2025 · originally posted on LinkedIn
Fortunate indeed are those who have a top-level goal so consequential to the world that it imbues everything they do, no matter how small or tedious, with significance.
Consider the parable of the bricklayers. Three bricklayers are asked, "What are you doing?" The first says, "I am laying bricks." The second says, "I am building a church." And the third says, "I am building the house of God." The first bricklayer has a job. The second has a career. The third has a calling. That excerpt is from Dr. Angela Duckworth's book Grit.
I keep coming back to whether having that kind of purpose creates greater joy, resilience, efficiency, and care in the work itself. Bricks will always have weight and muscles will always become tired and sore, even with maximal purpose. That's not really the point though.
The point is finding meaningful work, and for those of us leading teams, being obsessed with helping create an environment where those bricks really mean something.