The Butler Project

Since I quit my job two weeks ago my wife and I have moved back to our home in Utah. It was rented while we worked out of state. With the home comes the yard work, and yard work requires a lawn mower.

On Monday we headed to our local Lowe’s store to buy the lawn mower and on the way I said to my wife: “Sweetie, I’m leaning toward buying a push mower. One of those deals with no motor.” She gave me a funny look that said “Who are you and what have you done with my husband…you know - the guy who really doesn’t believe in mowing his own lawn, let alone with a motor-free mower?”

Long story short, we bought the push mower. While we were in Lowe’s my wife called my sister (because she already has a push mower) for her opinion. After a minute my wife pushes the phone at me and says “She wants to talk to you.”

Mark: Hey.

Emily: Who is this? What did you do with my brother? You’re going to buy a push mower? Yeah, we love ours, but it’s the last thing in the world I’d ever expect you to do.

You might be wondering why my wife and sister reacted so skeptically to my mower plans. It’s not that I’m opposed to manual labor. I worked construction all through college and I actually enjoy it. Their skepticism is due to the fact that I’m the world’s biggest proponent of leveraging your time.

For example, when I was still working there were quite a few Saturdays when my wife would ask me to wash the cars, and I’d tell her it was too expensive for me to do it myself. After all, I could go to work, make one sale, and the commission would be ten times the cost of driving both cars through the car wash. So I’d go to work, make the sale, and drive the cars through the car wash.

So why the change of heart? A mower with no motor is the complete opposite of leveraging your time. It will probably take twice as long to mow with the push mower, and I’ll probably have to do it twice as often.

Here’s why I bought the push mower:

I spent the last four years in a cubicle with a headset on. I liked the work, but it was devoid of physical exertion. So I got fat (I’ve gained about 30 pounds over the last four years), but I also got stressed. Did you know that a sedentary lifestyle is both a symptom and a cause of depression?

On other hand, regular physical activity is actually one of the best treatments for depression and anxiety.

So the point is, when I was commuting and punching a time clock, I felt too stressed and too short of time to do something like mow my own lawn or wash my own car. Result: fat and depressed.

Now that I’m job free and can take breaks in the middle of my workday at home to go work in my yard for an hour or two. It feels great.

I’m already happier; I have to hope I’ll get skinnier too.

What are the stress-reducing, happiness-producing things you would do if you had more control over your time?