Building a Cathedral
Besides my computer and microphone, my desk is empty, ready for me to sit down and get going. I just finished my morning routine and I am ready! Sitting down to look at my task list for today, I remembered a story my father told me when I trained with him as a mason in the old world tradition many years ago.
A man walked by a construction site where he saw three masons chipping away on granite blocks. He asked the first one: “What are you doing?” The mason replied, “I am hammering a block to make a stone.”
The man went on to ask the second mason what he was doing. “I am making a stone that will be used to build a wall.”
The man then asked the third mason what he was doing. The mason stopped hammering, thought for a moment, then put a big smile on his face. “I am building a cathedral.”
This story offers three examples of who I can be when doing my work. Looking at the notebook in front of me, I can view my tasks in a variety of ways:
I need to do this! I don’t like to do that! Why do I have to do this? I didn’t ask for this! This is going to be one of these days where I’ll be glad when it’s over!!!
Doing this task will help me to accomplish that one. These are tasks I need to do this week, so I need to stay on top of them. I need to do this to meet Friday’s deadline. It is needed for the team meeting tomorrow.
All my tasks today are part of building my cathedral, my future. They are an intrinsic part of my plan of getting what I want.
To get clarity, I write down what I want to accomplish (my goals). I make a plan and set a due date. Then, planning my week (preferably the Sunday before), I look at my plan, decide what I need to put into action this week on my way to accomplishing my goals, and then write down in my planner what I will do on what day.
Now my tasks are not just blocks I am hammering — they are part of the wonderful cathedral I am building.