Lessons from The Art of Work

Maybe we all have the power to turn our lives into significant stories if we start to see our difficulties as opportunities.”

There are three things that give meaning to life: first, a project; second, a significant relationship; and third, a redemptive view of suffering.

“What we all want is to know our time on earth has meant something.

if we want true satisfaction, we have to rise above the pettiness of our own desires and do what is required of us.

"A calling comes when we embrace the pain, not avoid it.”

“In any great narrative, there is a moment when a character must decide to become more than a bystander."

“Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come. —UNKNOWN”

“The worst way to get a mentor is to go find one. The best way is to see the one that’s already there.”

“Regardless of natural talent or the lack thereof, every person has the ability to improve themselves.”

“First, you hear the call. It may sound different to each person, but it comes to us all.”
“Second, you respond. Mere words will not suffice—you must act.”
“Third, you begin to believe.”

“The path to your dream is more about following a direction than arriving at a destination.”

“Every calling is marked by a season of insignificance, a period when nothing seems to make sense. This is a time of wandering in the wilderness, when you feel alone and misunderstood.

To the outsider, such a time looks like failure, as if you are grasping at air or simply wasting time.

But the reality is this is the most important experience a person can have if they make the most of it.”

“The basic idea of a portfolio life is that instead of thinking of your work as a monolithic activity, what if you chose to see it as the complex group of interests, passions, and activities it is?”

“And what if instead of identifying with a job description, you began to see the whole mass of things you do as one portfolio of activity?”

“This idea was first coined by Charles Handy in his book The Age of Unreason.

In the book, Handy lays out five different types of work that make up your portfolio. They are: fee work, salary work, homework, study work, and gift work.”

“Fee and salary work are the only types of paid work and are somewhat self-explanatory: fee work means trading hours for dollars and a salary is a fixed income based on a job description.”
“Homework is work that you do at home, like mowing the lawn or spending time with your family.
Study work is any intentional education that contributes to any work you do in the future, like reading a book or taking a vocational class.
Gift work is any volunteer experience you might do, including giving your time to a local homeless shelter or even taking someone out to lunch to give them helpful career advice.”

“Handy then encourages what he calls “portfolio people” to organize their time not based on hours in a week, but rather days in a year.

For example, if you need to make $50,000 per year and can figure out a way to make $250 a day, then you only need to work 200 days a year. The remaining 165 days can be spent on the rest of your portfolio.”

“Life is not a support system for your work; your work is a support system for your life.”

“Regardless of natural talent or the lack thereof, every person has the ability to improve themselves.”

“Most people waste the best years of their life waiting for an adventure to come to them instead of going out and finding one.”