Taking My Own Advice

Photo from Josh Allan Dykstra

What’s that quote? The one about the cobbler’s kids not having any shoes? 

Or the other one, about the two barbers in town? How you should get your haircut from the one with the bad haircut? 

Why is it like this? Why is it so hard to follow our own advice? Why can we give other people such great advice, but then be so bad at following it ourselves?

How is it that I can have my client’s EIN, bank account number, and DOB, and airplane seat preference memorized, but not my own? 

Why can I successfully run productions for other people, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in a matter of days on vendors and rentals, keeping everything under budget, but I can’t spend five minutes to book a haircut for myself? 

Why is every sentence in this post a question? 

I don’t know. 

I don’t know why it’s like this. 

Apologies if you came here looking for some productivity advice. Sometimes it feels disingenuous, just giving advice to other people all the time. Not feeling like I’m taking it myself. 

But if moderation and balance are the ultimate goal productivity, then every step forward is a good one. And I’m starting realize that I can get a little out of whack. Today, I want to implement my own advice. I hope you do too.