Vermont Shortbread Company

The 4-Hour Workweek: Shortbread Prez Gets a Gift

Generally, I don't respond enthusiastically to anything with a title like The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss.  This stuff always strikes me as too good to be true or the lure-desperate-people-in-with-inflated-hype approach to marketing. 

The only person I know who seems to work only 4 hours a week and lives the good life collects alimony and has never supported herself.  Since this approach is not a palatable option to me, I want to know, is it possible to work less and make more? 

However...

When someone I trust and admire speaks repeatedly and strongly about a book, I read it, no matter how silly I think the title is.  My friend, Donna Toothaker, a virtual assistant, has been talking about this book for weeks.  "Yeah, I'll read it," I said.  "In my spare time, when I have some...or when I can find it cheap on e-Bay" says Ms. Yeah-Right-Who-Am-I-Kidding (that's me).   

So, I came home from a morning appointment today, tired, wondering how to keep up with this growing shortbread business and needing a nap or an IV of caffeine, lo and behold, in my mailbox, was a GIFT package from Amazon.com from none-other than the fabulous Ms. Toothaker!  How cool is that?  I love surprises! 

So, I'm figuring if Donna loves this book enough to send it to me, I need to pay attention.  I am making a commitment to read it for 1/2 hour each morning as part of my beginning of the day work routine.  I vow to focus, make notes, and give my honest opinion. 

Most of all, I'm just grateful I have friends who want to support me along this wild and weird full time entrepreneurial path.  I've been a maniac lately.  And I have to be - growing Vermont Shortbread Company is like raising a child.  I do what I have to do...and it currently takes me a lot more than 4 hours a week. 

So, to Donna of 1stVA and all my other independent, creative friends out there, I raise a mojito (forget it, make that a diet Coke - I need to stay awake and sober through the weekend) to YOU! 

Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin

I recently picked up this foodie book on Half.com as inspiration for my own food writing career.   A wonderful travel companion, this book was perfect for the long flight to Las Vegas last week.  It consists of short essays that are easily digestible for this attention-challenged weary, hungry traveler. 

Colwin died unexpectedly in 1992.  I believe this book came out in the late '80s, but don't quote me on an exact date.  Her irreverent sense of humor about "fancy" food inspired my own fried Twinkie versus foie gras tome (not finished yet).   I suspect if Colwin was still alive she'd be laughing right along beside me at the ostentatiousness of some of the Las Vegas eateries I observed.  I suspect she would have agreed with my belief that great food experiences aren't about price or presentation; they're about company, conversation, and sometimes even laughing your head off at a truly horrible (albeit memorable) meal you created. 

Like me, Colwin eschews gourmet gadgets.  She writes about how she made due in a tiny NYC apartment with nothing more than a few mixing bowls, a two-burner electric stove, cheap cookware, and a bathtub that doubled as a kitchen sink.  Ah, yes, this reminds me of my own New York days and the theme dinners my ex and I threw (a poverty party, a cholesterol lovers' meal, a comfort food party).  Yes, that was the good old age of foodie virginity.  We were fresh out of college, healthy, and we didn't give a hoot about nutritional labels. (I still don't :-)   

Almost every chapter in the book contains a recipe.  Beef tea was my fave.  What the heck is beef tea?  It's simply a broth, perfect for this time of year and more effective than over-the-counter drugs for a cold or flu.  Even her recipe writing style appeals to me with her editorial comments and inexact measurements that allow the reader to make it up as she goes along. 

I didn't finish the book on the flight home, but it's in my briefcase, just waiting for that next time I have to sit for 15 minutes in a dentist's waiting room or I have time to kill between meetings and want to sit in a coffee shop, sipping my cafe au lait and looking mysterious. 

Colwin's style is simple, elegant, gently humorous and best of all...inspired me to get crackin' on my own food business and my food memoir. 

Yours,

Annizee of Vermont Shortbread Company

The Translucent Revolution by Arjuna Ardagh

I've locked myself in my reading room with a glass of wine tonight to start a new book.  One chapter in and I'm enthralled.  I don't think I can say it better than the overview on the web site www.translucents.org:

"There is a growing phenomenon happening throughout the world, a gentle but profound revolution in human consciousness. It is something that has been experienced directly by millions of everyday people from all walks of life and the numbers continue to multiply exponentially. The breakthroughs they have experienced are startlingly similar and are marked by a new sense of well-being, increased joy in life, diminished fear, and a natural impulse to serve and contribute to the world in a real way.

For more than a decade, author Arjuna Ardagh has studied this worldwide advance in human consciousness marked by what he calls “translucents” — individuals who have undergone a spiritual awakening deeply enough that it has permanently transformed their relationship to themselves and to reality while allowing them to remain involved in ordinary life. According to conservative estimates, millions have shifted in this way, and while the breakthrough moments themselves don’t guarantee sustained transformation, their increased frequency is remarkable.

The Translucent Revolution draws on the author’s dialogues with thousands of writers, teachers, and workshop participants around the world who have been touched by a radical awakening, and whose lives emanate translucence. He blends observation, anecdote, and research, including commentaries from leading pioneers in the field of human consciousness like Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, and Neale Donald Walsch, to offer simple, concrete strategies for cultivating a translucent way of life. The Translucent Revolution offers a blueprint for positive change and an optimistic perspective on these uncertain times."

What I'm Reading

Here's my inspirational read of the week.  What's yours? 

In Praise of Slowness : How A Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed by Carl Honore

Those who know me know that the corporate culture of speed and information overload stresses me out to no end.  In fact,  I'm wondering if there should be a new medical diagnosis for information age-induced anxiety because I think I have it! 

Those who know me also know I am no Luddite.  I love technology.  Writing about microelectronics is what has paid my mortgage for years.  I couldn't function without my Palm Pilot and I met my life partner on the internet.  I can't remember how I earned a degree in English literature plunking out long term papers armed only with a library card, a portable Sears electric typewriter, a ruler so I could figure out how to space the footnotes, and those infamous white-out strips. This techno-nerd is grateful for the business opportunities and growth the internet, blogging, online networking, and podcasting have provided for her. Darn, I love technology!   

What I don't love is feeling forced to process all the information that comes flowing at me right this minute.  I periodically refuse to use instant messaging software in my full time job.  It distracts me and I find it invasive to my creative process as a writer (yes, even technical writers have a creative process).  I believe that co-workers abuse it and depend on it to the extreme. 

I believe that as Americans in the 21st century many of us believe we deserve to have it all and we deserve to have it right now.  We don't know how to do nothing. Doing nothing is frowned upon as laziness. We are impatient. We don't like to wait. Ever try to meditate and find that it's impossible to just empty your mind and observe what comes floating in?  The more you try to empty your mind, the more your to-do list yells at you?  I do believe that to make room for new ideas and thoughts, we have to periodically empty out the crap by doing nothing.      

For me, slowness isn't about moving at a snail's pace.  It's about mindful moving one small step at a time.  It's about balance.  Years ago, I ran my first marathon in an attempt to exorcise the "Ann is not athletic" gremlins.  I finished in 4 hours.  Not fast, not terribly slow, but steady, dependable and consistent.  I could have run 100 miles at that pace.  It was the right pace for me. 

A few years later, my daughter was born.  She was two weeks overdue by the time she finally decided to arrive (she's a slow and steady soul too).  Twenty-seven hours of slow labor and I gave birth at home in the middle of the living room, drug-free and intervention-free. I even refused to read the experts' books about pregnancy and breastfeeding because I figured my body probably knew how to do it without reading a book.  It was the right and healthy pace for me and my child.  Childbirth was a defining moment in my life that gave me the courage to begin listening to and trusting my own inner voice. 

I want to grow my business and live my life like I ran the marathon and like I give birth.  My way.  Is it possible to grow your business slooooooowly and achieve financial wealth my way in today's speed demon culture?  I don't know yet.  I'll have to get back to you on that. 

I didn't know until recently that there were others like me out there until I read Honore's book.  Now the slow movement is popping up everywhere, particularly as it pertains to food (http://slowfood.com) which delights and inspires me as a specialty food business owner whose product is designed around sensual and slow enjoyment of a special, simple, and elegant treat. 

Now I'm applying the principles to my business growth and my personal life.  I'm not after explosive.  I'm after meaningful, debt-free, consistent, dependable, and enduring. 

Of course, I realize that slow isn't right for everyone.  One friend suggests humans are adapting to the increasing streams of information and demands on our time.  Our children may be far better at multitasking without stress than we are.  Who am I to say if that's a good thing or not?  Time will tell. 

What I've gotten from this book is that I am not alone.   We still have a limited life span and there are still 24 hours in a day for all of us.  Our bodies still require sleep and nutrition.  How we fill the rest of the time is a choice that we all must make for ourselves. 

I'm looking for the balance between sorting through all the information that flies my way and consulting the wise slow soul within who knows exactly how to process the most important pieces when she slows down and listens.  I can't listen to my intution and physically move at warp speed simultaneously. 

If you're a slow entrepreneur or if you're afflicted with "information age-induced anxiety" like me, read this book.  Arm yourself with a highlighter and read slowly.  Savor the words as you would a special meal.  Chew slowly on each word and observe the plethora of flavors and textures without judgment or expectation. Accompany with your favorite beverage.  Delight in that full-without-being-stuffed feeling that all is as it should be. 

And have some Vermont shortbread if you have room for dessert.