Something with purpose

Doing something with purpose

Shunryu Suzuki writes in Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind that when you do something, just doing it should be your purpose. The idea is simple yet radical. Most activities serve another goal. We wash dishes to have a clean kitchen and work to earn money. Suzuki suggests that the activity itself can be the purpose.

When every action serves only a future result, the present becomes a means to an end. We rush through tasks, impatient to finish. As a result, much of life feels like waiting. On the other hand, when the doing itself matters, ordinary moments gain value and attention.

Practising something with purpose

Try this with a routine task. Wash dishes slowly, noticing the warm water, the sound of plates and the movement of your hands. The goal is not speed but presence. Thich Nhat Hanh famously described washing dishes to wash dishes, not to finish them.

At work, this attitude improves quality. When writing an email, focus fully on writing it well. When listening to a colleague, simply listen. Therefore, each task receives complete attention, and mistakes decrease.

This approach also reduces stress. Worry often comes from thinking about the next task while doing the current one. Moreover, single-minded focus creates a sense of calm that multitasking rarely allows.

Purpose in this sense is not abstract. It lives in concrete actions, done carefully and fully.

Bigger goals still have their place. The point is that the journey toward them can be meaningful at every step.

In the end, Suzuki invites us to find purpose in the doing itself. Life becomes richer when each action is complete in its own moment.

Keep reading

• Something and not-doing
• Real calmness
• Alive and doing