Of Dabbling, Business And Athletics

Hi folks,

Dabbling duck. From: http://goo.gl/W8Qik

A little while ago a friend of mine said that my business efforts were just ‘dabbling,’ which caused me to think of ducks. There are two kinds of people in this world, duck people and regular people. My eldest son (Nick) and my younger brother (Trevor) love ducks. They just do! Watch them around ducks. They just see ducks. Now, I like ducks a lot, and so does Gary Larson, but not like Nick and Trevor. They love ducks, and they never tire of feeding ducks. I did notice that when they feed, some ducks like to be upside down (Nick told me that they are classified as dabblers) and some like to swim around under the water (known as divers).

There is an important moral here when it comes to sports. You really have to love your sport in order to keep it up, because there is always something getting in the way, like work, bills to pay, kids to love, your partner to attend to or give essential attention, a show in town you always wanted to see, or you just want to lie on the couch and veg out. And how are you going to find the right sport for you if you don’t dabble in a bunch of them, and then do the one that you love the most, just like dating. The quality (and maybe the quantity) of our life will be a function of how well we handle these kinds of choices, as Professor Dumbledore said to Harry Potter. I finally chose Ironman races as my current sport, and it is very enjoyable, but now I have to choose a business interest.

I need a business if I want to live high on the hog, create jobs for people, and feel good about my life. So, as my friend said, I started by dabbling in the pumpkin business and made a 35% annualized profit on my investment. I am now moving on to Christmas trees, and reviving Johnny’s local store, in addition to my nascent online business, Old Dogs in Training LLC. I think dabbling is an important part of life, and I plan to enjoy it before diving into a serious business enterprise.

It was a good day today, as my Google Page Rank jumped to three!

Quack! Quack!

-k @FitOldDog