A certain work-place video exists of skilled, experienced assembly-line workers. These young men and women are filmed during their daily task of assembling a deck of playing cards. Each worker separates the 52 cards plus Jokers and a title card comprising each deck from a stack of hundreds, places the cards within the snug cardboard box that holds them, bends and secures the folds on the box, and places the box in a large tray. The process takes an approximate 5 to 7 seconds for each box; each worker performs these actions non-stop, in a typical shift that lasts 8 hours.
The work defines mundane, monotonous, and repetitive. Each worker receives zero special training. They are assigned a work station and told to place the cards in a box. Then they begin. Each has his own particular style, e.g. some prepare the box first, some separate the cards first, etc. Each worker attacks their task. The energy, speed, dexterity and stamina is breathtaking. An unspoken and silent sense of competition penetrates the images of the film - each worker is racing against his own potential in order to maximize his pay (the workers are paid per box, not per hour).
Do you attack each task in your life with the same intensity as these workers? Do you perform everything in life to your full potential, like they do, regardless of how many times you must repeat the action or for how long? Do you view your energy reservoirs as infinite and self-renewing, like these workers, capable of rising to meet each required task regardless of circumstance? If you limit and ration your expenditure of energy in an effort to conserve it and make it last as long as your task, then your mindset is unequal to the demands of life. Play with the deck life deals you, and play it to your maximum. If these workers can, so can you.
From September 2010, http://raising-a-man.tumblr.com
The work defines mundane, monotonous, and repetitive. Each worker receives zero special training. They are assigned a work station and told to place the cards in a box. Then they begin. Each has his own particular style, e.g. some prepare the box first, some separate the cards first, etc. Each worker attacks their task. The energy, speed, dexterity and stamina is breathtaking. An unspoken and silent sense of competition penetrates the images of the film - each worker is racing against his own potential in order to maximize his pay (the workers are paid per box, not per hour).
Do you attack each task in your life with the same intensity as these workers? Do you perform everything in life to your full potential, like they do, regardless of how many times you must repeat the action or for how long? Do you view your energy reservoirs as infinite and self-renewing, like these workers, capable of rising to meet each required task regardless of circumstance? If you limit and ration your expenditure of energy in an effort to conserve it and make it last as long as your task, then your mindset is unequal to the demands of life. Play with the deck life deals you, and play it to your maximum. If these workers can, so can you.
From September 2010, http://raising-a-man.tumblr.com
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