I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live

Original image of George Bernard Shaw kindly taken from here.

One of my dearest friends, Robbo, once sent me a quote by George Bernard Shaw after being blown away by Jeff Goldblum flawlessly reciting it word-for-word. It reads:

“This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” - George Bernard Shaw.

I could write an entire book on that passage. Maybe one day I will!

It feels timeless. It’s utterly inspiring. It’s a call to stand up, find your purpose, work hard, serve others, be something to somebody, let your light shine before others, and rejoice that every day is a gift - an opportunity to leave the world better than you found it.

There’s something about this passage that feels especially relevant to the times we live in.

As I write this (September 2022), the UK, my home, is socially, politically, and economically unsettled. It would be easy to feel hopeless.

But I don’t believe we should feel hopeless.

What if this isn’t decay, but regeneration? What if this chaos is the storm before the calm?

I believe that’s possible, if (and it’s a big if) we choose to respond in the right way. Because we do have a choice. We always do. We can blame, lament, point fingers, shout online, and drown each other out. Or we can step up. We can find our mighty purpose. We can focus not on what’s wrong, but on what we can do right.

We can weave genuine togetherness back into the tapestry of our frayed society.

It won’t be easy. It rarely is. But we can rejoice in the hard work ahead, rather than be discouraged by it.

An observation about well-being in the workplace

In the Western world, especially on platforms like LinkedIn and Medium, well-being is a popular topic. This is, in many ways, a good and necessary thing.

But I believe we risk making things worse by how we talk about it.

As I discuss in lectures on Spiral Dynamics, capitalism has been remarkably successful at lifting people out of poverty and building prosperity. But it has also been exploitative and damaging, including our well-being.

Well-being exists on a spectrum. At the harshest end are those in mines, factories, and other physically demanding jobs in the less financially developed world, often working in unacceptable conditions.

At the lighter (but still significant) end, many people experience stress, burnout, and poor health from the pressures of work. In truth, there’s room for improvement in almost every corner of the market.

But here’s my contention: I don’t think the answer is fewer hours or less effort. I think it’s about directing our energy differently.

What if we took just 20% of our working week away from screens, social media, and redundant meetings and gave it to our communities or the causes we care about?

Imagine if, every week, we came together in person to build strong, generous communities.

I once shared in a talk that if every person in the UK volunteered just two hours a week, we would create a ‘workforce’ bigger than the NHS. The NHS delivers around 3.6 billion hours of service a year. The able population of the UK, giving two hours a week, would add more than five billion hours. Imagine the possibilities.

Family – hard work – leisure – hard work – community – hard work – repeat.

I’m not suggesting we live in a state of relentless toil. One of my favourite books is Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper, a beautiful reminder of the importance of rest, joy, and time well spent.

What I am suggesting is that when we live with a sense of purpose that inspires us to give our time to our family, community, and planet, we tap into one of the most fulfilling ways to live and one of the surest paths to a better world.

We’ve built a world that uses us in all the wrong ways. But we have the power to change that. In my next article, I’ll explore how.

Take care and good luck in everything you’re focused on.

Benjamin