Eric Tapley

It occurred to me today that, sometime ago, I made a shift away from being primarily a producer to a consumer. I’m not sure when this happened, or even how, but I think that most of my time is now spent consuming services and products (or, at work, selecting those for others to produce) rather than directly producing them myself.

This really bothers me. It doesn’t feel like the right balance at all.

I feel better when I’m producing. There’s an aspect of creation which helps lift my spirits and self-esteem. It’s easy to be proud of something great you’ve crafted, but pretty hard (and probably delusional, irrational, and immature) to be proud of something you’ve consumed. Especially if it’s too many cookies!

Although I don’t tell her this enough, I’m immensely proud of my wife for being a producer. She takes time almost every day to write. Sometimes she can only find a few minutes while the baby is napping, sometimes it’s great stretches of productivity, but every day she has that same focus: I will try to write today. And this is on top of taking care of our family and holding down a job. Amazing.

So I’m giving it a shot. Every day I’m consciously going to consider what I’m producing and focus at least some time on doing so. My definition is fairly broad - writing, blogging, working with photos, designing sites, crafting insights and strategies for clients, etc. - but something that contributes.

Maybe this means I’ll blog more.