🏠 TREE 561: Do this one thing every day to acquire your dream house

Clickbait is the new authenticity. Or something.

Did you see Friday’s big announcement?

On Sunday morning I dreamt that Christine won £3 million in the lottery. We kept the win quiet and were trying to figure out the wisest way to invest the money for ourselves and our kids.

When I woke up I realised the dream wasn’t about fantasies of sudden wealth. It was about what I’m doing with the resources I have right now. The real money I have is the money that matters.

The dream reminded me of the parable of the carpenter.

A master carpenter who had worked for the same builder for nearly 50 years announced he was retiring. The builder told the carpenter how much he appreciated his work and presented him with a $5,000 bonus. Then he asked the carpenter to build just one more house. The builder owned a piece of land with a spectacular view and wanted to put a dream home on it.

The carpenter was disappointed at the small bonus and didn’t want and extra project, but the building fee would help him buy a small cottage. He agreed to build the house.

The carpenter prided himself on his uncompromising commitment to quality, but his resentment caused him to cut corners, ignore details, and accept shoddy workmanship from his workers. He even looked the other way when some of them substituted cheaper materials and pocketed the difference.

When the house was finished, the builder shook the carpenter’s hand and with a smile gave him an envelope. The carpenter opened it to find the deed to the house he’d just built. ‘It’s yours,’ said the builder.

Side note: if you are going to do a nice thing for someone, don’t be a dick about it like the builder was. Be honest at the beginning, even if it means you won’t get a corny story for your Ted talk out of the situation.

Main point: This parable isn’t about not screwing up the fantasy opportunity. It’s about how you are building your life every day with the actions you take. That’s why I try to make sure the kerning is right on everything I design, not just the ‘important’ stuff. I may be working for the marketing team of an employer branding consultancy but I’m building my life.

The details of your craft matter.

The details of your character matter.

A scene with three birds.

I just learned that Let’s Dance was an acoustic guitar song until Nile Rodgers got involved and made it epic. His work with Bowie got him the gig as the producer of Madonna’s Like a Virgin album. Fast forward to now: I love his remix of Remi Wolf’s Shawty.

Grow slowly
Jeff