Making the Case for “Non-Work”: Thoughts From Red Sunflower Farm

Curious Questions from Observing the Everyday   

My heart is full when my grandbabies spend the day with me on the farm.  

Earlier this month, my granddaughter helped me harvest our bumper crop of ornamental gourds. She especially loved the teeny, tiniest ones that were so small they could fit in the palm of her hand! (If you knew about her fascination with Calico Critters, this wouldn’t surprise you.)  

Spending time together in the soil, selecting which gourds were ready to be picked, and spreading them out to admire the colors and shapes of each one is my idea of the perfect morning. It also serves as an example of how prosperity means different things to different people and doesn’t always manifest itself in dollar amounts.  

Which got me thinking about value.  

Ornamental gourds are, arguably, worthless — at least from a survival perspective: They’re inedible! Yet, I’m not the only one who finds them joyful.  

There’s something about the changing of the seasons that urges us to nest. We set speckled gourds out as centerpieces on our dining room tables, adorn our front steps with them to welcome loved ones into our homes. We paint them. Carve them.  

The seemingly worthless, in fact, proves itself quite valuable.   

There’s a business leadership lesson in there, too. 

In Brené Brown’s Atlas of the Heart, Brown writes about the importance of doing things for the sake of pure enjoyment. She emphasizes the importance of non-work as a way of overcoming feelings of overwhelm.  

What Brown reveals is that doing things for the sake of pure enjoyment actually makes us better in other areas of our lives. By turning off from the “important” and refocusing our minds and spirits on something that doesn’t have a clear purpose (taking a pottery class, learning to golf, reading a book for pleasure), we actually increase our brainpower and social-emotional capabilities. 

What doesn’t have immediately observable value, like hobbies (or like the gourd), turns out to come with a bounty of hidden benefits.  

Sometimes it’s worth pursuing the less profitable (when done intentionally). There are many ways to measure value, so don’t let the most obvious metrics dissuade you from a decision that brings purpose and hidden benefits to your business.  

Maybe an opportunity isn’t going to generate much net income but will instead open doors to a new segment of your market. Or perhaps a project isn’t the most profitable, but it’s for a cause that is near and dear to your heart — perhaps allowing you to reconnect with your ‘why’.   

When we talk about the three freedoms of prosperity (money, time, and mind) you’ll often hear us add, “as defined by you”. That’s an important part of the message that shouldn’t be overlooked. There’s a whole lot of grey area when running a business. And there isn’t always a right or wrong answer. You determine what is and isn’t valuable — and doing it with intentional reliance on data helps you make decisions with confidence. My advice to you? Don’t forget to look out for the gourds: the opportunities that bring you joy while also bringing value in unusual ways.  

I’ll leave you with these curious questions: 

Where do my personal passions and business opportunities intersect?  

How do I define value in my personal life? 

How do I define value in my professional life?  

Are there additional metrics that I could track to reveal hidden opportunities?  

What investments feed my bottom line?