Two Cowboys: Never Again with the Travelling Cowboys in Canmore, Alberta, Canada

Never Again

We were flying back from New Zealand in the worse airplane seats imaginable, courtesy of Air New Zealand. Unfortunately, there isn't much choice in airline between Canada and New Zealand, so we had to suck it up, tuck it in, and ride it out to the land of the long white cloud.

When you feel discomfort, distractions are welcome. Our Scotch quota was limited, so we were cut off early by gramps, our in-flight safety officer and server attendant, so the trip became an early sobering experience - a time to reflect. The entertainment system had Anthony Bourdain featuring chefs in Japan, and the program threw out fashionable Zen quotes between scene changes. Then, I found what I was looking for. A straightforward, yet profound Zen quote caught my attention.

We were winding down our year two of the Two Cowboys. It was one last trip Downunder and we were taking stock of what we've managed to achieve since launching the brand. It couldn't have come at a better time. 

DO YOU YOU WANT YOUR DESTINATION OR BUSINESS FEATURED?

Someone once said that his biggest fear was reaching the end of his life, and meeting the person he could've been. This struck a profound chord with me three years prior, while on the corporate consulting treadmill in downtown Calgary, Alberta. Two things became glaringly obvious. What I was doing with my days held little personal value for me, and the days were passing alarmingly faster the older I got. I realized that I wasn't going to be the person I wanted or could be. Time for it was running out.

It spurred me to action that ultimately culminated in the launch of the Two Cowboys. My brother from a different father, my best friend - Braam Compton - and I launched the concept of the Two Cowboys in January 2016. My son Henry, the camera, joined us a few months later. (Hence, our website name as the Two Cowboys & A Camera - http://www.twocowboysandacamera.com).

The Two Cowboys experience is a means for us, to some important ends. There are key philosophies behind what we do. Firstly, it is an opportunity, after two decades of consulting and salaried employment, to call our career values and perspectives in question. For example, we question our commitment to the expected way of living as employees on a never-ending treadmill of financial dependence. Secondly, the Two Cowboys is an attempt to craft a flexible and more preferential lifestyle that allows us to get more out of the art of living. More adventures. More of the people we like. Better quality food, friendships and learning. More of the world. Thirdly, it is a chance to consciously choose every moment and personally weigh the merits of every action, interaction and opportunity.

Lastly, the Two Cowboys is a chance for growth. After publishing over three-hundred videos and blog posts in twenty-four months and producing even more for the people and businesses that partnered with us, we've inevitably learned a lot. We've learned about beer, brewing, hats, boots, soap, cooking, travelling, malting, art, goldsmithing, barbequing, baking, engineering, food trucking, distilling, fishing, filming, and the list goes on. We've met amazing people in Alberta, BC, Hawaii, Mexico and New Zealand. More destinations are coming and more experiences waiting. Most importantly, we've learned a lot about people with the 1,800 interviews we've done.

The most significant lesson we learned is to invest our valuable time in the people that reciprocate. We learned to care about the people that care about us.

The Zen quote I discovered that day on the flight back from New Zealand said, "Once in a lifetime, never again."

Observations

It struck me.

Because, while we were trying to achieve, build or understand, the ever-fleeting moments were still passing us by. In all the frenzy of activity, the days are still ticking, and we cannot confidently say that we are becoming more of what we can be. Ultimately, our moments are now just different moments with different activities, focus or motivation.

That is why we will be taking it slower in 2018. The Two Cowboys & A Camera will be more deliberate and more intentional. Every relationship we choose to have will be more valuable to us. Everything we do, more purposeful.

Because, it all happens once in a lifetime, then never again.

Hendrik van Wyk

Never Again Cowboy

We earn our livelihood by producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. Please book us here so we can tell your story too.

Two Cowboys: Its About Our People. Who Are Yours?

Who Touched Your Life Today?

It is sad that we know more about people we are unlikely to ever meet than we do about the people that served us our morning coffee.

The tone for our days are set by television, newspapers and social media, by immoral and corrupt politicians, celebrities with paid-for-opinions, leaked emails, the next big tech gadget, the online meme, a cat video, the price of the US Dollar and Aunty Bessie's next inspirational Bible verse.

Apparently, if we follow conventional wisdom, we should be concerned about people who know zip about us and is unlikely to ever care who we are. The monkey is amused.


We suffer from a media-induced "connectedness fallacy" that is perpetuated by our constant fascination with "important" yet worthless content. Why should we be bothered with the politician's email server? How can it matter what Kardashian had for lunch or who is buying DiCaprio's dinner? Cousin Johnny just bought a new motorcycle. Big deal. The Government just introduced a new tax. Boohoo. Putin just took off his shirt. Really?!

We live in an artificially connected algorithmically personalized informational content box driven by classifications, polls, likes and comments from someone somewhere, everywhere. Our real lives are passing us by. Every day, many real people touch our lives. We go through our rituals, work and habits and interactions with human beings not knowing anything about them. Do we know who they are? What are their names? How did it happen that they crossed our path? How do they feel and what do they think about us?

Should we care?

Yes, we should. The real people we touch and those that touch us define who we are, where we are, how we act, feel and who we eventually become. It is easy to ignore a message, email or ping. No connection, right? It is not easy to ignore a person that steps through your door, shakes your hand and asks: "How are you doing today, my friend?"

These are the people that really matter. Let's go out and meet them. Let's introduce ourselves.

Life Stories

Every life is made up of many, many stories. A person begins as part of a parent’s story. It is soon eclipsed by stories of discovery, finding an identity, forming relations, dealing with disappointment, and ultimately discovering or losing their purpose. We are the sum of our stories.

Stories unfold from perspectives, intentionally or otherwise. Stories become the distorted shadows in Plato's reality cave, outlining the elusive and enigmatic, while perpetually weaving itself into our identity. This discovery alone distinguishes the few from the many. Knowing that a story is just that. A perspective. The reality is something much more elusive and a lot less interesting. This is the first step to higher understanding.

Others become part of our stories as we become part of theirs. Some are positive and others less so. A positive story may be the result of a smile from the person that passes. A negative story the upset because of a smiling passing stranger. While we are part of other’s stories, discovering that we can only influence our own, is considered by many as the second step to higher understanding.

No amount of positive intent can account for someone else’s perceived tragedy. We are held accountable only by what we choose to include in our own experience and thought. Because it is what we include that we will perceive and ultimately receive. It is what makes us, us. Intentionally writing one’s own life’s story is the third step to higher understanding.

The question that remains is: If we can only write our own story, why then do we default to doing so for others? What more have we to give one another than our limited version of the truth? It is our story about our human adventure as honestly and as openly as we know how, that we share. In sharing, we hope to be recognised to become part of the stories of others. In sharing our stories and that of others, we become intertwined. They become part of us, and we become part of them. This is the fourth and final step to higher understanding. We are connected.

Let it then be good stories we tell.

On the Road

The Two Cowboys' mission is to learn, inspire and showcase small Producers all over the world - the people that make things. We do it with videos, blog posts, photos and through social media.

While undertaking our journey we travel a lot and interact with many people in local communities. When we interact with someone or reach out to a person, they become part of our story. We influence each others' lives. The people we feature serve us our coffee, brew us our beer, sew our shirts, mould our hats, service our trucks, grill our steaks and much more. They are cashiers, servers, assistants, workers, donors, sponsors and entrepreneurs. These are people in who we are vested. We are connecting with them.

We believe that we have a duty to introduce them to you, our audience. We want the world to know who they are. We want you to know them, meet them, and support them.

We will post photos of them on our Facebook Page and Instagram Feed.
Follow our travels on Patreon: http://www.travelingcowboys.com
Join us for an experience: http://www.twocowboysexperiences.com

See you on the road.

Hendrik van Wyk
Connected Cowboy

Finding Purpose, Meaning and Motivation in Production

Did you just come from another useless and time-wasting meeting?

Are you working on a document, email or report that you know is not going to make one bit of difference to anyone? Are you packing, scooping, welding, or assembling widgets over and over, everyday, while the mind numbing hours are ticking away one by one, robbing you of the single most important irreplaceable and valuable commodity of your life - your time?

You should be worried. This is not how life is supposed to be.

People are finding more and more that their work is not as inspiring or contributing as they thought it once was. For the sake of a pay cheque, they are busy being busy. Their work is without purpose, meaning, inspiration, and with no fulfilment. They do "bullshit jobs". These are people touched by the industrialization's disease of the last two centuries - cogs in machines. As people moved away from farming fields and workshops into factories and assembly lines, they lost their souls in the process. They lost meaning in work. They gave up being Producers. Instead, they became tools. Some, more educated than others, but tools nevertheless.

It doesn't have to be like this anymore. The good news is there is a solution. Now, robots can do the mind numbing work invented by the industrial age. There is most likely a machine that can do what labour does today. If there isn't one, it is bound to be invented soon by some maker somewhere.

If you are labour, this spells doom. Or, it will give you the opportunity to become a Producer again. Alternatively, you can be someone that supports Producers in creating our new world, or sign up for welfare. Stay with me as I explain.

There are soon going to be just two types of people in our world:

• The people who make things. We can call them the Producers. These people are personally vested in the things they create; and 
• Everyone else that benefits from what this first group does. We call them the supporters or consumers. Yes, the people on welfare are also in this group.

In this Blog post I hope to help you recognize who the Producers are in today's society. I make the case that we owe Producers a lot of support and our collective gratitude. Regardless of Producers being some of the lowest earners in society, these makers are motivated, have purpose, and enjoy their work.

By getting to know what drives Producers, you can join them and escape being replaced by a machine, while finding purpose and meaning in what you do. Or, you can support Producers. Because, without them we won't have the world we live in today. If you don't produce, or support a Producer, you better not get in their way. We need Producers now, more than ever before. For the sake of our sanity and our future. It is what evolution made us to do and who we are destined to be.

Why Producers Care 

Producers care, and they care about others. When one expends a lot of energy and time on creating something that matters to you, then you are more likely to care about, and for it. The person is vested in his or her creation. This is exactly what Producers do. The things they make are important to them, and the people that derive value from what they produce, matters to them.

Producers have reasons to take care of their environment, people that support them, communities, and their own lives. If they don't, they have nothing to work with, and no one for whom they can produce. Producers know it is hard to create, that is why they care about the way they are doing it. In every interview we do with makers they confirm that what they make is an extension of themselves. A maker infuses a little part of their identity, passion and motivation into every creation. It is part of them. It is who they are. By taking care of their creations and the people that benefit from it, they take care of themselves.

The rest of the people should support them to do it, so that they can in return benefit from what Producers do.

People that make things without being vested in their creation, are merely tools. I know you won't like to hear this, but it is true. Hired labour is simply just in a job, the same way a robot or a tool is there for a measured and defined output. No less and no more. Businesses are filled with hired labour that will do just enough to justify their contribution relative to their paycheque and status. No amount of moral high-ground can convince anyone to go above and beyond for a company or job in which they are not personally vested, and from which they don't personally benefit. The result is that hired labour can easily be replaced by the next person, automated and/or robotized. There is always the next tool that will take the place of the current. If you are labour today, then step out of this role.

If you are not lucky enough to be a Producer, and working with people that are equally vested in an outcome to make something as Producer, and in collaboration with another Producers, then prepare to be replaced by a machine that can do it cheaper, better, and faster (and not all machines are made from metal).

Labour may benefit from a paycheque, but without meaning and purpose. Go ask the people that have lost their jobs over the last couple of decades to outsourcing and mechanization. Manufacturing jobs are disappearing, and the middle class is under threat (Why blue collar work is disappearing). The jobs must disappear for the sake of progress. Jobs/tools change in line with the need for production. What should not disappear is people's motivation to produce or make something they care about, and which is valuable to someone.

The time has come to let the jobs go to the robots. The rest of us now either make something - become a Producer, or support someone that does. If you do, you will have purpose, find motivation and become more fulfilled in what you do.

The Producers

Producers make the materials, tools and products we consume everyday.

Materials are things like steel, wool, wheat, flower, wood, coal, oil, and more. Ingredients go into making tools and/or value added products for consumption. Materials are the ingredients for for other products. Materials are things that are destroyed or transformed during the act of making something else.

Tools are used to produce materials or the end products we consume. Tools include machines, vehicles, hammers, stoves, computers, phones, processes, information, labour and more. A tool is not destroyed during the process of creation. It serves an important role to transform materials into useful products for consumption. With tools and materials Producers make the things we consume. The better the tools, the more productive the production. The better the materials, the better the quality of the product.

The products we consume, made out of materials with (or without tools) include our food, clothes, and shelter. Products are consumed. They are used up and destroyed in the process. There comes a time when they no longer exist for the purpose they were designed and either become materials for the next product, like an old recycled table's wood. Food is an example of a product that is destroyed when it is consumed.

The Producer's knowledge, skill, commitment and drive binds it all together. It is the Producer that knows how to source the right materials, apply the perfectly calibrated tool to craft an exquisite wine, bread, garment or build a majestic house, and how to deploy labour in a productive process to do it all.

It is also the maker that is driven enough by their conviction to take the risk in making a difference for themselves, and offer value to those around them. Producers are inherent risk takers. Without taking risks, they will never know what can be done. Boundaries will not be tested. Innovation will not take place. They are also achievers driven by a need for recognition.

Producers work for profit, because profit allows them to produce, innovate and create. Without profit there is no incentive or further means to evolve and innovate. True Producers is after profit not for consumption sake. Yes, the nice car, house or holiday is always welcome, but ultimately money is just a tool at the Producer's disposal to facilitate the next creation, and the next innovation.

The Supporters

The best support you can provide any Producer is to use and enjoy what they make. By consuming their products we provide returns and profit, and give the Producer incentives to make more.

The second way to support Producers is to provide services to help them in their production efforts. The bankers, consultants, accountants, teachers, managers, politicians, lawyers, medical professionals, retailers and public services all fall within this later group. All these people support the efforts of makers, or exists thanks to the efforts of Producers.

For example, financial services exists to help producers finance their creative production efforts, and provide the means for trading and payment. Granted, they don't do this only for Producers, but considering everyone else relies on the success of producers it makes Producers the initiators and prime movers for the service.

Managers, administrators and consultants exist to help Producers do more and do it more efficiently. With the service of managers and administrators a maker's production can be scaled.

Most, if not all of the service industries can only exist because of the value that originates from Producers, and in support of makers. We can have healthcare because Producers invented and produce medicines, and medical instruments. We have hospitals because Producers build them. We have retailers to distribute products. Lawyers to help keep it fair and teachers to educate future Producers.

Then we have our favourite beneficiary: Public services. If it was not for the production of Producers then there were no sustainable way to finance public services. The levy of taxes on Producers make it possible. The majority of earnings through the production, trade and consumption of materials, tools and products goes towards employment and taxes. The producer is taxed on profits, and their employees are taxed on employment. No Producer, no production. No production, no profit. No profit, no work. No work, no employment. No employment, no personal taxes. And, without taxes how will the Government be able to justify what they do?

One should never forget that the Government inherently produces nothing and public services can only be justified with the understanding that it is thanks to Producers' contribution that it is all financed. The day Government lose this very important perspective, or believe they can get around this Producer production dependency through financing their populist efforts through credit and borrowing, is the day our society gets on a slippery slope we are unlikely to recover from, easily.

Unfortunately, it looks like we are there already, hence our mission here at Two Cowboys and A Camera, to promote Producers and inspire people to make something.

What Motivates a Producer

There are a few simple motivators that inspire people in general. Coincidentally, these very same things are part of the values you will find with every maker. Producers discovered these, and it forms the foundation of their being. This is why they live with purpose, drive and fulfilment. You can too.

• Seeing the Fruits of One's Efforts Makes it Worthwhile: Producers see the fruits of their labour when they make something. It has value for themselves, but also for their consumers. When the amount of benefit from making something no longer justifies the effort or amount of recognition, the Producer moves on and stops making. This happens when their creation is not in consumer demand, or when the fruits (profits) of their labour falls short, or is confiscated through taxes, levies and compliance cost. Then Producers have a disincentive to produce. Then, people stop making. There simply is no point to make something that will be stolen by someone that profess to have the best interest at heart for society at large (sounds familiar?). The less appreciated any person feels their work is, the more money they want to do it, or the less likely they are to do it at all. Under these circumstances Producers abandon production and everyone else is worse off for it. Then, Services has no one to support, the labourers have no jobs, products disappear and food gets scarce. 
• The Harder a Project is, the Prouder We Feel: Producers are achievers. Making something is not easy, but it is this perseverance that allowed human evolution to advance to where it is today. Hard challenges drives the most committed of Producers, and the highest achievers among us. The heavy lifting of advancing our civilization is done by the most committed for the sake of seeing the fruits of their efforts. We call them the Producers, makers and creators.
• Knowing Their Work Helps Others: Producers make things for their own benefit and enjoyment. They are equally motivated to see others appreciate and benefit from what they do. Society is about cooperation, and the best incentive for a Producer is to see others use their products, or use their tools to co-create and make things even better.
• Positive Reinforcement: There is no better incentive for Producers than to see people support their endeavours. By consuming their products and encouraging them to produce more Producers achieve and excel. The profits a Producer derives from the things they make positively reinforce them to do even more, search for even better ways to do it, and ultimately make it better for everybody involved.

When the people that benefits from producers take things for granted, they jeopardize the producer's drive and motivation. Because makers create the world, we put their commitment in jeopardy. When there is no longer a real incentive for people to make things, we all lose. We lose the drivers in our society, but we also lose a very important human quality - the motivation and ability to create.

Summary

Producers have the answer to a two century long broken employment paradigm. Jobs and labour have always been tools of Producers with all the tensions and demotivating characteristics that came with removing people's purpose, motivation and inspiration from their work. Making people cogs in a factory machine was never going to work out well for anybody (Producers included).

These tools (labour and jobs) are now under more threat than ever from machines that can do things cheaper, faster and better. This is a good thing, even with the discomfort that comes with it. By people becoming Producers, we have a chance to work with these machines, instead of against them.

To advance our own society we need to recognize the value of automation, and machines and use it to produce what we consume. As individuals we have to commit to make something or risk losing our place in civilized society. The only alternative is welfare when your job is replaced by a more capable robot. Labour (people that used to have a job) can now produce with machines as Producers. Jobs are no longer a given. But, by removing the traditional concept of "a job" we set people free to find purpose, motivation and meaning in their lives, by empowering them to make something. Now everyone can be a Producer.

The alternative is to do something in support of Producers. Supporters do the best they can do if they consume the products and use the tools Producers make. Most importantly Supporters that recognize that they are dependent on the success of Producers, and value and appreciate these people to add value to their production efforts, are the Supporters that contribute to society. If you get in the way of Producers producing, you kill the goose that lay the golden eggs. Get out of Producer's way, or risk a collapse in civil society. When people no longer have a reason to produce, they lose an innate motivator for life. When Producers cease to produce, our world will end.

Rather, I dream of a world where wealth is not defined by money, a job, or possessions, but by a person's ability to productively add value and produce for a supportive community. This should be the new way of looking at work. It is a new opportunity.

Pick your side: Producer, or Supporter. Be the best you can be, but be sure to get out of the way of the people that builds our world.

Hendrik van Wyk
Producer

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Producer Awakening

The Birth of a Maker

Six years ago, I was sitting at a cubicle on the 19th floor of a grey office building in downtown Calgary staring at my computer screen. I just returned from another uncomfortable meeting with the CEO of the company. I had enough. Something's been scratching for a while, and I've not been able to put my finger on it. Was something wrong with me, or is it this world we live in?

A simple question kept lingering in my mind. It started as a whisper. Over time it got louder. The more I tried to avoid answering to it, the louder it became, until it rung in my ears all the time. With everything I did, the question kept coming: "This cannot be it. Is it?"

The Question

It started one day when my oldest son asked me what it is I do everyday. At the time he was twelve. I thought it will be a quick and easy answer, but as it goes with questions from inquisitive minds, they don't relent. Neither did he. He kept pushing, no matter how hard I tried to give him a sensible reply. The more I said, the less I liked what I heard.

I've been an independent IT Management Consultant for almost two decades. I've travelled the world, and already lived on three continents. My clients included large multinational companies. At the time I was made the Vice President of IT for a utility company, after delivering a particularly challenging systems implementation. I was having a tough time with a group of luddite executives. No matter what I did, most of what I was hired to achieve for the company was opposed at every opportunity by the CEO. He pushed me to the end of my rope, and something was going to give.

My son's question fell on very fertile ground that day. I was having a hard time to answer the question for myself. I just kept staring at my computer screen and my mind was spinning. My email was open, and little reminders kept popping up in the top righthand corner of the screen. Three hundred emails already screaming for attention. Is this it? Is this what life is all about?

The Grooming Game

The more I observed my circumstances, the more it dawned on me. The corporate upper and middle management world I live in and the work I do, largely resembles the inner social workings of a troop of baboons. Very few people seemed to be making anything. Instead, we spent an awful lot of time and energy grooming each other by exchanging (or not) useless information in all kinds of ways. We do it in meetings, in emails, over coffee, chats and at impressive lunches. Everyone appears terribly busy.

I took the red pill, and suddenly I saw it for what it was. It struck me! No one around me was making anything. We are all very busy being busy. But, when the day is over, what do we have to show for it? Where is the sense of purpose and achievement? What is the value to ourselves and to those around us? An empty email inbox. Fake loyalties. Another meeting. A car we don't own. A house mortgaged to the kilter. The next thing. More stuff. This was not my idea of achievement.

There must be something more out there.

Doubts

Suddenly my contribution to this world is in question. My own sense of purpose and motivation lost. Who then are the people responsible for the world we live in? Who has purpose and the motivation to work at it each and every day?

Humans are learning entities. Curiosity drives learning. Through natural selection, the more curious amongst our ancestors were selected to continue the lineage. The ones that learned better, survived. Clearly, I have the gene in spades and it is driving me nuts.

I resigned my post. My journey of discovery commenced.

I didn't realize then, just how amazing the journey is going to be. So far it has been six years of discovery. I've not only questioned the value of the work I was doing, but slowly I've ended up questioning a whole lot of what we consider to be "normal" life. It is amazing. It has changed my whole perspective on life, for the better. It's been a phenomenal experience already, and more is to come. I

Here are some ideas that stuck:

• Make Something: There is purpose, fulfilment and value in making something. There is a whole movement towards people making things. Better than any job out there, if you make something for yourself that you like and can use, chances are that others will like it too. It is often the foundational start of a great business opportunity. See more here: http://makezine.com/ and The Maker Movement. It is easier than ever to make something. Technology is more accessible than ever before. Information is freely available. All that is needed is your interest and some energy. In the last six years I've taught myself to be a Barista, Coffee Shop Owner, Baker, Gelato Master, Nougatier, Chocolatier, Leather Carver, Street Vendor, Camera Man, Editor, and the journey just got started. See how easy it is to turn your passion into income: The $100 Startup.
• Technology is Everywhere: The tools to make things are now more accessible than ever before. No longer are workers held hostage by company owners that control the means to produce. You can order just about anything over the internet. Machines, tools, materials and knowledge on how to use it is freely available. You don't even have to own it. You can borrow it (http://www.makershed.com/).
• Learn Things: The Internet is exploding with information and educational resources. You can hunt for it on your own, join forums, scour YouTube or enrol for some quick and easy courses. Udemy (https://www.udemy.com) is a favourite. The amazing move in online education (as many classic educational institutions are discovering very quickly) is no longer to bed you for years, a small fortune and mostly worthless certificates. It is rather to get you going with a new skills or information as soon as possible. Thanks to sites like Udemy, there is more of an incentive for experts to share their knowledge than ever before. Now you can learn from people online, that actually knows what they are talking about. Their success depends on your preference for the quality and value of education you receive (now there is a novel thought isn't there).
• Sell Things: Access to a market is no longer controlled by the landlords. Again, the Internet provides amazing opportunities to sell what you make or create. The well known sites like EBay, Amazon and others are there. For crafts people there is Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/) There is also a proliferation of markets in every town and community. These markets are always on the lookout for local producers and crafts people to sell their wares. The best part of selling your own creations directly to customers, is that you get to earn more of the profits. No need to share with a retailer and wholesaler.
• Rats in a Cage: If there is one pair of shackles that is the hardest to break in my journey of discovery, it is the shackles of debt, and the lure of more stuff. It comes around every week, or month. The two goes hand in hand. There is an old and popular saying in Dutch: "Wiens brood men eet diens woord men spreekt." It basically means that you are owned by the person that pays your way. If you are working for a job, your employer largely determines your income, standard of living, and a considerable amount of your fate. The same goes for the banks and financiers. If you take their money, you are bound by their rules. The only way to get off the wheel, or out of the cage is to lower your overhead, and let go of credit traps of mortgage, credit card and other consumer financing. Here are some people that will help you get underway: The Minimalists will show you how to declutter your life, get rid of stuff and discover more. The Tiny House Movement will show you how you can live well without a mortgage. If you like traveling, see the Escapees.
• Money is Relative: I discovered that money is a means to an end. If the end changes, then the means get a whole new perspective. If there is no more point in chasing mortgages, new cars and more stuff, then it is remarkable just how different the role is that money plays in one's life. See this one: Richest Man in Babylon. For twenty years I've put money ahead of purpose, motivation, meaning and fulfilment. I've nearly lost my soul. The funny part is that it is relatively easy to make money and live well. The issue is not making it, the issue with money is finding ways to hold on to it.
• Mind-Space: In a connected world we can access all kinds of news and information all the time. No mystery there. What is mysterious is that we are now more concerned with events and people that are thousands of miles away from us, with little or no chance to influence our daily lives, than we are with our neighbour or fellow house member.  I am still looking for a term to describe this phenomenon. For the time being let us call it the "connection-fallacy". We give mind-space, thoughts and concern to matters that have nothing to do with us, and is unlikely to have any bearing on us. The Kardashians is probably the best example of the media using the "connection-fallacy" to suck people's into a world of irrelevance. The same goes for matters we cannot control. We cannot control what other people do, or say. We can have an opinion about it, but that is the magnitude of time and mental dedication that should be invested. Every additional moment of concern is wasted time. I've become increasingly jealous about my mental space and the things that I choose to think about. All the time, I am checking if it truly matters. If not, it has no place in my mind-space. It has helped to focus me.
• Relationships Matter: If there is no need to groom your fellow workers, boss or underlings in the corporate circumstances, then one can become quite selective about the company you keep. I've become impatient with people and relationships that has little value. At the same time I've become more dedicated to the people near me, and the ones that I love. These are the relationships that truly matter. The relationships that doesn't leave at 17:00, or starts at 09:00.

Conclusion

I am on a journey of discovery. Stick around and I will show you more. In the mean time... make something. You will be amazed at how your life changes when you do.

Hendrik van Wyk

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The Simple Things in Life

"Our life is frittered away by detail."  Henry David Thoreau

Isn't it interesting how the simple pleasures in life has the most profound impact on our lives?

Busy lives

Our days are easily filled with all kinds of must-do's and do-not forgets. From the moment we open our eyes it is a rush to get ready for work. Get the kids to school. Be on time for the meeting. Grab a coffee. Do the presentation. Get the food ready for dinner. Do the washing. Walk the dog and get to bed in time to have enough energy for tomorrow to rinse and repeat.

We can be forgiven for getting tired and depressed just thinking of it all. If the daily grind is not enough, we have the weekly and monthly reminders that push us along: Pay the mortgage. Close the deal. Settle the bills. Buy the food. Service the car. Celebrate the birthday. Clean the yard. Make it to Summer and then to Christmas.

Then there are the goals for life: Pass the exam. Find the job. Marry. Earn the promotion. Buy the house. Build the career. Raise the kids. Retire. Before we know it, eighty years have passed and we are lying alone in bed with a drip and catheter wondering, what just happened?

In and Out of Control

The holidays provide a welcome chance to reevaluate what life is about.

With the years ticking by, I've slowly and painfully learned a profound lesson about the things with which we fill our days. It doesn't matter how much money we make, it is likely not going to be enough. It doesn't matter what house we live in, it is likely going to be too small. I've realized that some things are inevitable like hair loss, being despised by your teenage son, or the death of your dog. With this realization I've learned that while we may not be able to control these things, we can control how we think about them. We can choose to be helpless or hopeful.


There are many other things that are there by choice, and not by chance. Most of what happens every day is with our consent, consciously or otherwise, and within our direct control and influence. We can choose how busy to get, how many things we have on our minds, and what we must and mustn't do. Another profound lesson I've learned from this, is that no matter what happens, there are only a few simple pleasures that make it all worthwhile. Without these, we may as well head straight to the drip and catheter.

Simple Pleasures

Some people meditate. Others read or run. For many, the pleasures are primal. All of them have the profound power to put life into perspective. When everything is stripped away. When the noise gets too much. When we realize that our mind-space is out of control, then we can withdraw to this simple zone for perspective. We can again become basic human.

For me it is a campfire, a piece of meat, cold beer and sharing it with good friends. This is my happy place. Simple.

When everything we do as people are stripped away, the simplicity of a shared meal around a fire with good company may just be the most profound equalizer. No matter where we live, what we drive, which job or qualification we have, it all simply comes down to those moments humanity celebrated for thousands of years.

These are the moments we must collect most of all along our life's journey, before we're booked for our appointment with old-age plumbing. We should cherish the simple pleasures in life.

Disconnection and Control

We live in a bizarre world. We are disconnected from our local communities and neighbours, yet have all the news and gossip about people and events, that has little to no bearing on our day-to-day lives. We know more about our Facebook "friends" than we do about our neighbours. We eat food, wear clothes and use tools from people we don't know, and is unlikely to ever meet.

Every month we hand over the majority of our earnings in taxes and interest to bureaucrats who profess to have our best interest at heart. They assure us, they have a higher moral compass and knows best what we need. This we do while these people have no knowledge of who we really are. We are connection rich, morally sedated, responsibility abdicated, and community poor.

We worry about things we cannot influence or change. I am trying to find a term for this state, and is open to suggestions.

What we miss is to be mentally and physically involved in the things around us. We should consciously choose our world and give it priority. Not someone else's fabrication somewhere else. We should choose to interact with people we meet on the street, in the shops, by talking to them. The old fashion way.  We should get to know the people in our community. These people, and us make the community. The butcher, the baker, the carpenter and builder. Our producers.

In our shrink-wrapped ready to wear, ready to eat world, we walk past these people never really knowing who they are. We don't know what they do. How they do it. We are worse off because we don't take the time to reach out to them and get to know them. In the process, we lose the opportunity to get to know more about ourselves. It is time for us to take time to meet each other.

If we do, we are likely to buy their bread - our community's bread - instead of the bread from a faceless corporation, paying minimum wage. We can drink our community's beer. Eat our community's meat and vegetables. If we support our local producers, we are directly and indirectly supporting ourselves. Then our children have true meaningful opportunities to learn to make something and be part of a place and its people. Then our youth will become the engineers, carpenters, builders and bakers of the future, instead of aspiring to careers in minimum wage mindless corporate jobs. Then the values in our communities and our people are restored.

In the following weeks we are going to feature some of these producers.  We hope you like what you see. We are certainly having a lot of fun getting to know them better.

See what happens if you support your local producers: http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1903632,00.html

"At the most basic level, when you buy local more money stays in the community. The New Economics Foundation, an independent economic think tank based in London, compared what happens when people buy produce at a supermarket vs. a local farmer's market or community supported agriculture (CSA) program and found that twice the money stayed in the community when folks bought locally. "That means those purchases are twice as efficient in terms of keeping the local economy alive," says author and NEF researcher David Boyle. (See the top 10 food trends of 2008.)"

Hendrik van Wyk


Get rewarded for supporting our local Producers. Receive special offers and invitations from the Two Cowboys.
Please help us to bring you more of these programs by supporting us on Patreon: www.forwardthefavour.com.