How To Cut The Meat🥩

Once, I had a conversation with a young colleague who was disillusioned with her job. She was hired with the promise that she would work on big projects that would make a significant impact on the customer and the bank. But she was placed in a project in which all she had to do was create reports and decks that most of the recipients didn’t even open.

She was disillusioned and disappointed with her work. She was made for better things, not doing useless reports.

She was looking out for a different role but wasn’t having much luck with it. She was dragging her feet to work every single day.

I told her the story of the old butcher Yoshiro.

In the small mountain village in Japan where he lived, Yoshira was renowned not just for his meat but also for the peace and contentment he radiated while he did his work. His reputation spread far and wide, and people came to watch him at work.

One traveller, hearing of Yoshiro’s reputation, visited the shop. He watched Yoshiro as he held the animal gently in his hands, radiating love and compassion. He tenderly spoke to the animal, who didn’t struggle under the butcher’s knife. He very calmly killed the animal, and his knife sliced through the meat without meeting any resistance.

Intrigued, the traveller approached Yoshiro and asked him, “Master, how do you cut with so much ease and peace? Neither you, the animal or the knife seems to meet any resistance.”

Yoshiro put his knife down, cleaned his hands and turned to the traveller with a smile. “The secret,” he said, “is not in the cutting but in understanding the nature of what I cut. When I look at a piece of meat, I see more than flesh. I see the spaces, the natural lines where the meat falls apart under the slightest pressure. The knife does not cut; it follows the paths that are already there, set by nature.”

Yoshiro continued, “This is not just about cutting meat. It is about life itself. When we force our way against the world, we meet resistance. But when we understand the nature of things, when we learn to see the paths laid out for us by the universe, our journey through life becomes effortless. We find contentment, joy and peace in even the simplest tasks.”

Our careers span at least 35 years, maybe more. We are going to have phases in our careers where nothing seems to be moving ahead. We may do work that we think is beneath us or that we have way more potential than what work is given to us.

The choice we have is how can we meet what is in front of us with resistance and go with the paths laid out for us.

How can we find contentment, joy and peace in the work we do, even if it is cutting the meat?

P.S. If you are ready to level up, work with me for 1:1 career coaching. Hit reply, and I’d love to share more.