Ownership

I have never had anything against dandelions, and I suppose I still don't but this summer when I looked out on the lawn and saw them blooming everywhere it kind of annoyed me and I thought “I can do something about that.” So I did. For the last two weeks I have spent between 15 and 25 minutes pulling dandelions out of the lawn. I'm surprised at how well it actually worked. When I started I stayed within a ten foot radius crawling around on my knees, last time I did it I spent quite a bit of the time walking around looking for them. Which brings me to two main points. First, small and simple things are effective, even just for a few minutes a day. Second: Ownership. Feeling ownership over something makes a big difference and that ownership can come from chance, or choice. Before when my Mom asked me to pick dandelions I did, but it was more just a chore than me actually caring how things would work out, and whether I got rid of them all or not. This time because I choose to care, I did. I find that to be the case in a lot of situations, it's kind of amazing what a difference it can make. When I feel ownership I tend to be more diligent, I care more, and I'm more responsible. So here are two other examples:

Toy Bank: My brother picked it out for me and gave it to me for Christmas when I was about seven. It makes me sad when my nieces and nephews make the door fall off or clog the coin chute, and other toys that we have around some equally old and equally remembered but never “mine” I don't care about quite as much.

Driving Across the Country with my Sister: I've driven (or perhaps more appropriately ridden) across the country numerous times but this time with my sister I did a little less than half the driving, I got one of the two hotel keys every night, and when I wasn't driving I was appeasing children or navigating. I felt more invested and more proud of it as an accomplishment than I have on other trips.