“In truth, whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well; and nothing can be done well without attention.”
This quote is familiar to me, though the person who said it is not. Philip Dormer Stanhope was an 18th century British statesman. chiefly remembered as the author of Letters to His Son and Letters to His Godson, which are comprehensive guides to manners, the art of pleasing, and the art of worldly success. (I have never read them).
According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, though, Stanhope’s painstaking advice fell on deaf ears: his son was known for being a misbehaving hooligan, and his godson was remembered for having “as little good breeding as any man I ever met.”
I’ll admit I’ve often been the recipient of well-intentioned advice I chose not to take. Sometimes the advice I did take turned out to be the wrong kind of advice. And sometimes—though this is rare—I wish somebody had given me more advice. I could have used it!
Like why didn’t anybody tell me it probably wasn’t a good idea to major in Biology in college?
My husband always says it’s futile to ask our friends for advice because they’re all just as dumb as we are.
No offense, friends.
So take this next bit of wisdom for what it’s worth. Friend to friend. Luckily, hindsight is 20/20.
MYTH: You need more education, skills, experience, and connections to make it in your industry.
TRUTH: You are uniquely equipped for the work you are doing.
Education, skills, experience, and connections are good, and of course you should work towards acquiring them, but don’t WAIT to acquire them before you begin work. Preparation is overrated. You’ll never feel like you’re ready. Just begin. You’ll be surprised about how easily all those things you think you need fall into place once you begin taking steps in the direction of the work you want to do.
There’s a story in Judges about a man named Gideon who God called to save Israel out of Midian. In the story, Gideon asks God to prove his presence three times. He doesn’t understand why God called him, the “least in his family,” to strike down the Midianites. Gideon feels weak, inadequate, unqualified, and ill equipped. In the midst of this crisis of character, “The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” (emphasis mine).–Judges 6:14 Like Gideon, I have often felt weak, inadequate, unqualified, and ill equipped. And when I do, this is the verse I replay over and over in my head. “Go in the strength you have….”
In the beginning, that’s where your responsibility lies.
MYTH: If it’s meant to be, it’ll be easy.
TRUTH: If you’re doing your work well, it will be challenging—in a good way!
Tom Morkes (influence blogger and founder of the “Pay What You Want” method) said “doing anything well takes time…A lot of time…And a lot of sacrifice…And a lot of struggle…And a lot of small or insignificant progress…And a lot of time failing…and the rest of the time feeling like a failure.”
Preach it, Tom!
I think there’s a misconception that if we’re doing work we love, then the work should be easy. Fun. Profitable. Even popular.
In 2014, my friend Ginny and I launched a nonprofit called Forever We. Creative entrepreneurs often describe their work as an affront against the Enemy (a.k.a. the Resistance with a capital R.) And it’s true: Work, according to my old Physics textbook, is the exertion of force OVERCOMING resistance.
(For more on that concept, read the War of Art by Steven Pressfield.)
For five years, Forever We felt like one long uphill battle, but I never—not once—felt like it wasn’t work worth doing. So much resistance. So much sacrifice. So much disappointment. So much joy.
And so much growth.
Even now, more than a year after ending it, I will occasionally receive a note from someone who was touched by the work we did. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
And it was worth it.
MYTH: You can control the future with a tight fist.
TRUTH: The only way to live is open-handed.
Ten years ago, I bought this little iron paperweight that rests on the desk in my office. It’s shaped like a pair of open hands and functions as a small altar that reminds me I am but a steward of all that’s been entrusted to me. An open hand can give as well as it can receive. Ironically, just last month, the shop where I purchased that small paperweight gave me one of the most generous gifts I have ever received. Every time I look at the little pair of hands, I feel a nudge in my heart to give thanks. We often don’t know what good will come from the work we do, but if we’re open-handed with the results, blessings abound.
I read recently that a job is what you do, but your work is who you are. I’ve had many “jobs” over the course of my life, some life-giving and some that made me feel like I was drowning. All that time, though, I was becoming something. Open-handed with the good and the bad. With the things I wanted to do and the things I had to do.
BONUS:
The best advice I ever received about work was this:
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”
So many people think about jobs and work as the same thing. They’re not. A job is just a way to make money. A job is all about us and what we think we’re worth—as if that “work ” we’re doing was made for us instead of the other way around.
THE TRUTH IS WE WERE MADE FOR WORK.
Work worth doing points people to heaven. It’s not about us. It never was.