A Well Employed Life
“Just as a well-filled day brings blessed sleep, so a well-employed life brings a blessed death.” Leonardo da Vinci.
Doing Work Worth Doing
When asked what a meaningful life meant to him, Leonardo da Vinci’s replied that he believed it was in a life that consisted of “relentless rigour and effort.” It was marked by daily activity that kept a man busy. “Whether work of mind or work of body, a life full of efforts is the ideal.”
Looking at his life, we see this virtue evident in his career. From the painting of his masterpieces, to his attempts at inventing the first flying machine, to his incredible work on human anatomy — da Vinci was always at work.
Work was his duty and his duty was his work. Fulfillment of life came out of these two virtues. There were times where he didn’t even want to look at a paintbrush but pressed on and kept on working.
“Just as a well-filled day brings blessed sleep, so a well-employed life brings a blessed death,” was his motto. “Far and away the best prize that life offers,” adds Theodore Roosevelt, “is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”
Scouring The Anchors
When Benjamin Franklin was working with a group of sailors in defensive preparations during the war in 1750, he made the observation that when the men were employed at some task or chore, they were always good-natured and cheerful, having the mind that they had done a meaningful day’s work.
But on days when they were idle, they were always quarrelsome — finding fault with the pork, the bread and the management of the ship.
A seasoned sea captain was hired who’s rule of thumb was to always keep the sailors busy. One day when his attendant told him that all the tasks were completed on the ship, he replied;
“Make them scour the anchors,” a task which was never done. His idea was to keep them busy and active.
“Toil is man’s allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands” says Herman Melville, and “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer,” adds Theodore Roosevelt, “is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”
The Best Joy Is In doing Work Worth Doing
It is related of Henry Brougham — by merit of his hard working and relentless nature long since become a habit — that if his lot was a shoe-shine, “He would have never rested satisfied until he had become the best shoe-shine in England.”
Once, when a colleague of his was requested to undertake some new work, he excused himself by saying that he had no time, “But,” he added, “go with it to that fellow Brougham, he seems to have time for everything.
His secret was to never leave a minute unemployed. When he arrived at an age at which most men would have retired from the world to enjoy their hard-earned leisure, Brougham commenced a series of elaborate investigations as to the laws of Light.
So hard working was he that at one time, his boss, Sydney Smith, recommended he confine himself only to the work of three men.
Vigorous activity is the best way to live. Let us be doing something. Whatever it is. Let us stay busy and active, and keep challenging ourselves. The rewards we will get for achieving the tasks we set for ourselves will far outweigh any reward a sedentary life brings.
The road of human success has always lied along the old highway of consistent work and action. Those who are most persistent and consistent, producing the best work they could possibly produce — for themselves or for the generations after— will usually be the happiest and most fulfilled in life.
Read more in my new book! The Trials And Triumphs of Hyperachievers