On Work

Let’s start off with three iconic quotes on work from three important historical figures.

‍

“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have it.”
-Thomas Jefferson

‍

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
-Thomas Edison

‍

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
-Robert Louis Stevenson

‍

Let’s be honest, work is hard and work is toil. And because of this toil-ish nature to work people avoid it. They run from the toil and cling to distraction. And, as a working-people, we are distracted by many things, things like our hobbies, things like chores (argh, you serious?) and domestic duties and then those shiny-glassy objects in our pockets, our phones. They attract us like a bug to a lamp who aimlessly drones to the light.

‍

Part of our temptation to distraction is the need to feel accomplished. Our move from the fields to the cities has left us doing work that feels un-accomplishable. Our days are filled with endless emails, meetings, moments of clamor and emergency and then the day ends only to wait for us again. It’s no wonder we search for things to accomplish.

‍

We run to the dishes or a basket of clothes or a well-manicured lawn simply to feel the sense that something was undone and now it’s done and I can see it.

‍

WHAT TWO TOMS AND BOB SAYS.

What I love about these three quotes is how they seem to be all touching on a similar theme: hard-work and doing.

‍

And these people were doers, Jefferson created the constitution, Edison the light bulb and Stevenson books.

‍

What makes Thomas Jefferson’s line about luck funny or ironic, however you want to see it, is his sense that luck doesn’t exist. The way he seems to see it, if you do more, you’ll find you’re successful at more. As if it's a numbers game, you’ll be successful 10% of the time, so do more things so that this 10% number is actually significant.

‍

Thomas Edison on the other hand captures what’s missing the way people think about opportunity. The common idea about opportunity is that it either comes or doesn’t. Edison doesn’t think that way, for him, opportunity is created and the way to capture it is with a pair of overalls and a little toil.

‍

And then there is the line by Robert Louis Stevenson, can we just call him Bob? I think his words on work are especially helpful. We become frustrated because we do not have finish lines daily -- as someone who wrote books, he knows this reality all too well. And so he said, “content yourself in progress.” Don’t simply look for the harvest, count the seeds you’ve sown and let that be your motivator.

‍

WORK HARD AND ACCOMPLISH.

Don’t take my word on it, listen to Tom, Tom and Bob: work hard and you’ll accomplish something of importance.

‍

I leave you with three ideas on how to do more better.

‍

First, create a plan to work hard and follow it.

‍

Second, identify your temptations to distraction, then remove them.

‍

Third, keep your long-term goals in focus, it’ll help you understand why what you’re doing in that moment is important.

‍