Today I Will Do Only Those Things that Can Only Be Done by Me
Great idea, but sometimes money is made doing what others could do but won't.
I don’t know who first said, “Today I will do only those things that can only be done by me.” I don’t even remember which of my friends first told me. I don’t follow it. I do a lot of things others could do. However, the question worth asking is, “What can only be done by me?”
My highest priority has been a spiritual quest. Nobody can do that for me. I’ve enjoyed experiences in meditation. I’ve experienced mental telepathy. I’ve had revelations connecting free will, physics, and evolution. My experiences have made me happier, healthier, and sometimes able to help others. I enjoy being me.
My second highest priority is family. Nobody can be me as a husband, father, and now grandfather. I enjoy being me.
Health is another priority. I watch my diet. I walk. I exercise. I see a chiropractor and I am doing rehab exercises for my spine. Nobody can do that for me.
My substack posts come in next. Many people have enjoyed my perspective over the years. I enjoy thinking, talking, and writing on a variety of topics. I can’t help myself. I had a chiropractic coach tell me that I spent too much time talking to patients. He told me to limit myself to talking about chiropractic. A patient came in and asked me a question. I said, “I don’t know anything about that. I’m just a chiropractor.” She looked me in the eyes and said, “You know something about everything. I just want your opinion.” She knew me well. I enjoy being me.
Now we begin to get into things that I do that someone else could do. Most people make their money doing things that someone else could do. Today I changed the innards of two toilets in my house. I could have paid someone else to do it. The experience reminded me of how I was raised.
A black friend of mine recently posted on Facebook that we need immigrants to do the work Americans won’t do. He said, “I won’t pick the cotton out of a bottle of aspirin.” I thought that was pretty cute. It reminded me of what I CAN DO. It reminded me of what I HAVE DONE. Nothing is beneath me.
My parents bought an 80-acre farm when I was 14. I’ve cleaned a mixture of hay and manure out of the barnyard while wearing a long sleeve shirt to keep it off my skin during 100+ degree heat.
We raised beef cattle. I’ve helped deliver a calf. I bought a pregnant cow and calf. The cow got brucellosis and aborted the calf. Our herd was quarantined. Infected cattle had to be sold for meet. Then I bought two steers to fatten up. They both went blind. They grew a little but not much.
I’ve helped castrate pigs and roosters.
I’ve milked a cow.
Dad and I put barbed wire fence around five acres and planted alfalfa. I’ve bailed hay. I know what it’s like to breathe the dust and buck bales in the barn.
My brother and I (with help from parents and grandparents) spent a weekend planting 2000 strawberry plants hoping to make a profit. We picked berries but made very little money.
I helped Dad clean the septic tank on the farm. He got a 55-gallon drum and handed me the buckets to dump into the drum. We spread it in a field.
I learned to do mechanic work. I’ve replaced brakes and shocks on cars. I’ve rebuilt carburetors. I have set points and spark plugs.
That is just a sample. I’m not too good to do anything. I might be afraid to do something, but nothing is beneath me.
Imagine my surprise when I hired a woman to be my receptionist and told her I also wanted her to make coffee and clean the restrooms. She didn’t want to do that. She said, “You just want me to do the things you don’t want to do.” I said, “That’s right. That’s how it works. Yesterday I made the coffee and cleaned the restrooms. Now I’m hiring you to do it. You can’t see patients. You can’t create income. You do the things I was doing to free me up to see more patients.”
How can a woman be in her 20’s and not realize how business works? How did Americans get the idea that some jobs are beneath us? What is strange is that the people who are too good to work are often standing on the bottom rung of the economic ladder. My receptionist was willing to work for minimum wage but was too good to do what the doctor had been doing. How crazy is that?
Do today what can only be done by you. If that is not how you make money, do the things that others don’t want to do.
Feel free to comment.