As a tribute to Earth Day, we turned off our office printer. But it’s a hollow gesture—like the time I gave up mountain climbing for Lent when I live in Florida. Oh well. We normally print to PDF and email instead of printing on paper. Save the trees! Nevertheless, this small tribute is symbolic of some of the small steps Sonja and I have taken to cultivate a conservation-minded lifestyle.
Note: I didn’t classify us as Green. Sure, we recycle, compost, grow vegetables in our backyard garden, regularly ride bikes to work, use compact fluorescent light bulbs, and turn off the water while brushing. The standard “Hurray! We’re GREEN” fare. Part of our motivation is the good-Karma feeling when we conserve natural resources. But we’re also motivated by the financial and health benefits of conservation mindedness. Like my friend Kier’s Prius bumper sticker reads: I’m Cheap, not Green. And riding my bike helps me fit into those jeans from college—oh yeah, cycling is good for my blood pressure too.
Don’t get me wrong. Sonja and I love nature. We enjoy camping and backpacking. As an Eagle Scout, I was fortunate to experience rock climbing, white-water rafting, and wilderness survival at an early age (spending the night in the middle of the woods, alone, sans tent is fun for a 12-year-old kid). And Sonja is just a good, old-fashioned tree hugger. Her degree is in wildlife ecology and conservation. She loves animals too. She, not I, was the prime mover of our compost bin and vegetable garden. I’m more of the FIFO fanatic. I eat the end slices before opening a new loaf of bread. Yes. Cheap, not green. Maybe thrifty is a better word. We like the expensive 12-grain stuff, so might as well eat it all, right?
After graduating college and getting a job requiring a one-hour-each-way commute, I was filled with not only carbon guilt, but also piss and vinegar for wasting so much of my most precious resource—time—sitting bumper to bumper on I-95. When I started Motionbuzz, I decided to use Time as my ultimate measuring stick. After we had our first, then second, Bundle Of Joy, our disposable Time decreased exponentially. We learned to use Time very wisely, at home and work. More importantly, we learned to accurately track and bill for it. As my former UF classmate Kevin Finn of Tick says, time is our only inventory.
Fortunately, there are a zillion tools at our disposal to achieve our desired work/life balance, all the while increasing profitability and growth. My goal is not only to optimize my life and business, but also to help our clients sort out the best tools to improve workflow, productivity, and overall communication. Most of our solutions help our clients save time, money, and the Earth’s resources. My hope is the savings will be put to good use—like helping a CEO get out of the office, CRM-enabled iPhone in hand, to spend time exercising or playing with her kids.
And as I get ready to embark on my one-mile commute home to share a healthy organic dinner with my beautiful wife and kids, I’ll leave you with the somewhat corny, but wise Boy Scout Outdoor Code:
As an American, I will do my best to –
- Be clean in my outdoor manners,
- Be careful with fire,
- Be considerate in the outdoors, and
- Be conservation minded.
