Last time, we saw how Saint Thomas More got most things done before we even had a chance to wake up. Now we are going toward the opposite spectrum. In honor of the feast day of Saint Therese (on October 1st), I thought it fitting to see how she got things done. While her approach was different, it was still just as powerful and allowed her to change the face of the world as we know it.
The Little Way
As opposed to Thomas More’s do a hundred things before most people wake up method, Saint Therese, and her “little way” is more of a 80/20 method. For those that don’t know about Pareto’s law of 80/20, its basic concept is that 80% of your output comes from only 20% of your input. For example, 80% of your success at work is often determined by only 20% of what you do on the job (if you don’t believe me, take time to look at your last year’s performance evaluation and see how many things you were judged on for the year as opposed to what you really did). When you are aware of Pareto’s law, you see more and more that it’s true in just about every situation. Give it a try.
St. Therese focused on the little things that scored big wins in her quest to save souls. Whether it be cleaning, cooking, or picking up a piece of trash, she found that by doing them with great love she was able to be more effective in her mission than writing a thousand page thesis on the Trinity. She was a walking Pareto’s principle.
Youth Will Change the World
If it’s one thing that the GenY revolution continually shows us, it’s that young people are turning the tables on the traditional business model. It’s no longer about working 9 to 5 hammering out mundane and meaningless tasks, it’s about working wherever you can and using your youth to network with other like-minded professionals. The overwhelming shift in today’s GenY thinking is that work should not be drudgery, but play. The new professional generation (that features people like Jenny Blake, Jun Loayza, Chris Brogan, and a whole host of others) see work as an adventure – and why shouldn’t it be? If you look at Saint Therese, even sweeping the floor was an adventure – it became her passion. Only the young in spirit can do this, and unless we can find something fun and adventurous about our work, our youthfulness will fade and our work will become meaningless.
The Power of Passion
“Skills are Cheap, Passion is Priceless.“ We need to have passion for what we do, and Therese had passion. That being said, we are all not passionate about the same things. We are all different, and with that comes many different talents that compliment the whole of Christendom and the workplace. Therese had a passion for souls, and would do anything and everything to win them to Christ. In her writings she says, “I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul.“ I, on the other hand, can’t stand monotony, and that’s okay. Maybe I will eventually learn to love it, but I prefer to have a new thing to work on every day. A change of focus allows me to stay passionate, and without passion you cannot change the world.
What are you passionate about? What are your plans on getting there? Is your job an adventure, or is it just a job? These are important questions that will make or break your search for purpose and meaning in this world. Can you answer them?
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