The Work You Do Matters

Transcript

Welcome, beautiful thinkers!

This is a beautiful thought, how your life is already wonderful.

I’d like to talk about the extra effort, the work you do matters, that little extra detail that you put into your work to try to make it that small percentage better, that counts.

I remember when I was working on this project, cryptonomics, and I make these videos explaining concepts about cryptocurrency and personal finance.

And I think those days, they really counted in terms of my oratory, in terms of my videography.

Increasing my ability, because a lot of the time, something would happen, especially I would find it would be in the editing process, I was putting the finishing touches on a video.

And I thought, “Hmm, there is that little thing wrong with this, like, maybe there’s not that extra clip, or that extra meme in the video that makes it a little more funny or charming or entertaining for the audience, or that sound effect that doesn’t quite line up.” Or whatever it was. It was only some tiny detail.

And I thought to myself, while I’d said in advance, this is the key thing, you know, when we plan, we plan in advance, when we commit ourselves in advance, it makes it easier to make these little decisions that come up.

So when I began the project, I said to myself, if I can do that little extra bit, that’s going to make this video or this article, or whatever it is, this tiny bit better, then I’m going to do it.

Because this is a project committed to excellence, I am committed to excellence.

And so when I was in that situation, the video would have that little defect that probably 99% of people wouldn’t even notice.

I would say to myself, let me do it right, I am going to do this the correct way.

And that way, I did increase my ability, because of course, we start to notice these little extra things over time, the small efforts that we make compound, and we start to notice extra opportunities to be even better.

The small efforts that we put in today, that precision, that care, treating our projects, as if they are important.

And we might actually be working as employees or contractors, maybe these aren’t our projects that we’re working on. A

nd sometimes we might be tempted to let it slide or you know, once again, if it’s your own project, you might be tempted to let it slide because nobody’s holding you accountable.

So it’s even easier to do that, in that case sometimes.

So, or it’s at least it seems in the short term that nobody’s holding you accountable.

In the long term. We’re all held accountable.

Those are the consequences of our own actions.

That’s karma.

So what happens if we’re working in a job, and we say, you know, maybe I could go this extra mile or this extra inch?

To help this customer out to do this thing to arrange this, this profile or whatever we have to do, you know, make sure the accounts clear up the right way.

If I don’t do it, maybe I can get away with it.

But if I do do it, then it makes a statement to myself.

I affirm that my work is important, that the details of my work are important, then I am committed to excellency, that I will make a difference in the long term with my work.

I don’t know exactly when this expression comes from.

I wonder if it comes from Don Miguel Ruiz, the author of The Four Agreements, modernized the concepts of the ancient Toltec civilization from here and Mesoamerica and he said, “Do your best”, and going beyond that, I would like to say, “The way you do one thing is the way you do everything.”

So, if I noticed that somebody is rushing in the street, when there’s really no reason to hurry, I know that person is likely a hurried person, they probably treat everything with the same lack of care, with the same urge to rush through it.

If they don’t walk with precision, then they probably don’t treat their work with precision, they probably don’t treat their relationships with precision, with care with the certain amount of weight that is beneficial to handle, it seems with, and they might let things slide, because they’re willing to move on to the next thing-

It’s always next thing, next thing, next thing, this type of choleric personality type.

I know that.

Likewise, when it comes to our work, we put in the effort.

When we change one thing, when we treat one aspect of our work with respect, with detail, with precision, then it starts to extend into other areas of our lives.

Because we sharpen our ability to notice or perspicacity, our observation, our discernment, we can use these abilities in every area of our life, our attention to detail, treating things seriously, as the old saying goes, “If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.”

And this goes back in ancient traditions, especially in China.

We have books today, like the art of war, the classics of the Dao, and other classics.

And the reason that part of the reason that these books are so well regarded today is because the Chinese, in their academic tradition or in their poetic tradition, in their intellectual tradition, they had this concept, that a thing must not only be practical, it must be beautiful.

These things are to go together.

If something is to truly be practical, then it must be beautiful, of course, because we are humans, and we are going to interact with these things on the basis of their aesthetics.

So when our work can inspire us when we can take joy in the details, making it wonderful.

That counts.

No matter what you do.

If you were digging a hole, or laying a brick, as Paul Newman once mentioned in a monologue, the work you do matters, the way you handle your work.

The joy and the care matters.