Why Stonemasons?

I am not sure if you are familiar with the name Simon Sinek. If you are not, look the guy up. He has been on TED Talks, he is a great author, and one hell of a thinker. He presents his ideas well, and he has pretty good ones at that. He talks about leaders a lot, but I believe his thoughts can help all of us find some clarity in the days that we spend here.

In his book “Start with Why” you can find this excerpt:

“Consider the story of two stonemasons. you walk up to the first stonemason and ask, ‘Do you like your job?’ He looks up at you and replies, ‘I’ve been building this wall for as long as I can remember. The work is monotonous. I work in the scorching hot sun all day. The stones are heavy and lifting them day after day can be backbreaking. I’m not even sure if this project will be completed in my lifetime. But it’s a job. It pays the bills.’ You thank him for his time and walk on.

About thirty feet away, you walk up to a second stonemason. you ask him the same question, ‘Do you like your job?’ He looks up and replies, ‘I love my job. I’m building a cathedral. Sure, I’ve been working on this wall for as long as I can remember, and yes the work is sometimes monotonous. I work in the scorching hot sun all day. The stones are heavy and lifting them day after day can be backbreaking. I’m not even sure if this project will be completed in my lifetime. But I’m building a cathedral.’

What these two stonemasons are doing is exactly the same; the difference is, one has a sense of purpose. He feels like he belongs. He comes to work to be a art of something bigger than the job he’s doing. Simply having a sense of WHY changes his entire view of job.”

It’s so simple, yet so profound. WHY? We do so many things in this life. We make so many decisions. Is there a WHY? Simon’s whole argument supports the WHY.

In short he talks about WHAT you do, channeling through HOW you do it, rooted in WHY. He argues that most people know the WHAT and the HOW but leave out the WHY. If you have the WHAT, maybe trace that back and see if you can find a WHY. Or better off, if you feel a pretty strong WHY, start to think about a HOW, and finish that off with a WHAT. This seems like a pretty solid route to leading a meaningful existence. If we are here, we may as well be doing something positive.

You don’t have to be a part of a huge forward thinking corporation to use this in your life. Start with you and things will fall into place.

Check out his TED Talk above. Why do you do the things you do? Do you have a WHY?

 

 

Danny Lesslie

@dannylesslie