MAKE YOUR WORK MEANINGFUL
I'm sure like everyone, you have work to do today. That work might fit into any number of different categories. It might be work you have to do, or it might be work you choose to do. It might be work you love, or it might be work you loathe. It might be work meant to improve your present, or work meant to enhance your future. Stop and consider the work you’ve got in front of you today. Which boxes does it check?
Champions in any area of life set themselves apart in many ways, but one of the most important is their commitment to making their work meaningful. That's a box they are intentional about checking. They give their work purpose and significance. They make it matter. If you want to become someone worthy of winning in any important area of life, I want to challenge and encourage you today to set yourself apart by choosing to do what champions do - by choosing to make your work meaningful, too.
Making your work meaningful is so important because that purpose and significance is what drives authentic achievement. It’s what motivates the champion to do the tough, inconvenient, uncomfortable work that winning requires them to do. In any area of life, it’s not the hard work that burns us out, it’s the meaningless work. That’s why each of us have to make sure we find ways to make what we’re doing today matter. It’s the fuel that takes us where we say we want to go.
So how do you make your work meaningful? It starts with recognizing and appreciating the value of that work that isn't quick, easy, or convenient. The work that fits in those categories - quick, easy, and convenient - pretty much everyone is willing to do. Everyone will do the work that takes minimal time, effort, or attention. Everyone will do the work that provides instant gratification. Everyone will do the work that's exciting, that's self-serving, and that's seen and celebrated. But if everyone’s willing to do it, then how meaningful can it be? The real value and significance lies in that work that isn’t quick, easy, or convenient - in that work most others aren’t willing to do.
The champion’s approach to that work - the work most others won’t do - is what sets them apart and makes them worthy of winning. That's why that work is meaningful. Everyone will do the work that provides instant gratification, but the champions are committed to doing what's necessary, even if the benefits aren't immediate. Everyone will work when they’re praised publicly, but the champions work willingly in private. Champions embrace all of it - even (and I'd argue, especially) the work others consider mundane or boring, the work that benefits others - not just themselves, and the work that doesn’t get the recognition or acknowledgement it deserves. Champions recognize and appreciate the value and significance of that work. So it's worth considering today if that value and significance is obvious to you, and if it's reflected in your approach?
On top of that, you multiply that value and significance when you elevate the priority not only of what you’re doing, but of how you’re doing it. Champions recognize that a full commitment to this work casts yet another vote for the type of person they are working to become, and it separates them even more from their competition. They are determined, as the Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi said, to "autograph their work with excellence." While most people are mindlessly checking the box for completion, champions are working with something to prove. They are never not competing to win.
Here’s the takeaway for you and all that’s in front of you today. Whether it’s work you have to do or work you choose to do, whether it’s work you love or work you loathe, whether it’s work meant to improve your present or meant to enhance your future, your work today does matter…if you make it matter. Even if (and maybe especially if) what you’re doing is tough, inconvenient, or uncomfortable, you should do it knowing full well that most other people won't. You should maximize its value and significance by giving it your full attention and your very best effort, and you should know you're using today to earn the success you say you're after.