“Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or doing it better.”  ~ John Updike

I love this quote.  If you’re anything like me, at some point in your career you’ve had a job that didn’t exactly feed your creative soul.  And even in the best of jobs, there are always tasks that feel tiresome and draining.

So what do we do?  Do we struggle against it?  Always looking for a better gig or a quicker shortcut, essentially living in a state of permanent dissatisfaction?

Or do we embrace it?  Shift our focus to the beauty in the details and see the opportunity for presence and mindfulness?

Not to get all new-agey or anything, but I do think there’s something to this idea.

Let me know what you think.

P.S. I haven’t read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance since high school, but thinking about this post has made me want to dig out my old copy.

(Photo by Aaron Stidwell via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons)

(This post contains affiliate links to Powell’s Books.)