Who, What, Why : Work
What is Work
1. exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labor; toil
2. something on which exertion or labor is expended; a task or undertaking
3. productive or operative activity
4. employment, as in some form of industry, especially as a means of earning one’s livelihood
5. one’s place of employment
“…our traditional ideas about work itself are dissolving. As a society we are undergoing a radical change in the way we think of work. We are starved for meaning and purpose in our lives, and with the breakdown in job security in the corporate world, we are no longer willing to separate our values from our work.”
Why Work
From Lifehack.org :
“There is an obvious and superficial answer: you work to make enough money to support yourself and any family you may have. But that doesn’t seem a good enough answer. If work had no more than this utilitarian purpose, no one would do a single hour of work past the point where they had enough money to sustain life, based on what people see as ‘enough.’ “
Another perspective :
“One of the most common complaints by people working is “the money may be good but where is the meaning? How can I make a difference?”…If you go out looking for “meaning” you are most unlikely to find anything. It is the same thing with happiness: the more you search, the less you find….Now, as a joint result of affluence and our general leaning towards introspection, it has become the norm. We all insist that our jobs should mean something…But in fact, we all do make a difference at work. By performing the tasks we are supposed to perform, we are making a difference to our employers.”
Who Works
” I don’t believe that everyone should be an entrepreneur or a freelancer, that everyone should quit their job and go work for themselves. I do believe this: The less a project or task or opportunity at work feels like the sort of thing you would do if this is just a job, the more you should do it.”
Patrick Brennan’s view on working for yourself: