Good morning and welcome to another Thursday update! This week, I’m going to talk briefly about work. These are just my own random thoughts and ramblings about what work means. To some of y’all, it will be interesting, and perhaps to others, it will be the ignorant words of a 25-year-old. Either way, I had a lot of fun with it!
Part of the reason I went on this whole rant about “what is work” is that it’s part of a writing challenge Medium is doing.
For those that don’t know: “Medium is an open platform where readers find dynamic thinking, and where expert and undiscovered voices can share their writing on any topic.”
I mainly do all my writing through Substack (which is what you are reading from now), but I write on Medium too. There are some really talented writers on Medium and it’s where I do most of my research and reading about crypto. I’m not here to talk up Medium, but if you ever decide you want a Medium membership for any reason, you should use this link because it helps me too instead of just the Medium company ;)
https://davidjmeyer.medium.com/membership
Anyways, into the article…
What is work?
It’s a difficult question to answer. It has to be more than just some 9-5 job, right? More than just that thing you do for 80,000 hours of your life?
I think defining the word work is hard because it depends on perspective. To some people, work is daunting, draining, and awful. To others, it’s a grind to get ahead or climb the corporate ladder. Or even worse, it’s a way to fulfill greedy desires. Some have little feelings overwork and view it as a means to an end. An “in order to survive, we must work” mentality. Then of course, to a rare lucky few, work is pure joy.
For me, work changes frequently. Working as a software developer I have the privilege of working on different problems. Yes, I work on the same product, but it is a vast product with different things to build, fix, or work on. It keeps it exciting for sure, but it still comes with a fair share of dread and boredom every now and then too.
If someone were to ask me, is software development your dream job? I would say no.
This would of course prompt the follow-up question, “well, what is your dream job, then?” To which I wouldn’t have an answer.
As a socially awkward person, I would probably come up with something on the spot like, “travel the world,” or some kind of garbage like that. Don’t get me wrong, I would 100% love to travel the world with my amazing wife and keep a travel blog as our source of income.
However, even that would eventually become draining.
Is there such a thing as a dream job, then?
Yes...I think there is.
As a Christian, I believe God created us with the innate ability to work. God worked for 6 days and took a day of rest when He created the world. He created us in His image as workers; He gave us the pattern of work to follow before sin ever entered the world. The issue came with the fall. When sin entered the world, work was distorted.
I believe that before sin, work was always joyful. God loved creating the world as I’m sure Adam and Eve loved tending to the garden and naming the animals. It must have been pure joy to work for the Lord in that way. They were perfectly created and suited for their job.
Whether you are a Christian or not, you have to admit that certain people have an aptitude for certain things. Some people are skilled bakers, painters, plumbers, electricians, computer programmers, surgeons, drivers, the list goes on forever.
We all have individual unique skills. Sometimes we don’t recognize our own skills, but we have them nonetheless.
I personally believe we have a perfect job out there that will perfectly utilize each of our skills in a very unique way that will leave us fulfilled and excited to work.
The question I have yet to answer is whether you can actually find that job in this lifetime. The longer I live the more I think that job won’t exist until we reach Heaven.
I also believe that if I strive to find my ultimate satisfaction in work on earth, then I am doomed to a life of misery. Our ultimate purpose and satisfaction should always be found in Christ. This is not just true for the religious; this is true for everyone. If you find satisfaction in work, it will 100% let you down at some point. The longer it waits, the worse it will feel.
So what then? Should we work in a job that’s boring or draining forever? Should we not strive to find the job that best suits our passions?
If your job is draining and distracting and taking away from living your life, then you should absolutely move on. I don’t care if you make $500,000 a year, no amount of money can buy you more time. Time is the most precious resource. It’s the only one we can’t earn more of.
That being said, there is also a balance between being driven by passion and being driven by wisdom. There is a time where sticking in the job might be the wise thing to do until you know what you want to pivot to. There is a time where you need to quit trying to make a living from your passion and just call it a hobby. It doesn’t mean you can’t earn a side income or enjoy it, but maybe that’s not what is going to provide for your family. We have to balance wisdom with our passions when it comes to working. Ultimately, this boils down to trusting in the Lord and leaning on His understanding to guide our paths.
So is working just an end to a means? Not really. I truly believe we were designed to work. That’s probably why there are so many bored retirees working at Chick Fil A. It’s innate in our inner being to work.
Work is fulfillment, but it’s also not. That’s a tricky dichotomy to grasp. We must work, we must rest, but we must not view either as the end all be all. If we work too much without rest, we are doomed. If we rest without ever working, we are lazy and thus also doomed. There is a balance. “Work-life balance, anyone?”
To answer the initial question, what is work, here is the official definition: “activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.”
That sums it up real nicely. We put forth effort for a purpose or result. Maybe the key is not so much how you work, but why. What purpose or result are you working for? Is it to satisfy greed or is it to glorify God and help others? I can promise you one of those will lead to a life of more dissatisfaction, while the other will lead to a fulfilled life.
That’s the question I leave you with. Not what is work, but why do you work?