I had to be a grown-up when I should have been a little boy, and now that I'm a grown-up my little-boyness has exploded out of me. I've lived my life backwards.
Alan CummingRead
My feeling about work is it's much more about the experience of doing it than the end product. Sometimes things that are really great and make lots of money are miserable to make, and vice versa.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Work should be valued for the experience it provides rather than just the outcome.
Alan Cumming expresses that the true value of work lies in the journey of doing it, rather than merely focusing on the final results or profits. He highlights the paradox that sometimes the most financially successful projects can be unenjoyable, while less profitable endeavors can be deeply satisfying.
Themes
WorkExperienceJourneySatisfactionOutcome
In practice
Example use cases
During a team meeting to motivate staff, this quote can inspire employees to focus on enjoying their work.
More from Alan Cumming
All quotes →I'd been depressed before, of course. But I'm talking about really depressed. Not just feeling a bit down or sad, a depression that has something to do with biorhythms. I'm talking about the kind of depressed that floats in upon you like a fog. You can feel it coming and you can see where it is going to take you but you are powerless, utterly powerless to stop it. I know now.
Alan CummingRead
Similar quotes
That's the great irony of allowing passionate people to work from home. A manager's natural instinct is to worry that her workers aren't getting enough work done. But the real threat is that they will wind up working too hard. And because the manager isn't sitting across from her worker anymore, she can't look in the person's eyes and see burnout.
Jason FriedRead
Our point of view is, lets not be so elitist that we can't honor good, hard, dignified, ennobling work: people working with their hands, building things, putting up solar panels, weatherizing homes, working on organic agriculture, building wind farms. We don't have robots in society, so somebody has to do that work. Lets make sure that the people who can use that work get a chance to do it. I see that as a first step toward bigger and better things.
Van JonesRead
In an ideal world, nobody's work would be just about the money. People could pursue excellence in what they do, take pride in achievement, and derive meaning from knowing that their work improved the lives of others.
Barry SchwartzRead
I like work/life separation, not work/life balance. What I mean by that is, if I'm on, I want to be on and maximally productive. If I'm off, I don't want to think about work. When people strive for work/life balance, they end up blending them. That's how you end up checking email all day Saturday.
Tim FerrissRead
I go through periods where I work a great deal at all hours of the day whenever I am around a typewriter, and then I go through spells where I don't do anything. I just sort of have lunch - all day. I never have been able to stick to a schedule. I work when there is something due or when I am really excited about a piece.
Nora EphronRead
Sometimes it gets boring. No justice is supposed to say that. But, you know, there's drudgery in every job you're going to do.
Sonia SotomayorRead