Scratch Your Own Itch

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"Far from the madding crowd" is an expression I like to use. I find these days that withdrawing to this 'safe space' has become a personal imperative. Overwhelm has become far too familiar, whether that be my work day, my mommy-time or my down-time....there just always seems to be too much happening in my space. And if that is not enough, bumper-to-bumper traffic is the order of the day, any time of day. Trouble is, bumper to bumper traffic is threatening to become the order of my thinking. But I'm not about to let that happen. 

If the feeling is not familiar in your personal life, I'm pretty sure it has become a normal experience in your work-a-day world...even if you work from home. In fact, working from home has begun to feel, for some, like shark-infested waters. Every other teenager with a lap-top in a basement somewhere is likely competing in your space. What else can we write that has not already been articulated? Thousands, even millions of people are doing the very same things we spend our days dreaming about and planning for. Ideas are a dime a dozen, and no matter how novel we think ours are, we find that some other nifty mind has 'been there, done that." Makes you wonder if it's all worth it.

I have found that its worth it to find my own, blue ocean (as business strategists love to say); to create uncontested market space; to make the 'competition' irrelevant; to create and capture new value.  The truth is, if what you do is important enough to you this "crowding out effect" (to borrow a term from the economists) would not represent a stumbling block. In fact, it should force you to take a step back and do some evaluation.In a world where problem solving is cast as the die that gets us into the market place, we must learn to scratch our own itch.

Sounds counter-intuitive maybe. But here's why it works: At the most superficial level it causes us to give attention to personal problems we are able to solve. At a deeper level, it calls us to answer the all important question of 'why'. Understanding our why makes MEANING the currency of our operations. Meaning and purpose are what pull us back into the fray when we feel overwhelmed, crowded out, replicated, unnecessary. Scratching that itch of ours, doing what means the most to us, will get us going and keep us in the ring when others have long stopped stoking their fires. We have to learn to make the competition irrelevant, the crowd less madding, the noise less distracting. We must focus on our game, find our own blue ocean, scratch our own itch.....and that begins and ends with 'WHY.'