The future of [my] work: part 1
Entering my 40s with a 20/20 vision
There are no shortage of articles prognosticating on what the future of work is — and is not. This is not one of those articles.
Rather, this is a personal essay about what works and doesn’t work for me in my relationship to my work. In part 1, I will focus on what works.
In future installments, I would like to explore what doesn’t work and what concrete steps I am taking to ensure my work works for me; for my health; and for my loved ones.
I would also like to venture back in time to make sense of the current moment in time. My Time Travel / Leslie Bradshaw Archives projects will aid in this self discovery and if anything worth sharing emerges, I will.
Along with many other voices, I have, at times, documented accents — and descents — up mountainsides in my career; in my body; and the interplay between the two. I plan to reflect on these from a sort of self-history (her-story) meets personal archeologist lens in future writings. The plan may change. But for now, this is my vision.
And so, today, I share a poem I wrote in the park on Tuesday June 8th while I waited for my mom to pick me up. It is available visually on SlideShare here and below; as well as in written form below.
All photographs featured are my own licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
The future of my work
is working in four dimensions,
with six senses.
The future of my work
is directing my lunch money away from $14 salads,
towards food trucks powered by entrepreneurial immigrants
and graduates of schooling
who want to make vegan carrot fries in lieu of a desk job.
The future of my work
slows me down long enough to realize
I have rituals tucked away
hidden in plain sight
(hidden in the Rx’ing and go faster’ing
multiplied by mach-one-accelerating
you know, like when you were tripl3 digit startup scaling).
And when I slow down, the beauty of my color-coding, time-stamping, and
cross-referencing pulls back a red velvet rope to the Narnia of my mind.
The future of my work
sees that I secure my oxygen mask
and spend an awful lot of allotted time outside in nature
so that my eyes are not so strained
and my schedule is not so jammed
so that the things that matter in life don’t get canceled on ever again.
The future of my work
is neither contained on
nor solely breathed through…
a computer;
a screen;
anything Matrixed;
anything that flattens nuances,
or aims to trick my senses.
The future of my work
is rhythmic with nature.
I no longer have to amp myself up
with dozens of milligrams of caffeine
to jump start my brain.
I rise with the sun.
In the future, my work
flows from an aligned body and mind.
I work with my hands in real deal three-dee.
I work the land, no need to debate 8k vs. 4k technologies (oh geez).
I respect the land and animals with the heart of my ancestors.
I am not above nature, here to control it. I am one with it.
I empathize, I know it. It’s not just about: grow, grow, GROW IT!
The future of my work
takes me back in time to
what worked so well
in college (quiet, focus, depth, passion),
in collage’ing, flower-arranging…
storyboarding with notecards, 2005 Dr. John McLaughin’ing.
For my future to work, it’s gotta be
Pressed flowers and papier-mâché’ing,
1987 Mary Ellen Peterson’ing.
Student leadership-running, TI-84-programming,
tank-top-strap-ban countering with ACLU armed arms,
take-it-to-the Office Max’ed poster’ing,
JCHS Leslie Ann Squared dream-teaming.
Servant-heart-serving,
prom-plane co-piloting,
4H sheep-raising,
Kenny G sax-playing,
no-saddle intuitive-rider-riding.
Researching, writing,
bright-light-shining
around that which mattered then
and now even more, mourning to morning.
About the Author
Leslie Ann Bradshaw-Baskett is sixth generation farmer, serial entrepreneur, and burgeoning philosopher. She is a proud graduate earning the highest honors from both Junction City High School and the University of Chicago, respectively.
Leslie works full time for a company named for the combination of breaking the sound barrier and for the gold rushers of 1849: Mach49. She also executive coach-mentors through the ExCo Leadership Group, a premiere firm focused on helping boards, executives, and teams unlock their full leadership potential and deliver high-impact performance for their enterprises.
Additionally, Leslie farms in the summer and fall with her family at Bradshaw Vineyards, which is a premium Pinot Noir vineyard in the Willamette Valley committed to being good stewards and preservationists of the land and ecosystem in which it farms. Leslie Ann is based in Oregon, with a side of New York’s East Village and dash of the Caribbean’s Dominican Republic.
