If you follow Tim Ferriss or any other number of life and productivity hackers they often use the example of cutting one's own grass as an inefficient use of your time. The argument makes sense. Your time is worth X. You can pay someone X-Y for their time and they'll do it for you. But we don't live in a world with only two variables.
So let me ask you some questions:
- Do you listen to podcasts and audiobooks?
- Do you make special time for exercise?
- Do you sometimes like a mindless task that gives you a visual sense of accomplishment while having zero of the roadblocks and frustrations that exist in your actual job?
Need I say more?
As a funny aside, the reason I am writing this post is because my 6 year old son has usurped my role as primary grass mower. The kid was still pushing around toy mowers earlier this year and I knew he would love to cut the grass. So I bought him a reel mower. Reel mowers are the old fashioned powered by humans pushing the mower, which turns the wheel, which uses a pinion gear to make a blade rub against a metal frame. Between the pinion gear and the friction between the bland and frame these bad boys are tough to push for a 6 year old, but he takes breaks and does a little bit on most days.
The end result is I kind of miss mowing the grass, but I'm super proud of my 6 year old for being able to take on such a big task.