There’s a scene in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer where Tom’s punished by his Aunt Polly for getting his clothes dirty in a fight.

Tom’s punishment?

To paint Aunt Polly’s thirty yard long, nine feet high fence on a precious Saturday, when all his pals are out playing.

It won’t surprise you to hear that a laborious task like this doesn’t fill Tom with joy.

It wouldn’t fill me with joy either. To the constant dismay of my beloved Lozzadog Lauren, my view on all things related to DIY, handiwork and flat-pack furniture can be summed up nicely by the quote “DIY never killed anybody, but why take the chance?”

But back to the story.

Tom has a sneaky idea to dodge his punishment.

He dips his paintbrush in his pot of paint and starts painting in a slow, deliberate and almost playful way. He puts a big smile on his face. He whistles while he works.

Soon, some of the other boys start to take notice. 

It looks like Tom is having a lot of fun and Tom’s doing nothing to let them think otherwise.

Tom tells the boys how painting the fence is an invite-only, hard to get opportunity. He points out how much skill is required. When one of the boys asks if he can have a turn, Tom refuses.

That’s when a boy called Ben offers Tom his apple to do some painting.

Tom says yes.

As other boys arrive, Tom repeats the same tactic.

By the end of the scene, Tom has successfully gained twelve marbles, two tadpoles, six firecrackers, a brass doorknob, a dog-collar, four pieces of orange peel, a tin soldier and various other knick-knacks from a merry collection of boys who are now painting Tom’s fence for him and having one hell of a good time as they do.

Now, perhaps you’re nodding along, impressed by how Tom made a soul-sapping chore seem like a privilege.

But if you think I’m saying the way to turn the tables on dreary old work is to somehow “trick” yourself into finding fun amidst the most boring and mundane of tasks, you’ve missed the point I’m trying to make.

That point?

No task is inherently boring or mundane.

It’s only boring or mundane once you think it is. And you can think whatever you want to think about your tasks, just so along as you drop that “boring” or “mundane” thought FIRST and start with a blank slate.

That’s the key right there.

It’s not about putting a positive spin on your task as the pop self-help dimfluencers might have you believe.

Instead, it’s knowing that it’s not the task that creates the meaning, but your mind. 

As Hamlet once said, “DIY is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so”.

This is the same idea which underpinned the workshop I ran for The London Social Wellness Club a few months ago which I called How To Change Your Career Without Changing Your Career.

If you think of your career like Tom thought about Aunt Polly’s fence then you'll see that the career itself is not the issue.

If you want your stressful, boring or soul-sapping work to become more fun, easy-going and even delightful, you really don’t need to change your career or quit your job.

Instead, you can find that fun and delight today, right now, literally in this very moment.

If you’d like 1 on 1 support with this, hop off that fence you’re sitting on and hop on over here:

https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com