Is the work worth doing?

“Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

Theodore Roosevelt

How do you know if the work is worth doing? Here are some questions to consider:

  • Does the work positively impact the lives of others?
  • Do you get energy from the work itself?
  • Do you find yourself looking forward to doing more of the work?
  • Do you find yourself satisfied or simply tired at the end of a long hard day?
  • Can you imagine yourself doing the same work next week, next month, next year?

Instead of…

“Do the best you can, with what you have, where you are.”

Theodore Roosevelt

It is easy to spend the finite amount energy we have in our lives worrying about things we cannot control.

Instead of doing our best effort, we try to figure out what is the minimum amount needed to meet the expectations…

Instead of giving praise for what we do have, we compare ourselves to others and what they have…

Instead of focusing on what is right in front of us we worry about what might, or might not, happen…

It can be equally easy to focus on what is right in front of us if we choose to do so. We just have to make the choice to be grateful…

I am grateful that I have an opportunity to use the skills and talents God has blessed me with…

I am grateful for all the gifts and things that I have been blessed with…

I am grateful for the time I have right now to spend doing things I enjoy with people that I care about…

Amazing how gratitude can change your perspective on things…

Would you do it for free?

“Far and away the best prize life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

Theodore Roosevelt

I was having a conversation with someone last week and they asked what I thought was a very powerful and insightful question. That question was “What do you do in your job or profession that you love so much that you would do it for free?”

The reason that I love this question is that it helps you identify the tasks or things that you do that you truly love and enjoy. Hopefully this is a long list for you and your work is filled with activities that you enjoy pouring yourself into. I am blessed that my list is both long and meaningful. It might be hard work, but it is work I love to do.

Worthy work?

“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

Theodore Roosevelt

When do you feel most alive at work? When does the work not feel like work at all but instead is energizing and motivating? I love it when the work is exceptionally hard but is so worth doing that it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice in any way. That is magical. Are you there today? What would it take to capture that feeling?

Who really counts?

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt 

This has long been one of my favorite quotes. I have it inscribed on a plaque in my office to serve as a constant reminder of the power of doing things, of being in the fray instead of timidly sitting on the sidelines. Often it seems that there is so much time and energy spent armchair quarterbacking every action and decision made by others. Those who can do or they just figure out how. Those who can’t are simply bureaucrats who talk about what others could have done better…

How do you want to live your life? Do you want to be in the arena desperately striving to win knowing full well that you will suffer defeats at times and you will have to pick yourself up to fight again? Or are you content being a passive observer of your life with your greatest accomplishment becoming your ability to point fingers and make excuses?

I could kick myself…

“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.”

Theodore Roosevelt

Are you honest enough with yourself to be able to deliver that kick? Can you take 100% ownership and accountability and then do something with it?

Change begins by taking responsibility. Period. If you don’t like something, change it. Don’t bitch, complain, or moan. No one, and I mean no one, wants to hear that crap. It isn’t anyone else’s fault. It’s not the fault of the cosmos or the situation. Dig deep, understand where you contributed, deal with it. If you don’t, then you are going to owe yourself yet another kick…

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dusty

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