In Part III of this series, I let young, female celebrities bear the brunt of my wrath. It’s easy to pick on Paris, Britney and Lindsay to make a point, but I need to aim above belt—or the silicone, in this case—to really make my point about authenticity. As The New York Times points this out in its latest highbrow-critique-as-journalism piece that could very well have been called, “Why Saturday Night Live Sucks Now,” monoliths with such a venerated past as SNL should pick on people their own size, not the Tara Reids of the world. Maybe I should follow suit.
I’ll start by picking on us mortals—those who have to work regularly for a living, who aren’t waking up each day to go work out with a trainer or have a session with their guru-in-residence. I’m talking people like you and me, who need to earn a living, to do our socioeconomic duty, to look busy.
Have I missed any other reasons why we bother to work?
Sure there are some of us who LOVE what we do, but, sadly, most of us don’t. If I wasn’t still on vacation I could drum up some numbers for you that show how most people don’t discover their life’s work. Rather, they send resumes to companies for jobs that they can likely do blindfolded. Then they show up for the interview seeming as sane as possible and hopefully get hired.
Those that are “successful” show acumen at something, build a reputation, and are often recruited to fill a position. These people tend to make good money, which, as I’ve said 1,001 times on this blog, is often misinterpreted as a sign that their job is their purpose.
I can’t imagine God, or some higher power with the grand plan that is YOUR PURPOSE, gluing together the molecules that are to be you and thinking to him/herself, “And this one shall hit homeruns” or, “and this one shall close sales.” Rather, a larger purpose was generated that gave us talents and interests of very broad sorts—the ability to analyze, to inspire, to communicate—that somehow lend themselves to skill sets.
Witness John Wood, formerly of Microsoft, who, flush with cash, quit his high executive position and now nurses his baby, Room to Read, a not-for-profit group that builds schools and libraries and provides books and scholarships to Asian children. Perhaps some of those business skills that he acquired helped him expand his enterprise, perhaps not. In either case, his job was not a waste of time; it put him in a position to better leverage his purpose.
How about you? Why are you building that resume? To make more money doing something that you do not love? To maintain a lifestyle that you suddenly found yourself living, but that you never actually chose? To, hopefully, eventually, get the respect that you feel you need to make a difference?
I suppose it’s naïve to insist that we must think about our purpose and work towards it at all times. We still need to do mundane things, like upload software, clean the grout in between our bathroom tiles. Plus, as I am better understanding while reading Eckhart Tolle, thinking gums up the channels to understanding such things as purpose, happiness, and oneness with the world.
Still, we need to maintain an awareness of meaning. And this is where I start to climb my high horse. An athlete scores a multi-million-dollar contract after having an outstanding season; an actress wins an Academy Award; a woman becomes a newly minted CEO. The external reward hints at their acumen—maybe even at luck or connections—but not at their purpose. Once these people reach these career heights, they are given a new place from which to affect the world, but as far as I’m concerned, these people are not done.
There are politicians, athletes, celebrities and prominent businesspeople who have leveraged their success for something more. Think Lance Armstrong, think Anita Roddick, think Audrey Hepburn when she was still alive, think Oprah Winfrey. It’s hard to throw sarcastic little stones at these people; they gained acclaim, and they earned lots of money, but they were also authentic, saw that they were meant to serve, and earned our respect.
Over the past few days I’ve tried to think of examples of people who the world considers truly great, who are (or were) uniquely talented at something and who did not also somehow fulfill a higher purpose. In some cases, such as Gandhi’s, the fulfillment of their purpose is that made them great. Michael Jordan is best known for his talent, but we venerate him because of the model of determination, humility and grace that he brought to the game.
Now think Kobe Bryant. You have to respect his talent, but do you respect the man? Without a purpose other than being the greatest basketball player, or the highest-paid one, he won’t get the piece that he really yearns for; the one he’ll notice is missing when he’s in his mid-40s and wondering what’s next. Fortunately he’ll have the time and resources to think about his legacy. He’ll see that he can’t buy one and perhaps will begin a journey of awareness.
But unfortunately we working stiffs won’t be so lucky. We need to do it now. We need to find what we are happy doing, for pay or for free. If we can’t make money doing it, we need to find ways to make money to support us doing it. We need to bring those worlds closer together—those of inner desire and external necessity—and see how much more the world can yield.
Can someone be the very best seller of widgets that the world has ever known? Sure. But why would you want to be other than for the money? The very best telemarketer for the United Way? Absolutely. Perhaps earning money for charity is a way that you can leverage your persuasive abilites for the greater good. It doesn't matter WHERE you put your talents. Just please, use them.
BAM!! Right on! I've been on a two year spiritual journey that has lead me to understand that my purpose is not to design, draw, paint, act, sing, or write... it is to inspire. Inspiration is the strategy of my purpose, the media are just tactics. I read this and was exhilirated because that's exactly the conclusion I've reached.
Posted by: Dustin | January 05, 2005 at 03:12 PM
Ditto, Dustin; and Brava! Jory.
The challenge of corporate life: Nobody pays me to be a better me. The secret of corporation success? They pay me to be a better me, and I get to bring that person to work. We do a little splorin all the time on this topic over at fouroboros, come share yer thoughts.
mark
Posted by: fouro | January 10, 2005 at 11:09 AM
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Posted by: gold maple leafs | May 30, 2008 at 02:49 PM