When Linda and I took a sabbatical from our communications work several years ago and ventured into organic farming, I spent an inordinate amount of time doing the work of laying irrigation, preparing the soil, fencing pastures, and other necessary tasks to allow us to produce the various crops and products we ate and sold.<\/p>\n

But over time, we found that the most important work that we did was not the growing of food, but the growing of the relationships with our customers. The points of contact where we were engaged with the people most affected by our efforts \u2013 whether it was delivering produce or attending a farmers\u2019 market meeting \u2013 did more to deepen the relationships and fuel our hearts than anything else we did.<\/p>\n

We came to understand that it\u2019s not just about work, but \u201cThe Work.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I was sitting in a recent peer advisory meeting where we were discussing the metrics that were most critical for each of our businesses to succeed, I had a profound revelation. I had been setting the number of client and potential-client meetings that I was having as the most important metric to count. After all, no business can have sales without customers.<\/p>\n

The revelation was that I was not establishing any metrics for nourishing my creative heart. I was counting meetings as having the most value in my life, but not anything connected to producing my art. It was truly an \u2018A-ha!\u2019 moment.<\/p>\n

As soon as I started writing down the\u00a0 \u201cThe Work\u201d my heart wanted to achieve, the other work I needed to get accomplished seemed to be so much more approachable and less burdensome to consider. Just as I\u2019m far more inclined to enjoy any work I do when I\u2019m physically rested and fed, my heart is far more engaged when it\u2019s rested and fed.<\/p>\n

From the moment my heart got attention, everything else I did was energized. I\u2019ve been told a number of times in the last several weeks that I walk into a room with a renewed energy, and every meeting I\u2019ve been involved with has more new possibilities than before. I don\u2019t believe the situations have changed, but my view of them has.<\/p>\n

My current metrics now include accountable projects for both my heart and head, and my heart is enjoying the process of being included in the census.<\/p>\n

What about you? Are your feeding \u201cThe Work\u201d that feeds your heart or is the work consuming your life?<\/p>\n

Charles<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Linda and I took a sabbatical from our communications work several years ago and ventured into organic farming, I spent an inordinate amount of time doing the work of laying irrigation, preparing the soil, fencing pastures, and other necessary tasks to allow us to produce the various crops and products we ate and sold. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,7,12,17],"tags":[36,53,55,61,68,129],"class_list":{"0":"post-331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-attitude","7":"category-creativity","8":"category-inspiration","9":"category-relationships","10":"tag-attitude","11":"tag-creative-juices","12":"tag-creativity","13":"tag-emotions","14":"tag-feeding-the-heart","15":"tag-relationships","16":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n