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
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Think back to your last experience of school. I'm sure it involved some good teachers, and some not so good teachers.
Soemtimes we like teachers or not for trite reasons – fun, easy, etc. But think about the content - who could really teach?
I remember two kinds of bad teachers. One who didn’t care. He taught the curriculum, nothing more, nothing less. One day he didn’t show up, and the students didn’t mind at all!
I also remember one who tried really, really hard. But he didn’t actually know the material, so he had no credibility. The smart kids were always proving him wrong.
But what about good teachers? What about the ones where they explain something, and it clicks?
Now, imagine a really great teacher. Somebody who comes up with something new and original, and explains it well. This is rare indeed.
I recall my favourite professor at university, who joked at the beginning of his course, "I've you've read my book, sorry, I only have so much material." But that was okay, since it reall was his material. He wrote the book because it was his authoritative, original content, and he shared it in compelling ways.
Question: Who was the best teacher you ever had? What did they teach you? Why were they the best?
