Feed Your Curiosity: CABIN by Patrick Hutchison
Would you buy a cabin in the woods for $7,500? Would you do it even if you had nothing other than the desire to fix it up? No skills, not even a basic understanding of construction and craftsmanship? Sounds like a recipe for failure, but this is merely the beginning of the story told by Patrick Hutchison in CABIN: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman.
While this book is full of stories and characters in Washington State—written by someone as clueless as I would be in the same situation—it reads more like a parable about the choices we make in our careers that ultimately lead us to feel like our work is meaningless. It's not preachy, just honest.
"The cabin's close quarters, the lack of cell service, the immersion in the woods, all of it combined to make a place where it seemed like the outside world didn't exist. Like all of existence had been distilled into this tiny place, where complex thoughts and ideas and emotions were easily laid out and examined."
Every time he went to the cabin to work on it or to simply be in the moment, he learned things about himself that were buried beneath layers of drudgery and meaninglessness in his day job. He daydreamed often and talked with friends about "what if" scenarios, spent his lunch breaks going to hardware stores, and learned everything he could on YouTube. Hutchison was searching for something more. What he found was meaning.
"The depth and magnetism of meaning in that place was like a living thing, infusing everything and everyone that entered."
This week on the podcast, I talked with executive creative leader and serial entrepreneur, Vincent Wanga, and he shared one of his secrets to success: delusionally ambitious goals. I think it's safe to say that buying a cabin in the woods for $7,500, learning how to fix it, and then transitioning your career into entrepreneur and contractor is a perfect example of this concept.
"What's not rare is the quiet, persistent voice that nags us into wondering what else might be possible, what change might be a bit better for us in the long run. This story is about what happens when we give that voice room to grow."
Curiosity abounds throughout the book, but what it unlocked in me was the desire to tune into my inner voice and become the next version of myself. I've done a lot throughout my career, but there is so much more to do. Most of the changes I've made over the years have been in response to external forces of technological change—AI wasn't the first and it won't be the last—but as I listen and trust the small voice within, I see a world alive with possibilities and wonder.
Today on the Getting Work To Work podcast, I’m talking with Vincent Wanga about the magic of human creative energy. Vincent is an executive creative leader, serial entrepreneur, and author of The Art of Direction: Personal Perspectives on the Path to Creative Leadership. Our conversation begins and ends with a focus on the future. What is our place as creatives in a technological world driven by artificial intelligence? What does leadership look like in an asynchronous, AI-driven creative world? The answers might surprise you, but they’ll definitely challenge you. Throughout this interview, Vincent shares stories and tools any creative can use to adapt to the ever-changing world we live in.
Newsletter Notes:
The quotes above were from CABIN: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman by Patrick Hutchison.
My sonic soundtrack is Christopher Parkening: The Great Recordings.
The photo in the graphic at the top of the post by Alex Moliski on Unsplash.
I set the "Feed Your Curiosity" type in Boris Bold, a delicious font by Deadbolt Design.