It’s easy to work when the soul is at play
Emily D really knew her stuff
Hi friends,
Ever hear someone say that they feel like they’ve never worked a day in their life because they love what they do? Yeah, those people are super annoying.
Yeah, those people. Amiright?
Fine.
I’m so one of those people. 🤦🏻♂️
Sometimes I feel guilty about how much I enjoy my “job”. I love what I get to do day-in and day-out. Whether it’s working on one of my businesses (DA, 48, Ripples, or TAP), working on my book series, or working with one of the various nonprofit boards I’m on, I always find myself energized and fulfilled at the end of the day.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t really feel like I’m working.
I feel like I’m…playing.
Stop, Bagel Time
I suppose this wasn’t always the case. During my junior year of college, I worked from 5 AM to 10 AM three mornings a week making bagels at Bruegger’s Bagels in Charlotte, NC. I would wake up at 4:30 AM, take a quick shower, and show up at 4:55 AM at Bruegger’s where my boss would let me in (oh how I loved the days he was running late). I’d clock in, put on my sexy chef apron, fire up the massive pot of boiling water, turn on the rotating deck oven, go into the freezer and bring out a rolling rack containing 10 trays of frozen bagels.
I’d pour handfuls of bagels into the boiling water, pull them out after 20 seconds, carefully organize them on trays (each bagel should be two inches from the other bagels), and stick them into the oven. After about six minutes, I’d pull the tray out and flip the bagels, add the appropriate seeds or toppings (my favorite: the everything bagel), and put the rack back in the oven for another six minutes.
When the bagels were ready (you had to eyeball them, it wasn’t an exact science and I burned a tray or ten along the way), I’d pull them out, put them in a basket, walk up to the counter where the customers were and refill the appropriate basket. I almost always got the right basket.
I’d do this, over and over, until 10 AM, at which point I’d clock out, take off my apron, rush back to my dorm, shower again, and make my way to class by 11 AM. And then I’d promptly sleep through class, if I’m being honest.
The only good thing I can say about that job was that it made me a hero to my roommates, who literally cheered every time I got back with the day-old bag of bagels for them to eat (which Bruegger’s was going to throw away). Hip hip hooray, long live the bagel king.
It was the next year of my life that everything changed. I started my first business (Spunlogic), working mostly in the dorm room but sometimes in the back of the classroom —hey, it’s better than sleeping during class, right?! — and ever since then, I’ve loved what I do.
Is your soul at play?
Yes, I lucked into finding my calling while in college. And then I lucked into finding my personal Purpose by going through Leadership Atlanta in 2012-13.
But that doesn’t mean that it’s too late for you to do so as well!
Check this quote out:
It is easy to work when the soul is at play.
This is a line from an Emily Dickinson poem. The poem as a whole is a bit strange (to me) but you can judge for yourself. But that line really grabs me.
I think the reason that I’ve loved my “job” ever since college is because my soul has been at play. Early on that was fueled purely by the entrepreneurial instinct, and for the last six years, it has come from knowing my personal Purpose and doing my best to live into it.
How do you find your soul at play? Here’s my recipe:
Find your Purpose and work to make everything you’re involved in — especially your job — moves you closer to it.
Do more of the things that fuel you, and drop the things that deplete you. This is a big one. Just start saying no to things you don’t want to do. Guess what, in many cases, because you’re an adult, you don’t have to do those things :)
Mix and repeat, over and over.
Although a simple formula, it’s obviously not something easy to pull off. But it is so worth the effort if you can do it. And you deserve to love what you do every day.
I hope you’re happy,
Jeff
PS - Wait, how do you roast a cobbler?
Recent podcasts
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