"If a man is called to be a street sweeper ..."

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or as Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say "here lived a great sweet sweeper who did his job well". Martin Luther King

Anyone can do a great job, no matter what their job is. You don't have to be a CEO to change the world. I am reminded of the story of the mentally retarded person who was a grocery store bagger and hit upon the idea of finding inspirational quotes, cutting them out and putting one in each person's bag with their groceries. With that, in addition to the exceptionally cheerful friendliness that mentally retarded people usually have, he was soon the most popular bagger around. Whatever lineup he was in usually had three times as many people as any other. He was doing an outstanding job even though his position was a lowly one. He left the world a better place. Anyone in any job can make a real difference in people's lives.

Just because someone is meant to be a street sweeper because he doesn't have the education or whatever to do a more esteemed job doesn't mean that his job has to be nothing more than a chore. It's all about attitude. To do an outstanding job you must have the attitude that what you do really matters in the world. Streets need to be swept; although we usually don't appreciate this fact until they are not swept. To do an outstanding job, one must ask "how can I sweep these streets better than anyone else, better than people expect? And any job becomes much more interesting when you give yourself a challenge like that. It becomes a challenge, and challenges are what we are meant to thrive on.

Look upon your work as an art form. What can you do to transform your chores into a work of art? How can you use your work to inspire others and leave the world a better place? Instead of grumbling about how useless and pointless your tasks are, look for those ways that they are useful and purposeful either to the company or to the public, and then do your best to fulfill and increase that purpose and usefulness. Anyone, in any position, doing any task, can do an outstanding job. Do your work so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say "here lived a great worker who did his job well". Your life will be much happier and more productive because of it.