“Since most of us spend our lives doing ordinary tasks, the most important thing is to carry them out extraordinarily well.”
What this quote means
Thoreau rehabilitates the ordinary tasks that make up our lives. Rather than enduring them, we can infuse them with a quality of attention that transforms them. It's in the care given to small things that our character is revealed. This quote invites us to find dignity in daily work, and to see in every gesture an opportunity for excellence.
How to apply it daily
Choose an ordinary task in your day and perform it with special care, as if it were the most important.
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