The Rock-Chipper
I'm a HUGE fan of stories. Ever since I was young I've been a sucker for the classic good guy vs. bad guy synopsis. They're always so easy to follow because you know exactly who's the good guy and who's the bad guy. Although I'm still attracted to a good plot, I'm finding that the stories that really matter to me are the ones that I can chew on, digest and get rich personal-development nutrients from. The story of the Rock-Chipper is one of those stories, and it goes like this:
A man walks into a large field and sees a worker chipping away at a large stone with a pick-axe. Curious, he walks up to the worker and asks:
"What are you doing?"
The worker chipping at the large stone says,"I'm chipping away at a rock."
The man sees another worker doing the exact same thing, walks up to him and asks,"What are you doing?"
The second worker says,"I'm providing for my family."
He sees a third worker, and like the other two he is chipping away at a huge stone with his pick-axe. He walks up to the third worker and asks,"What are you doing?"
The third worker responds and says,"I'm building a cathedral."
Some of you may have seen the lesson already, but either way I want you to ask yourself this question regarding whatever is taking up your hours of the day: Are you chipping away at rocks, or are you building a cathedral? How will this change in mindset help you?
Here's an example that I've recently considered involving my own, current circumstances: I'm working 8-9 hours a day in a door-to-door sales profession (you got it! I'm one of those guys who knocks doors to pay the bills! More on that in another post :)) that compensates well. Do I love actually doing the job? No, I can't say I do! To be honest, I get anxious and sometimes dread going door-to-door talking to strangers, knowing that I will get cussed out, rejected and judged. If I focused just on those things, I'm chipping away at rocks.
Let's take it a step further. Because my job compensates well, it gives me a wonderful opportunity to provide for my beautiful wife and our dog, Maggie. I can pay the bills and even have some left over for a few toys (meaning tech for me and home decor for my wife 😜). Sounds pretty good!
Now to take it even further... wait, how can you take it further? Shouldn't it be enough to provide for your family?
That's what I thought.
So what does a proverbial "cathedral" look like to the average person? Well, let's consider my situation: Do I want to knock doors for the rest of my life to provide for my family? No, of course not haha! My dream is actually to create an online business (whether that's developing an app or creating some sort of digital solution to solve a common problem) and be able to work from wherever we want. So, how is this better than solely focusing on providing for my family? Here's why: The chipping away at the rocks and receiving the day's wages aren't the end game. If they were, there would be no room for growth! The cathedral offers much more room for growth and opportunities that will be challenging enough to upgrade myself as a person and present more (and possibly better) opportunities to provide for my family. I now see my current job as a stepping stone to the ultimate destination.
So how does my current job play into that vision?
Here are some thoughts:
- It is helping me provide enough capital to invest in my business/startup
- It is teaching me valuable leadership skills and how to deal with people
- It is teaching me how to push past rejection
- It is teaching me how valuable my time actually is
- It is teaching me how I can learn any skill I need to to be successful in any given field (i.e. adopting a growth mindset over a fixed mindset)
This is how I've worked out a rough idea of what my cathedral will look like, and it's helping me push through the mundane (and sometimes miserable and difficult) tasks that make up a good chunk of my day.
The next time you're going through the mundane, ask yourself:
Am I chipping away at rocks,
am I providing for my family,
or am I building a cathedral?