Everyone
hope that some day, they will find and get the job they love, the ‘dream job’. A job where you own a lot of money and at the same time use your skills
and love it. But because a lot of people don’t have their dream job, there has
to be several reasons to why we work.
A couple of
months ago I sat in my couch and looked at a Norwegian television show called
‘Skavlan’. Alain de Botton, an English philosopher who wrote “The Pleasures and
Sorrows of Work” was the guest at the show. During that time, he talked about
why we work.
From
hard-work to desire
In the past
we have been working to make money. To go to work wasn’t supposed to be a
pleasure or a way to improve and grow as a person. You were considered lucky if
you had a job that wasn’t unbearable, and that gave enough money to feed all
your family members’ stomachs.
But in the
1700s, people changed the perception of work. From just being a necessary thing
to do, it suddenly became a meaning of self-realisation and spiritual
nourishment. As Alain de Botton said in the show, the same thing happened to
love. The marriage would no longer be a practical arrangement, but something
that would give us the passion and understanding.
I
personally recognise myself in the description of the self-realisation
description. I want to be creative at work. Be able to do something that feels
good and be able to use my talents. I am fortunate to do so in my work. But if
you don’t have that, why do you work?
It is
probably to find a meaning in life. Alain de Botton says that the meaning is
found among a lot of things when you do something that is beneficial to others.
Nobody wants to be a ‘parasite’ that lives on the efforts of others, without
self-help. Because then you will feel guilty and start feeling self-loathing.
When people
complain that their job is boring and does not feel meaningful, it is a sign
that they don’t understand what significance it has for others. They are also
apparently not aware that they are creating something they value. Alain de Botton argues that it is
increasingly common that people think the job seems pointless. And that is
probably a management culture issue. Companies want to have productive staff,
but nowadays, you cannot whip people to get them to work harder, as they did in
the 1700s. No, nowadays people have to feel desire to work for wanting to
perform well. Whether the job is boring or not. It is now the manager’s job to
make people feel that the work they do is important for anyone. A difficult
task for you as a manager.
You don’t
have to think
Finally,
the most surprising reason for why we work. According to Alain de Botton, we
work to avoid thinking. We humans are here on earth for a very short time.
Around this fact raises many concerns. Why am I, such a small person as myself,
doing in this vast universe? Soon enough we will all be equally compressed as a
fossil in a museum, as Alain de Botton described it. This type of
thinking can do so that it spins in the brain of anyone!
I remember
when I was little, I though about how the universe was. So big and without an
end, I was told. I could not believe that though, everything will of course end
somewhere. That idea led to the next question: what’s behind it?
You get it,
because there was no end, either did my questions about the universe.
As an adult
I don’t think about this anymore. But I have a few friends who don’t work. They
have some ‘crazy’ thoughts sometimes. I kind of envy them for the time that
they have, but when I heard Alain de Botton, I am grateful for the job that I
have. My friends are a lot more anxious that I am.
So thank you
dear job for your help. I cannot say that you are perfect. But I get paid, I feel useful and I have a lot
of fun while working! But above all, I
don’t have any annoying thoughts that have no answer. I don’t think about the
universe's end anymore. I am too busy reading and writing emails, organise,
serve and run events!
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