What Do You Do In Your Job?

What do you do in your job? First, the exact combination of attributes you are looking for does not exist in any job. Second, even if, by some miracle, it did exist and you could find it, it would be no more than a few months before you were as sick and miserable in it as you are right now. Passion does not exist in the job. It is futile to search frenetically for that perfect position. Paradoxically, when you discover the truth of this and begin to kindle the blaze within yourself, the external world rearranges itself to bring you what you seek and usually much faster than you expected. Joey came to his new country with many handicaps. He did not know the language. He did not understand the culture. He had no money and no friends or relatives to rely on. He missed the food and the music and the fellowship of his homeland. He gritted his teeth and got a menial job washing dishes in a roadside diner. He anchored the bridge they all crossed into a strange land where they set down roots and flourished.

The Night Will Always Win

You have certainly heard some variant of this story and may even know someone who is like Joey. The answer is simple, and you already know it. Joey was never really washing dishes or doing menial tasks. When he was washing dishes, he was actually helping his kids get an education and enabling them to build a life far better than he could ever have conceived for himself. That is what kept him going and provided the fuel his rocket used to take off. Take five minutes and write it down. Now look at what you’ve written. If you have described what you do in functional terms, such as I make pro forma balance sheets and income statements and reconcile them, I devise marketing strategies for new products, or I sell widgets to companies that are in the energy business, then you are burnt out or on the way to being burnt out. Do you, perchance, work in the accounting department of a large pharmaceutical firm? A beautiful woman was in a terrible accident. Her face went through the windshield, and there were lots of glass fragments embedded in the jagged tears in her skin. The sutures your company makes were used by the plastic surgeon to help her get her beauty back. The stent your company makes gave him a chance to live a normal life again.

Is There Anybody Out There?

It is not enough for you to know all this intellectually. You have to feel it at a very deep level. You are part of an organization that helps distressed people in significant ways. How do they benefit the ultimate customer? Make a list of these benefits. Go out and actually visit customers and see them smile. Take a field trip and see the products at work. Know that the lives of tens of thousands of people are improved in some small way because of the company of which you are a part. It is your job to help thaw this dysfunction and help generate movement toward genuine service. This effort is crucial for you. You’re doing it for you, not for the company, not for your boss, not for your colleagues. Do you want to be stuck in a dreary round of meaningless tasks that drive you to utter boredom, or would you like to be the change agent who sparks a movement that energizes everyone else? As you start out eagerly on this mission, you will run into roadblocks such as people who are unmoving in their lethargy and resistance, uncaring bureaucracy, and lack of resources. Don’t let any of them steal your enthusiasm.

Breaking Point

You can remain as fresh and eager as you were on the day you started. You can remain cheerfully upbeat if you invest in the process and not the outcome. In the Indian mythological epic The Ramayana, Rama was about to embark on the final battle with the demon Ravana, who had abducted Rama’s wife, Sita, and was holding her captive. He had to cross a sea to reach the enemy fortress, and an immense causeway was being constructed. She went to the beach and rubbed her head in the sand, then went to the sea and shook her head so the grains of sand fell off. She did this again and again. The laborers and larger animals who were busy carrying great boulders pointed at her and guffawed, but she persisted. Rama himself came to see what the fuss was about and was so moved by her devotion that he stroked her head. She instantly became enlightened. That is the choice you have every day. But if you persist in taking your few grains of sand, dropping them into the sea, and relaxing into the knowledge that you are doing the best you can in a worthwhile cause, the task itself will bless you, and you will find joy welling up from within you. Remember that there is no winning or losing. When you sincerely make the effort, you win every time. What do you notice? Sometimes the consequences are painful. It leads to ruptured relationships and even divorce. It holds you back from a promotion and could even cause you to be fired. The really funny thing is that despite the many ways you become frustrated by the results of this single habit, you almost never recognize that you played a central role in creating your misfortune. Sometimes this habit works in your favor. More often it does not, and the result can be very sad, even traumatic. It is probably the single most important factor in the estrangement between parents and children and between spouses. It has an equally powerful effect on business relationships with subordinates, peers, and bosses. Are you curious about what this habit is? I thought you might be that! We all think we see the world as it is.