Why did I choose design/build as our career?

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• I like to create and the creative process.. I love being challenged by a problem, and then coming up with a solution. I love seeing something I design come to reality. I love looking at a beautiful new kitchen or room addition or office space and thinking: “I did that.”
• What we do makes the world a better place. I believe that, and you should too, that the work architects do actually makes our clients’ lives better. It might be that we make their lives easier merely from a functional standpoint (aging-in-place features, for example). It may be that what we create is so magnificent it is a source of pride for our clients.
• Ego (now we have gotten to the bottom line!). What we do is very tangible. It is easy to see the results of our work…good or bad. While I am very self-motivated and take pride when I think I do excellent work, it is certainly nice to have our work applauded from clients, from the community at large, and from peers.

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We all have different motivations. Indeed, there are many legitimate reasons, and I have thought long and hard about why I chose to enter this challenging and rewarding world. I have come up with three reasons.

If you are like me, that professional recognition from peers is extremely important. I see a general desire within the world of design/build to become recognized and respected as professionals within the greater design community.

Brilliant work is a function of two things: creative design and flawless execution. That flawless execution generally means leading a diverse project team, whose members often have competing goals.

We recently assembled a large team to bring a fairly complex project to reality. The team includes an architect, interior designer, kitchen designer, landscape architect, audio/video specialist, civil engineer and the remodeling contractor. We meet every two weeks to work through design issues. How does changing the grade along the exterior affect the landscaping plan or ingress and egress out of the house? Should the hardscaping material used throughout the exterior be brought into the interior of the screened porch?

Everyone has a valid point in the discussion and we use each other as sounding boards on all ideas.

This leads me back to the initial thoughts in this column and one of the reasons we are in the design/build profession: to help in the creative process. So now is your chance to be involved in the creative process for this project.

As you can see, I have drawn two solutions for this project. One has the Kitchen facing the backyard with a small Den off to the side. The other swaps the Den and Kitchen.

Let me know what you think and why. I will report back in a future column and recognize some of your solutions. After all, recognition is another reason we are in this profession. Looking forward to your great thoughts.

Preliminary Plan ‘A’

Preliminary Plan ‘B’

“There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.” Mother Teresa

The post Why I Do What I Do! appeared first on Michael Menn Ltd. Architecture-Construction-Excellence.

My response? Do you have one hour a week? That’s the small amount of time I commit to defining my priorities and setting time boundaries — and the benefits are remarkable.

Even if your hectic schedule seems beyond your control, devote just one hour to slowing down and ordering your life around what matters most. When you do this, you’ll become more aware of the opportunities awaiting you and how to seize them.

How should you spend this hour? There are two key tasks:

1. Define Your Core Values

Your core values are the fundamental life principles that are most meaningful to who you are and what is most important. For example, my main core value is family. If you’re not clear about what yours are, your life can move in directions that are a waste of your time.

When you use your core values as the benchmark for all your decisions, you can quickly and easily simplify your life. So start off your hour by putting these values in focus, examining your commitments and saying “no” to those you are not passionate about.

[su_quote]“If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.” Roald Dahl [/su_quote]

2. Clean Out Your Physical Space

Next, create more space to pursue your passions by getting rid of the distractions around you. We all hang on to stuff we don’t use — unworn clothes, things in drawers, gadgets sitting on shelves — that doesn’t support our values and pulls us away from life’s meaningful interactions with family and friends.

By donating or giving away all the material things you do not need, you gain mental and emotional energy to pursue your passions. Simply put, if something doesn’t truly matter to you, let it go — and be brutal about it.

I recommend you start one room at a time, beginning with the rooms you spend the most time in. Clean and organize what is left, and move on to the next room. It may take a few months, even a year, but do work on it each week. With every item you release, you’re opening up more possibilities for the relationships and experiences that count.

[su_quote]“Happiness can only be found if you free yourself from all other distractions.” – Saul Bellow [/su_quote]

Each of us has clutter in our lives that holds us back from becoming who we want to be and achieving our desires. What is holding you back? What can you start doing today to begin living simply, mindfully and most important – passionately.

I would love to hear from you about how you removed clutter from your lives and living environment.

Remember I’m always eager to hear your comments. Contact me at Michael@michaelmenn.com or at 847.770.6303.

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