Please enjoy this post from Joe Nagy.
It’s back to work on Monday.
One of the perks of teaching is that you get long holidays over Christmas and New Year, plus spring breaks, and of course a long summer break. I can never complain about a hard day on the job because my wife will always remind me of all the vacations that I get.
The truth is, I am always anxious to get back to work, and I often take work with me on holiday. Half way through a vacation I start to get bored, and begin thinking about what I’ll do when I get back to the classroom.
I thought about why that was, and I concluded that when we go to work, whatever our job, we are always working on ourselves.
The job itself is only a vehicle to master ourselves. Therefore, there is no insignificant job, because any work provides an opportunity to grow.
- If we find that our job is boring, then it is an opportunity to develop our creativity.
- If we find that our boss is a tyrant, then it is an opportunity to develop patience.
- If we find that our co-workers are not contributing their share, then it is an opportunity to develop leadership.
- If our job seems below our expectations, then it is an opportunity to develop our imagination.
- If a job is beyond our abilities, then it is an opportunity to develop persistence.
My wife and I went to a play over the weekend, and it reminded me that an actor and a teacher have very similar jobs: we do the same thing over and over, and yet our audience experiences it for the first time. Therefore the challenge is to perform as if you were doing it for the first time. Each audience deserves the best that you have.
As every actor and teacher will admit, not every performance is up to our highest standards, so we keep reaching for that ultimate performance. When I was a news magazine writer, I gave myself a personal challenge: write a news story that does not need any revisions. I tried for 14 years, and never once wrote a story that afterwards I did not want to rewrite.
I finally concluded that we are never finished. We are never complete. We need to keep on revising and rewriting our story until our last breath.
The Roman philosopher/emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote in his private reflections: “In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present – I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world?”
No job is beneath us, or insignificant, or not worth our best efforts. All work is soul craft.
Just A Thought…
Joe Nagy
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