How Sisyphus Stays Smiling
How process over product saves us from futility
We can imagine Sisyphus happy as long as we know that Sisyphus loves rolling boulders. If he doesn't, I hope he learns to.
Sisyphus was a king in Greek mythology who was condemned to roll a boulder up a hill, every day, only to have it roll back down when he reached the top. In the face of this soul sucking futility, the existentialist philosopher Albert Camus famously said, “one must imagine Sisyphus happy.” My question is how.
The horror and absurdity in this comes from the futility. Every day, the same gruelling task, with no achievement to speak of. All that work, undone, every single day. All that work for nothing.
At least, that's one way of looking at it — we'll call that the achievement oriented view. But what if Sisyphus loved rolling boulders? Then, every day, Sisyphus gets to do something he loves. When the boulder rolls down the hill, he's presented not with failure, not with the absurdity of his efforts, but with an opportunity to do what he loves again tomorrow. From this perspective, the process-oriented perspective, the goal never mattered in the first place — it was simply a way to get rolling. No horror, no absurdity, just joy in the process.
In our own lives, we are condemned to do many things over and over again. Wake up, make coffee, go to work, come home, eat dinner, sleep. Rinse, repeat. This, as Camus points out, is our boulder — the daily grind. So, how do we push it with a smile?
Process Orientation
I think it's to take on a process orientation with as much of the daily grind as we can. Of course, there are times when the achievements really do matter. Sometimes in work or in life we're presented with an opportunity to change something, to make an impact. In those moments, we should seize the opportunity — the chance to matter. That's not what we're discussing here. We're talking about making coffee, the commute to work, cooking dinner, doing laundry. The things most of us do not for themselves, but so that we can get through today, and do them again tomorrow.
For me, the epitome of the daily grind was cooking. I hated it. Begrudgingly, every day, I cooked boring quick things, so I could eat. I called them survival meals. This was the achievement oriented approach to cooking, and it added a dash of misery to my daily routine.
I did this for years, until recently, when I decided to learn how to cook.
When I started learning, I found my focus shifted from the outcome to the process. I looked at each step of the process, the right heat to use for the dish, the type of pan or pot, when to add which ingredients, how to chop garlic faster and finer. Every step took my attention — I became mindful of my cooking.
Each part of the process, knife technique, knowing the smoke points of various oils, identifying patterns of flavours for different types of cuisine, became a part of the joy of it. I started learning through experimentation, and cooking became play.
Of course, the goal still matters — I still have to eat. But now, when I do have to eat, it's not a condemnation to cook, it's an opportunity to cook — to play. When we develop something as a skill, it shifts our focus to the process, and it *can* become fun.
This isn't limited to cooking. Tons of daily grinds can be turned into skills to be learned, experimented with, and played with. There's a whole art to making coffee, one that you can practice every morning if you like. If you have to write emails for work, you can practice writing them to be more persuasive or flow better. When you stain your white shirt, maybe that's an opportunity to learn how dry cleaners do their magic.
Not all of these are as rich and skill expressive as cooking, I admit. But, the more we can view things as skills and play, the more we can take on the process-oriented view, and the more we can see the daily grind as an opportunity instead of a condemnation.
How does Sisyphus stay smiling? I think he learns how to roll the boulder a little bit better every day. I think he's learned to enjoy the process instead of the goal.
#GuidingQuestions
1. What's something you have to do regularly and dread doing?
2. Is that thing a skill that you can learn?
3. Can you find a way to make it fun?
Feel free to leave your answers to these questions in the comments below!
Inspration List
Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus - for the presentation of the daily grind as the boulder
Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - for ideas on doing the highest quality thing and avoiding gumption traps
Joshua Weissman's YouTube channel - for teaching me how to cook
Cheers,
Nathan Laundry
By virtue of my personality, I'm not big on routine. I find it stifling, most times. But you're right — life is full of routine, of the grind — and that's something I had to come to terms with when I entered the workforce. It was a hard transition for me, but what you talk about here is exactly right. It reminds me of the G.K. Chesterton quote:
"But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, 'Do it again' to the sun; and every evening, 'Do it again' to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them."
When I finally came to realize that it truly is the journey — the play — that matters, things changed for me. I did begin to delight in the little things (cooking definitely being one of them!). Even chores, I realized, could be done this way. They didn't have to be drudgery. I sit at a computer all day for my work; folding laundry, cooking, picking things up around house...at least I get to use my body! My hands. And things around me get better. What's not delightful about that?
Your point about making it into a skill via play -- very useful. As we get better at things, we tend to enjoy them more, I think. And learning is the great intrinsic motivator.
Great post!