Kanjirō Kawai was a potter who lived in Kyoto. He and a collaborator, Hamada Shoji, conducted over 10,000 experiments with glazes in their first two years working together. (Talk about being prolific.) Here’s a poem he wrote, which I found in the Kyoto edition of D Design Travel magazine:

Work works itself to work

Work is happy each and every day

There’s nothing work can’t do

Work does anything and everything

Even work work doesn’t want to do

Work only knows to move forward

Work surprises everyone with its unstoppable energy

There is nothing work doesn’t know

It answers all if you ask

If you ask to do it work will do it

What work likes the most

Is to struggle with hard work

All the hard work work would do

Let us now work work work

It reminds me that work is a condition of life; it’s not meant to be escaped. 

A proper respect for your own work also makes sure you’re not exploited.