No B.S Friday: Work doesn’t have to be a pain in the arse.
I was talking a little bit last week about how to think about how you’re going to make money in the world.
And that got me thinking about how most people think about ‘work’.
For most of us, we define work around how ‘unpleasant’ it is.
Work (n.) – the nasty stuff that no one would do unless they were being paid for it.
This is the way we’ve been taught to think about work. By it’s nature it’s unpleasant. And that’s the work contract. I’ll endure several hours of unpleasantness, and in return, you give me some money.
How many people are actually doing things that they enjoy – things they would still get up and do tomorrow if they won the lotto and didn’t need the money?
For sure, they exist, but I reckon they’d be pretty rare. 1% of the working population, absolute tops.
Even if you say you like your job, do you really like it? Would you still do it tomorrow if you didn’t need to? Or have you just become acclimatised to the unpleasantness, seduced by the little perks, and sold on the idea that everyone needs to work at something?
But if you marry work and money to unpleasantness, then you are putting some serious limitations on yourself.
If deep in your subconscious somewhere you’ve bought into the idea that work needs to be a pain in the arse – that money only comes when someone with more money than you is buying the right to give you a pain in the arse – then you’re probably going to struggle to break into the rare air of true financial freedom.
If you’ve built an identity and an understanding of the world around the idea that money is won through unpleasantness, then that pattern is going to be hard to break. You’re only going to be open to financial opportunities that ask you to make this trade-off, or they’ll be the only opportunities the universe will send your way.
You’ll be psychically tied to the hamster-wheel.
But we can choose a different definition of work.
Because there’s nothing that says that work has to be unpleasant.
I have another definition:
Work (n.) – the stuff I do that creates value for others.
There’s no place for suffering here. And what it says is that, rather than looking for ways to exchange suffering for cash, we should look for places where we can offer value to the world.
This opens the game right up. Last time I looked, the world wasn’t short on things that needed doing.
(I can think of a couple of hundred thousand things just around my house.)
There are any number of ways that you can offer value to the world. And it’s much more empowering to think of yourself as a value provider rather than a merchant of sorrow.
It may be just a shift in perspective, but it’s a powerful one. First of all, suffering is not a necessary component of the equation. I’m much more likely to enjoy my work if I don’t expect I’ll have to suffer at some point.
Secondly, suffering is fixed, but value is not. There is only so much suffering I am capable of enduring. There is only so much sorrow I can take to market.
However, a concept of value is unlimited. I could strap on my sequin undies and go and save the world from some evil mastermind. That’s an almost infinite amount of value I’ve just provided the world right there.
Your capacity to offer value to the world is unlimited.
Your capacity to receive value from the world in return is also unlimited.
And if there’s no upside limit to your income, there’s no upside limit to your wealth.
JG.
MWENEMBELE says
I have in Business:-security of your home
-school:certificate 1 of English Addition language.-I got it secondary 5H section scientifique, option Math and physique at 1986- 1987 and- Medical sciences Idid:Diploma 2009 in Tanzania Refugees camp of nyarugusu- Education:-Traitement of cancer are trained for indigenous medecine….
Helen says
OMG I am one of the 1% that loves my job (that I created) Ive always followed my passions and this has always bought the money in without thinking about, not the other way around.
I like the saying, if you follow the sheep you will always step in shit….
That’s right, in the light of not following your dreams and doing what your en-cultured to be or do…
but
It is wrong where it comes to following research and the momentum that you get from following your dreams ..
It is a must for me, or my soul would be crippled and I would have no air to breath. Well that’s my belief anyways and I am unable to compromise on this one.
Thought I would add my daily mantra…
“thank you, thank you, thank you, and let me find opportunities to serve those around me in every moment”
All the best
Helen