.
- Self sabotage is a literal weed
I’ve heard “Don’t bother, they’ll just come back”. And with that attitude they surely will. This one won’t though, nor will this one or this one or this one. And over time they will get weaker and weaker and weaker until they give up. Or I will.
- Gardens are an easy metaphor
So is golf or war or anything with built-in visual markers. That’s why they make good metaphors but, really, how much does what occurs to me while I’m digging apply to ‘knowledge work’ or projects which mostly take place in my head?
I’m not sure. Although it’s reminded me to make projects as visible as possible — so I can see progress and what needs doing. If you can see it, you can do it.
I suppose the final thing is obvious but worth repeating. To achieve any kind of big result you have to keep going. Hmm.
Back with an update in the very near future.
