The Ultimate Career Advice: Make Your Work Your Calling

A favorite Zen Buddhist story of mine—such a favorite, I confess, that I mentioned it once before—tells of a novice monk who, on his first day at the monastery, stands before the head monk to receive his work assignment. “Before you reach enlightenment,” the master, or jikijitsu, says, “you will chop wood and carry water.” Dutifully, the young monk, or unsui, does as he is told: Day after day, month after month, year after year, he chops wood and carries water. It is backbreaking work, and many times he dreams that, after he attains enlightenment, his life’s calling will be to become a teacher himself. Or perhaps he will be a pure contemplative, spending his time in prayer and meditation. Either way, his work will involve sitting indoors, without chafed hands and aching muscles.