I’ve written once before about Chris Arnade’s newsletter about his walks around the world, which is always a fun and interesting read. This weekend, he published one about Japan.
It lined up nicely with a workshop I was working on about meaning and purpose in work for Praxis students. When I think about purposeful work, I think about Japan.
From Chris’ newsletter:
“Everyone in Japan, from the garbage collector to the sushi chef to the daughter working in the family izakaya to the perfume saleswoman at the Aeon department store, performs their job with a seriousness, care, and thoughtfulness that is shocking as an outsider.
Work as the central point of your life can sound empty and meaningless and not something you think I would admire given that I write about needing something spiritual that isn’t confined to this world, but also tries to make sense of what comes after death. Yet when you are a stakeholder in your job, that is when you are your own boss, which is one of the defining differences between craftsmanship and simple labor, then there can be a spiritual component, which while not as deep and complex as faith, can give someone a clear sense of purpose that extends beyond this life.
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They take their jobs seriously, independent of the material rewards, because to frame it in language the policy class can better understand, their utility function is more influenced by non-economic cultural factors. Your priority is to be a good citizen, and that means treating your job, no matter what it is, with a respect that we in the US would find deferential to a fault, but in Japan, is about playing the role you’re meant to play in this world to the best of your abilities.
How do you know, or learn your role? From your elders, most importantly your parents.
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The grandparents and parents are the master educators, and the children are the apprentices, and that’s how a culture gets maintained and passed on and in a well functioning society, while the smaller details can change across time, as they have in Japan as they’ve embraced modern technology, the foundational principles that give people meaning, don’t.
For Japan that’s being a good citizen, which is a pretty good foundational meaning making principle for a well functioning society, although one wonders how long that can last in a world where globalizing forces are constantly wearing away and eroding the notion of a national identity.”
One of the most striking things you experience in Japan is the care and pride people take in their work. I’ve been to Japan twice, for a total of 7 weeks, and traveled to a number of cities big and small. No matter where you go you find people invested in doing their jobs well.
There is a popular story/parable about bricklayers and finding purpose in work that you’ve likely read before:
One day in 1671, Christopher Wren observed three bricklayers on a scaffold, one crouched, one half-standing and one standing tall, working very hard and fast. To the first bricklayer, Christopher Wren asked the question, “What are you doing?” to which the bricklayer replied, “I’m a bricklayer. I’m working hard laying bricks to feed my family.” The second bricklayer, responded, “I’m a builder. I’m building a wall.” But the third brick layer, the most productive of the three and the future leader of the group, when asked the question, “What are you doing?” replied with a gleam in his eye, “I’m a cathedral builder. I’m building a great cathedral to The Almighty.
All work, done well and purposefully, can be satisfying and fulfilling. Even the most unattractive jobs, like laying bricks or picking up garbage, can be fulfilling if you are using your mind and connected to the bigger purpose of your work and if that task is connected to a bigger personal mission.
The most glamorous, high-status jobs can become soul-sucking if you feel unempowered, stressed, and disconnected from purpose.
More than any other factor, the meaning in work comes from the choice you make in how you approach it.
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