Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.  — Frank Lloyd Wright

A master builder, a rebel and a nature worshipper, Frank Lloyd Wright’s career spanned 70 years and resulted in the design of 1,141 buildings, including churches, schools, libraries, houses, bridges, museums and more.  Though Wright is considered by many to be the greatest architect of the 20th century, he was also a prolific writer, an educator and a philosopher.

No matter what Wright involved himself in, he unabashedly gave it his all.  As he mentioned above, he found it just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.  I’m often perplexed by people who base the quality or the quantity of their effort on a value judgment about the task at hand.  If they like to do it, they do it well.  If they don’t like to do it, they skate.  Why not give everything you do your best effort?

There is a mountain of difference between carpe diem (“seize the day”) and as Robin Williams quipped, “carpe per diem – seize the check.”  Have you ever seen two people with exactly the same job have a completely different work experience?

If you see yourself as a powerless laborer working from paycheck to paycheck, then you are missing a tremendous opportunity, no matter how limited your scope of discretion.  Even if your outer function is regulated to the point where no latitude is given for self-direction, you have the choice as to what is given weight in your heart and mind.

If you feel you are caught up in meaningless, menial tasks, lose that thought quickly.  Everything matters.  Fill the small rooms that you encounter in life with abundant living and you will be rewarded with joy and happiness.  The cup you fill will run over; the physics are immutable.

What makes a building like a cathedral, a temple or a mosque something sacred?  What makes a house a home?  What makes a functional building, like a chicken house, a work of art?  Questions worth answering, don’t you think?

Take the time in your day to fill each task – every phone call, every conversation, every action – with your finest expression.  It doesn’t matter if the cup is half full or half empty, it’s how you fill it that matters.