How to Shift From Doing a Job to Working a Craft | Robin Sharma

This mastery session is all about how do you shift from doing a job to working a craft? Fundamentally different way of seeing your work, because a brain tattoo I love sharing with my audiences is this one. A job is only just a job if you see it as a job. And so why would you lose the opportunity to leverage what you do every day, to grow your happiness, to grow your energy, to allow you to release more your talents into the world, to allow you to help more people? Why would you miss that opportunity by falling into the trap of thinking, this is just my job. I'm just getting up in the morning, working nine to five, going down to the coal mine every day. And you could say, well, Robin, this doesn't apply to me. You know, I just have a ordinary job. Well, I've got to tell you, I've met taxi drivers who feel their work is incredibly meaningful. I mean, I was at LaGuardia and I remember, you know, being in a taxicab and the man had this white shirt and his cab was perfection. And I said, you know, your attitude is great, your passion is awesome. Your, your cab is perfect. You've got this fresh newspaper for me to read. What is your psychology that allows you to do this? And he said, robin, this is not a dirty job. It's an important job. I get to make a difference. I remember being in Johannesburg, meeting the janitor in the Johannesburg men's room or wc who worked like he was the Elon Musk of what he did.

He worked like Pavarotti sang. And so my point is simply this. It's really your choice as to how you will view the work you do every day. And even in the most ordinary of work, you can find gold. And if you connect with the gold, you connect with the meaning. And if you connect with the meaning, you connect with your talents. And if you connect with your talents, you connect with the best within you. And if you connect with the best within you, you go to work every day and you are this shin star of world class, and you become the Picasso of your industry. And everything else takes care of itself. So I'm going to share a few of my ideas on how I see my own work. I don't know what I'd call myself. I teach leadership. I teach high performance. I record these videos in this podcast. I create online courses, I give speeches around the world, a lot of the Fortune 500 and fast growing companies. I run a team, I do some private coaching. But more than anything else, what do I do for a living? I'm an instrument of service. But I see my work as my craft. And there are a few things that are really, really important for me. Number one, as I become more successful, I want to be more open. You see, every professional was once an amateur. Every master was once a beginner. And I guess what I'm trying to suggest you really, is the moment you think you're a master is the moment you fall to beginnerhood. I just made up a word right there. But the point is, as you become more successful, you want to be more open. In the Monk who Sold His Ferrari, there's that old Zen proverb, right? So basically, there's this master and there's a student, and the student wants to be the master. And the student says, oh, great master, how can I be a master just like you? And he keeps on asking these questions. And then the master notices that the student is talking so much, he's not listening. And the master notices the student is so caught up in his own ego and sharing how far he's come, he's not really hearing very much the master is saying. And so the master says, well, why don't we have a cup of tea? And if you've read the Monk who Sold His Ferrari, you know the story. And so they start to have this cup of tea, and the master comes into the room with these two teacups, and the master starts pouring in the student's cup. And he pours, and he pours a little more, and he keeps on pouring and he pours, but the cup starts to fill up and it starts to pour all over the table. And the student can't handle it anymore. And he goes, oh, great master, what are you doing? The cup here is totally full, but yet you keep on pouring. And the master says, oh, young grasshopper.

Your cup inside, just like this cup of tea, is so full, no more can get in. And until you first empty your cup, how can more get in? You're going to go, robin, I don't know if I get it or you do get it. Hopefully that idea is relevant to you. My point is simply this. I see part of my craft as staying open. Staying open to inspiration, Staying open to new ideas, Staying open to where I'm weak. Staying open to how I can get better. Staying open to where my industries that I work within are going. Staying open to being better in my family life. Staying open to being better as a human being. Because the moment you feel you are a master of your craft is the moment you lose the fire in the belly that will allow you to Be a master in your craft. What else is important to me? I call it oad. It's an acronym. I love to think about obsessive attention to detail. I have worked with a lot of masters. Maybe it's masters in the hotel industry, maybe it's masters of entrepreneurship. I've met a lot of great artists, I've met a lot of great business builders, almost. I've seen the best performers on stage. They are all fanatics about the smallest of details. You know, you'll look at a lot of the great performers on stage, and I've got to know some of them and. And I've watched them before they set up, before you see them grace the platform. They are focusing on the tiniest of things. The sound of the microphone, the way the lighting looks, the way the camera appears on the stage. Obsessive attention to detail does not mean you have to be rude and a monster. But every. A player, every legendary performer, so committed to the tiniest of details. I mean, if you go to a great restaurant, for example, a few years ago, I was just outside of Barcelona. It was the number one restaurant in the world. I think it was. It's pronounced Girona. Forgive me if I'm mispronouncing that. And as I went in there, every element of the user experience, from the moment we walked in to the moment we left, was perfection. But it was all because of the tiniest of details. So the second thing I really think about on this idea of shifting from a job to a craft is are you all over the smallest of details? Do you have great tools of your craft? Do you invest in the learning? What does your workspace look like? Is it full of distractions? Is it full of mediocrity? Is it full of mess? Or is it pristine? Is it conducive to you thinking.

Like the Beethoven of your field? Number three? I'm going to get to one of my favorite things to really jam on, which is education is inoculation against disruption.

The person who learns the most truly wins. I mean, you shift from a job to a craft when you make a commitment inside, which is, I don't care how great I am, doesn't matter how old I am, not relevant how long I've been in the industry. I need to learn as much as I can to stay relevant. I mean, Bono of U2 said, U2 has been on the verge of irrelevant for 20 years. I mean, you want to be a little scared, to be obsolete. And so the antidote to obsolescence, lifelong learning. And when I hang out with the A players. And when I see the Titans, I gotta tell you, they love learning. When I go, I go to a conference every quarter. That's a great ritual I invite for you. And when I go to these conferences, I see some of the most successful people in the world, and they're sitting in the front row like they were 16 with a chip on their shoulder, wanting to prove something to the world. And here they are, they're 40 or they're 50 or they're 80. They're taking notes, and they're listening. And then afterwards, they go up to the expert who was on the stage, and they asked them these questions. I mean, I still remember sharing the platform with Jack Welch. We all know Jack Welch, General Electric. And he heard me speak after I heard him speak. And where was he sitting? He was sitting in the front row. And when I met Jack Welch at the cocktail party at the end of the day, I asked him, I said, jack, why were you in the front row? He said, the moment I think I know everything is the moment I have no right to be in business anymore. So you want to really make a commitment to your learning, your mindset, reading the books, watching the videos, getting in the online courses, going to a conference every quarter, but investing in your knowledge base, because knowledge truly is power, and you are one idea away from an idea that will change your industry and transform your life. You just have to find that idea. When it comes to craft, what else is important to me, I would say inspiration protection. That just came to me. Protect your inspiration, because that is the platinum that will allow you to birth genius into the world.

All great art, all the great acts of humanity, all great inventions, all great businesses, all great family lives, all epic lives were forged in the crucible of inspiration. I used to be a litigation lawyer. I used to laugh at inspiration. Oh, that's soft. No, it is hard to be inspired in a world of negativity, critics, naysayers, and adversity. And so, please, do whatever it takes to protect your inspiration.

Hang out in art galleries. I still remember being in Barcelona and going to the Picasso Museum. And please, before you end your days, go to the Picasso Museum in the Born district of Barcelona. And there was a little sign on the wall, and I'll share it with you. It said, people were disturbed by the genius of Picasso. And then I actually went out to Dali's house, Salvador Dali's house. I think it's on the Costa Brava in Spain. And I saw where Dali lived with his wife until they Parted. I got to tell you a little. Little digression, but when I went to Dali's house, it's this white house on a beach because it fueled his inspiration. He. He actually had a phone booth next to his swimming pool because, you know, Dali. Salvador Dali, you know, just an eccentric creative force. But what did these people do? They protected their inspiration. Why did Dali live out on the Costa Brava? You know, on a beach in this house with. I saw his bedroom, and it was just. I saw his workroom with his tools. I saw where he ate. I saw his swimming pool, and he had installed. You got to go see this. I can't make this up. There's a phone booth next to his swimming pool. But what would that do to your creativity if you had a metaphorical phone booth next to your swimming pool? Protect your inspiration. Pretty much. It's all you have in many ways, in this world of complexity and distraction. Let me just challenge you. What do you need to do to protect your inspiration? Maybe it's going to an art gallery once a week. Maybe it's having better friends. Maybe it is getting more rest. Maybe it's shifting from detective novels to books about creative people who inspire you. Maybe it's cleaning up your messy car. Maybe it's taking a vacation once every six months. So you go to see Dolly's home. So you go to swim with the dolphins in Mauritius. So you go to the Tate Modern Museum in London. So you go to Firenze in Tuscany and eat great pasta and have a glass. Glass of a Super Tuscan. And then you go to the Museum of Uffizi in the Gallery of Academia and see the beauty of Michelangelo's David. And then you come back to your community and you're changed because you're thinking differently. You know, I took my children to the.

Vatican City, and we went in and we saw the Sistine Chapel. And when I looked up and I saw the Sistine Chapel that Michelangelo, over four years, created, he actually lost part of his eyesight. Being so close to the Sistine Chapel, the ceiling. And when I looked at that, tears filled my eyes.

And why did they fill my eyes? Is because you and I, deep within us, have genius within us. And witnessing that masterpiece created by another human being reconnected me to the creativity that lies within all of us. And so protect your inspiration. And don't ever let the world suggest that you are average, because you are so much more of that, and the world will be less of a place. You do not bring your genius to the world.

Hi. It's Robin. I invite you to subscribe to this podcast and definitely go over to robincharma.com for more information, tools and resources. Mastery, elite performance and living a world class life.