I’d like to tell you a quick story…
There was once a carpenter who spent his whole life building homes. After decades of hard work, he decided it was time to retire.
His boss asked him to build just one last house. The carpenter agreed, but his heart wasn’t in it.
He cut corners, rushed the work, used cheap materials, you name it…
After he finished, he went back to his boss to finally retire.
His boss says, “I got one more thing for you,” and hands him the keys to the house.
The carpenter is shocked. If he only knew that he was going to be given the house, he would have put a lot more care into it.
The reality is we’re all carpenters. The work we do today is the house we live in tomorrow.
Cut corners, and we’ll live in a house that crumbles.
Commit to excellence, and we’ll build something we’re proud of.
That excellence only happens if we treat each project, each line of code, and each interaction as if we’re building our own house.
Because we are.
So the question is not “What are we building?”
The real question is, “Who are we becoming while we build it?”
I’ll leave you with a poem by Charles Bukowski.
If you’re going to try, go all the way.
Otherwise, don’t even start.
If you’re going to try, go all the way.
This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs and maybe even your mind.
It could mean not eating for three or four days.
It could mean freezing on a park bench.
It could mean jail.
It could mean derision, mockery, isolation.
Isolation is the gift.
All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it.
And, you’ll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds.
And it will be better than anything else you can imagine.
If you’re going to try, go all the way.
There is no other feeling like that.
You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire.
DO IT. DO IT. DO IT. All the way
You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.
— Charles Bukowski