PhotoCredit: WakeUp
In a future gazing moment the other day I asked Mark if he thought Tom Hanks will run for President? I had just read an article about the most beloved one that felt like political positioning.
“President?” Mark replied. “Maybe Senator, but don’t you think that job would completely bore him? It’s hardly the most exciting job in the world.”
Once upon a time, being a movie star seemed so much fun. Mark and I then reminisced about #theonetime we both were on sets. Mark, as always, has the cooler story. He worked on RoboCop 2. I was part of a crowd on a commercial.
Once upon a time, I thought being a singer would be amazingly fun. Being up late and performing for crowds seemed like the coolest of cool. Now being in bed at 9pm with a good book is my idea of a life well lived. As for crowds <shudder>.
Hours and hours of doing the same thing. Talking, singing, walking (we also determined modelling was not as fabulous as it might otherwise appear). Gosh, what terribly repetitive jobs. How lucky am I that I get to do what I do...which is...hours and hours of doing the same thing.
Much of what I do would bore most people senseless. Mark had the same reflection. He once spent three full days, like eight hour days, sanding a bench smooth. I mean, it was SMOOTH. I mean, talk about boring.
The easy conclusion is that when you love what you do “you’ll never work a day in your life.” The more finessed conclusion is that in the pursuit of mastery, work is elevated beyond notions of exertion. There is no way I would spend three days sanding a piece of wood. There is no way most people could sit in a board meeting for an entire day. Let alone do that three days straight as I sometimes do.
In the pursuit of excellence, the monotonous becomes our craft. The repetition becomes a teacher. Doing the same thing over and over again makes us smarter and stronger. Slowly, but surely, we work towards mastery. And the work continues.