What looks like bad work to you? It can be a very personal thing – I was surprised when I told people about leading Redeem the Commute, and they said, “I’m glad someone is doing it, but especially glad it’s not me.”

I watched a TV show lately about a tow truck driver – it showed him going about his work in the middle of the night, doing a job many wouldn’t want. But he said he’d tried multiple jobs, hated them all – and then found the towing business and it just fit. He’d found his passion for work, even though other people would hate it working those late nights, alone, at risk and dealing with mechanical work.

There are definitely bad jobs out there – some are really awful, which became apparent with media coverage, for example, of the textile industry in Bangladesh.

Some jobs aren’t terrible themselves, they are just a bad fit.

And there are some good jobs that we see in the wrong light – something about us means they are less than they should be. We might think they’ll be much more than they are, or we might think too highly of ourselves to do certain kinds of work, even though they are good.

Question: What’s the worst job you ever had? What made it so bad? Was it bad for everyone, or just you?

Acknowledgements: Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavour and Work & Rest

Ryan Sim - July 8, 2013

Monday - A New Idea - Foundations

In 2009, an entire 13 storey building toppled over in China, killing a construction worker, and leaving homeless hundreds of new tenants who thought they were about to move in to a brand new building. What’s striking about the images is that the building looks modern. It’s not visibly dilapidated. The contractors did all the visible parts right, but cheated on the invisible foundation underneath it all. It was eventually visible to everyone, as the beautiful building on top crashed to the ground destroying lives. You can find the story and pictures here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5685963/Nine-held-over-Shanghai-building-collapse.html The foundation is critical. One architectural web site I visited reminded me that a good foundation carries the load of the building above, including its people furnishings, furniture and more. IF it’s plumb and level, all the other building materials can be, as well. And that makes the tradespeople happy. They summed it up: the foundation is the most important work and the basis of everything that comes after. This is true in life, as well as architecture. Question: What is the most important thing in life? Did you choose this? Why?

Related Topics: Foundations, Life | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

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