For as long as I can remember, I’ve been in love with text.

Creating it, reading, typing it, adoring it, playing with it… above all, simply creating it to see what comes out.

My parents tell me I actually learned to write on a typewriter, instead of pen and paper.. I guess I was ahead of my time even then.

Which is not always a good thing, mind you. I assure you it can be agonizing realizing people around you will ‘get’ what you know now only much later… sometimes MUCH later, as in decades later. But I digress.

Anyway, back to text, love, butterflies… things that go bzzz in the night.

Starting to sound weird by now? If so, it’s because this is the sort of thing I normally start out my day with. Free-associating text. But this time I felt I should write this into a blog post directly because there seemed to be a big point coming along…

Lately I’ve been revisiting my Hedgehog Concept quite a bit, feeling like it may be time to revise it at this point in my professional life.

If you’re not familiar with the HedgeHog Concept, pop on over to my friend Gideon Shalwick’s blog where he has an excellent video up on it.

Gideon originally turned me on to the whole idea some years ago, and I have to say it’s a great way to zero in on your dharma (as in, the thing you’re most suited to do, not a sneaky Lost tv show reference for added SEO juice at all ๐Ÿ˜‰ ).

Enough rambling, there’s a point in here somewhere.

Right. Part of the Hedgehog Concept says you should focus your energies on things you can do, that you’re both passionate about, and that you can become the best in the world.

And let me tell you, I have racked my brain three ways this way and three ways the other, over this thing. As simple as this is, it seems the concept has migrated every few months to reflect my then passion and so on.

But recently, after much mulling over spilled milk, I think I’ve zeroed in on the REAL Hedgehog Concept for me.

I won’t bore with you with my previous versions, but the added ingredient I finally realized was this: IT HAS TO FEEL LIKE YOU’RE PLAYING, INSTEAD OF WORKING!

As simple as that is, it took me years to realize that with everything I could do in my career, it all boiled down to this:

  1. Thinking deeply (philosophy has always been close to my heart, so much so that at times people thought I was trained in it – perhaps born with it, who knows these things?)
  2. Love of creating text (in all its forms; articles, books, info products, copywriting, screenplays…)
  3. Structuring the text into something consumable (often product form, or a form of business)

Especially the first two combined, I could “work” all day long and half the nights too. Eliminate everything else, and I can be on my A game writing throughout the day.

Of course, this realization hasn’t come without more than a fair share of ‘oh cr*p that didn’t work either’ or the odd ‘how can I get out of this now’ and other assorted headaches and heartaches.

Earlier on in my career, I went from #3 to #1 where it took the form of technical writing and other not-so-exciting albeit very educational jobs.

After more than 15 years in the working life, having traversed the fields of technology, health, self-help and even politics… I think I’m ready to turn it the other way and focus on #1 to #3. Which of course means even more self-reliance, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Simple is better. And allows you to replicate and stack up success instead of working around your weaknesses and improving incrementally.

I realize this post was more personal than usual and I have no reason to believe you got anything valuable from it. Then again, stranger things have happened. ๐Ÿ™‚

Catch you soon buddy.

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