The Float Conference has come and gone, but if this last year is any indication, it will come around again in what seems like no time at all. Sometimes, even the last four years seem like they’ve only been a few months. Other times, I can’t remember a life that’s not immersed in floating.

Perhaps, like in the tank, time has simply ceased to work in the same way.

The guests I met last year, this year are welcome and returning friends. It was an absolute pleasure seeing everyone, new and old, and it will be amazing celebrating with everyone again in another year (I’m already excited for the people who I won’t meet ’til next August). I left with a deepened love and passion for our industry, which is clearly rising on a swift and salty tide.

I’ve written the introduction to the conference program for three years in a row now, and each year I like to share it on our blog. For those of you who didn’t make it out, here are a few of my thoughts on the work that float center owners do, and the way that we do it. I’ll see you next year.

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Welcome to the 2014 Float Conference!

This is the third year that we’ve gathered here in Portland to celebrate and further our understanding of Nothing. It has been a pleasure over the last year to watch so many new centers opening, not just in the US, but all over the world. It’s a pleasure to see growth in all parts of the industry, from manufacturers to bloggers to franchises to national news coverage. It’s a pleasure, for that matter, to see the growth of this very conference.

All of these things mean that anyone entering the industry now is going to have a much easier time of it than those of us who have come before. I have a strong suspicion that this will remain true for anyone delving into floatation from here on out. Every day there are more resources for float centers, more paths for the general populace to discover floating, and of course, more people getting in the tanks.

This last part is the main thing. It means more stability and better word-of-mouth, but most importantly it means more people getting in the tanks. Which means more people are getting helped, sometimes dramatically. Which means more people talking about floating, and more people scheduling time in the tanks, and even more people being helped, and so on out into infinity.

This is important, and it’s why, although I have started several companies in the past, I imagine that I will stay involved with float tanks for a very long time – likely out into infinity as well (or as close as I’ll get within my limited human bounds). It’s crucial in this life to make sure that your work generates enough resources to pursue those things that you love, and that bring you joy. This is often much less, in a monetary sense, then the myths that our consumerist culture might have you believe.

Even more crucial is ensuring that your work is an end unto itself. That the effort that you put into the world is something that you can take pride in. Something that truly helps people and, to paraphrase campsite rules, leaves the planet a better place than you found it. It is fortunate that we don’t need to decide between the two: between making a good living and doing good in the world. I have found this synthesis in the float tanks, and I imagine if you are reading this, that you have as well (or, if you’re not already involved in the industry, that you suspect it is what might lie ahead).

For the last four years I’ve devoted my life to floating.

I, and others on the Float On team, work an average of 70-80 hours a week. This spikes to over 100 hours a week during construction projects or, as is currently the case, during Conference week. To most people this sounds either preposterous or exhausting. It is, I willingly admit, a bit absurd, but it is not exhausting for two chief reasons. The first, of course, is that all of us float regularly. The second, which I have spoken about at previous conferences, is that what we do can hardly be classified as work.

We are doing what we love, and the idea that there should be a differentiation between our work time and our free time is fundamentally perverse. It is a common frame of mind, but one that is neither beneficial to adopt, nor that maps very well to reality. As Janis Joplin keenly pointed out, we think of time in terms of ‘today’ and ‘tomorrow’ – it’s all just the same day. The life that you’re living now is the same one you’ll be living a week from now. The work that you’re doing and the vacation you’re planning are likewise indistinguishable.

Saying that we ‘work’ for a set number of hours a week was a bit of a misleading way to phrase it. We live. That is all. If living, in whatever form it takes, brings you more stress than joy, you should strongly consider changing something. In these cases, I recommend nominating yourself as the first candidate for change; I have made a habit of this myself, and it rarely steers me wrong.

I also recommend going for a series of long floats. These two pieces of advice are not unrelated.

And if you find yourself struggling, reach out to us. Give us a phone call. Shoot off an email. Whether it’s information or inspiration you need, we’re always happy to help, however we can.

Welcome to a magical weekend, to a magical time in this industry, and with a little luck and a fair amount of what normal people call ‘work,’ a magical life.

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Graham Talley
Co Founder, Float On