Do you want to drive a fancy car or own a boat or RV?
What about paying off that mortgage?
Most of us get out of school to find a good job, earning decent money to pay for a house, car, kids and vacations. All while paying off massive student loan debt, only to get into middle age wondering what all these things serve.
I was mowing the lawn asking myself to what purpose does a lawn actually serve. A lawn is a statement. It feeds a need. I don't have cows, but it still feeds me. It makes me feel good. My ego loves it.
It wasn't long ago when lawns didn't exist. Looking at old pictures of my ancestors on the front step of the house, there was two foot long strands of grass, or as the farmers call it, hay.
Lawns are a newer phenomenon as houses got built closer and closer together. Lawns were developed as we moved away from farms and into cities as the industrial revolution clenched its knuckles around us.
Lawns were invented by Kings. The rich, with the desire of royalty, robbed the idea. The middle class, firmly entrapped in the American Dream, copied that feeling by replacing cattle, sheep and horses with machines.
It became an affordable luxury in the 20th century as subdivisions and the American Dream pushed our idealic thoughts toward wealth to the high diving board. The bigger the lawn, the greater the person and the bigger the statement.
I was mowing the lawn asking myself to what purpose does a lawn actually serve. A lawn is a statement. It feeds a need. I don't have cows, but it still feeds me. It makes me feel good. My ego loves it.
It wasn't long ago when lawns didn't exist. Looking at old pictures of my ancestors on the front step of the house, there was two foot long strands of grass, or as the farmers call it, hay.
Lawns are a newer phenomenon as houses got built closer and closer together. Lawns were developed as we moved away from farms and into cities as the industrial revolution clenched its knuckles around us.
Lawns were invented by Kings. The rich, with the desire of royalty, robbed the idea. The middle class, firmly entrapped in the American Dream, copied that feeling by replacing cattle, sheep and horses with machines.
It became an affordable luxury in the 20th century as subdivisions and the American Dream pushed our idealic thoughts toward wealth to the high diving board. The bigger the lawn, the greater the person and the bigger the statement.
I tell myself that I like mowing my lawn. It gives me time to listen to my latest audio book while turning and twisting in the hay. But it serves no real purpose. It's not productive. It doesn't make me money. It doesn't give me time with my kids.
It does the opposite of anything productive.
My lawn serves one sole purpose. It feeds my ego.
Yet, I continue to cut the grass around the property like a cud chewing cow. It seems like I have a choice to make.
-Keep doing what I'm doing
-Hire someone
-Stop mowing altogether and let the grass grow.
What would you do?
With a background in finance and marketing, Rick Nicholson owned two highly successful restaurants before selling them to start a consulting business. His current company The Restaurant Ninjas provides tools to the foodservice industry to become more profitable. His book, "The Art of Restaurant Theft" can be downloaded for free at www.therestaurantninjas.com
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