The Mundane Is Important
Have you ever had a conversation about the mundane parts of your life? You know, the random (and sometimes boring) parts of our lives that seem to take up a lot of time, but feel more like chores than something meaningful?
Imagine starting a conversation with a friend and getting asked a question like, “what have you been up to?” and responding: “Well, I brushed my teeth a bunch of times, drove to work, went to the grocery store, did the dishes several times, folded some laundry, pulled some weeds out of the garden, made a few random dinners. You know, the usual stuff. How about you?”
My guess is that you haven’t waxed poetic about the mundane parts of your life, because most of us view the mundane parts of our lives as purposeless and boring.
But what if the mundane parts of your day, the parts no one would film or have an in depth conversation about, are actually where something important is happening?
The Mundane is Human
Your stewardship of your life within each of the seven pillars (career, relationships, diet, fitness, finances, spiritual habits, hobbies) is something I talk about a lot at BFAP. And it matters.
But the reality is also that a lot of your life in between these pillars is filled with mundane (and sometimes boring) things that don’t always fit neatly into a pillar: grocery shopping, foam rolling and mobility work, yardwork, your commute, the time on your lunch break that isn’t eating, paying bills, showering, making dinner, helping with homework, folding laundry, doing the dishes, the same conversations with your kids at the same dinner table, the same errands on the same Saturday, and the list goes on.
None of that is stuff that you’d focus on in an hourlong conversation with a friend about, almost none of it is exciting, and yet it’s where a large percentage of our lives are actually being lived.
The mundane isn’t a part of life to escape from.
It’s a part of being human.
The Mundane is Meaningful
The mundane isn’t the price you pay to experience the meaningful parts of life. It’s a meaningful part of life in and of itself, just not in the way you’ve been taught to see it.
Think about what’s actually happening when you’re washing the dishes. You’re caring for the people in your home. You’re protecting the order of a shared space. You’re refusing to let one neglected task become five, then ten, then a kitchen that breeds resentment. It doesn’t feel like much in the moment, but over a month, it’s the difference between a household that works and one that doesn’t.
The same is true for paying bills, getting your oil changed, returning the email, folding laundry, and cleaning the toilets. These are not the highlights of your life, but collectively they comprise a large percentage of most of our lives.
The writer of Ecclesiastes, after pursuing every form of grandeur available to a human, concludes that there is nothing better than to eat, drink, and find satisfaction in your work. Not the work that will make you famous, but the work (including the mundane work) that’s in front of you where life is actually lived.
A 17th-century monk named Brother Lawrence spent most of his life working in a monastery kitchen. He cooked and washed dishes for decades, and he became known for his peace, his clarity, and the quiet presence he carried through every moment of his day. His insight was simple: the spiritual life is not separate from the mundane. It is found in the mundane, if you’re paying attention.
This isn’t just a religious idea, even though it shows up in religious traditions. It’s a recognition about how human life actually works. The mundane is not the obstacle to a meaningful life. It is the place where meaning gets formed, one ordinary act at a time.
The Mundane is Doable
Acknowledging that the mundane is important doesn’t make it feel any less mundane in the moment. The dishes still need to be done. The grass still needs to be cut. The bills still need to be paid. None of that magically becomes interesting just because you decided to take it seriously.
So the question becomes practical. How do you actually live inside the mundane without resenting it?
Stack the time. A lot of mundane work is mindless enough that you can pair it with something that feeds you or keeps you entertained. I listen to podcasts or music while I mow the lawn or clean. I talk with friends on the phone on my afternoon commute. The mundane task gets done, and I get to do something productive and beneficial in the process of the mundane.
Resist procrastination. Mundane tasks are where procrastination breeds. Skipping the dishes for one night is no big deal, but skipping them for four nights in a row creates a different problem entirely. Living intentionally means not letting the small things become big things through neglect and procrastination.
Stop waiting to enjoy it. Some of the mundane work in your life will never be fun and will always feel like a task. But it doesn’t have to be a burden. The shift from “I have to do this” to “I’m going to do this” is real. Same action, but a different posture. And over time, that posture can change how the work feels.
The Mundane Matters
Not everything that matters has to be exciting, and not everything that’s meaningful is worth filming.
The dishes, the yard, the bills, the commute, and the daily rhythms of caring for yourself and the people around you are not the things you do so you can get to the meaningful and purposeful part of life. These things are part of a meaningful and purposeful life, and if you keep trying to escape them, ignore them, or push them off, you’ll miss the actual life you’ve been given.
But if you can learn to see them differently, to recognize that stewardship of the small things is how a purposeful life actually gets lived, you’ll find something most people miss entirely.
The meaningful life doesn’t show up after the mundane is over.
It shows up inside it.
