I do not believe a man can ever leave his business. He ought to think of it by day and dream of it by night.
— Henry Ford
That has certainly been true in my life. To me, business has been something deeply ingrained in my life. For many years, I wrote code on Christmas Day, New Years Day, Independance Day, and many other holidays.
Yes, I loved it that much.
I would do events I called “24-hour weekends” where I would start coding at 7 AM each morning and go straight until 7 PM on both Saturday and Sunday — two twelve hours days. And then I would resume my normal 60-hour week on Monday morning at 5:30 AM. That’s how much I loved my business.
Things have changed a little since I’ve gotten older. Economic downturns turn you hard. Turn you bitter. Make you cynical. And you say, “What good was all that work?” So yes… I’ve had times where I’ve quit and vowed never to do that again. I’ve actually quit my business several times. But like a dog to his vomit, I’ve always returned. And after doing that a dozen times, I guess I’m here for the duration — a lifer.
I still love my business. The current economic doldrums put a severe throttle on my work efforts. It’s awfully hard to put your life into something (and that’s what Henry was really saying in the quote above) when customers don’t reciprocate with any degree of appreciation. But I still work hard. I might even pull a few of those 24-hour weekends from time to time just to remind myself of the love I still have for my business.