Often it is our own internal contradictions that best define us. The seemingly at-odds impulses and passions that pull strongly toward opposite poles, yet in their contrast tell us more about who we truly are. For me, that tension and balance lie between entrepreneur and poet, traditional success and reckless adventure, disciplined focus and wild creativity. But like most overly academic distinctions, these opposites can rarely be neatly compartmentalized. In the same breath I am both, and neither, and more.
To reflect some of this tension and try to get at who I am and what I bring to the Thousand network in the process, I’ve written a slam poem with a twist. It’s a poem of the sort I’d normally write, but constructed following the process that I’d traditionally approach writing code. With the addition of each stanza and major revision, I’ve added “commit notes” which explain the changes I’ve made and my thought process behind them.
The final product is both a poem and a “repo” (in nerd language, that means a package of code and all the previous steps in its’ living evolution). Two of the most powerful parts of my best self are my creative mind and my entrepreneurial drive. Together they provide a lens to examine an important question that every motivated person I know asks themselves: how can I excel in following my passion while living my life to the fullest in every other way? For me, the answer is a ruthless prioritization of the things that matter most--surrounding myself with genuine people who challenge me, immersing myself in experiences that help me grow, and finding balance in mindfulness of the moment at hand.
In the end, the tension between art and business, or any other set of opposites within us is a false dichotomy. I am not less of one thing because I am more of another. Humans are not zero-sum. While it sometimes feels impossible to make time for all the important things, friends and family and work and art and travel and food and mindfulness and adventure and learning, the knowledge that time is finite actually makes each experience we choose to spend our time on that much more sacred and valuable.
~ Zack
ps: you can see a summary of each change to the history of the poem and the comments that accompany the change here: Commit History