One of my former coworkers posted a link on Facebook to a spiel from a comedian about the fruitless search for fulfillment from work, suggesting that following your bliss and trying to revert to more of a trade-and-barter economy would likely be better for you. I can dig that to an extent, but he suggested that people were largely motivated to pursue this "life in boxes" at companies to advance their career to make more money and buy more crap. I think this is too much of a generalization, and confuses too many issues.
First off, I firmly believe that you can find some level of fulfillment in work regardless of if you're doing it for The Man, or yourself. The underlying things we need, like being a part of something, the social interaction, having pride in what you produce, can potentially be found in any environment. I know this first hand, as I've done small scale work for a little money on my own time, and I've worked for one of the biggest companies in the world working on a web app that serves millions of people every day. The scale is irrelevant. Great or crap work may happen either way.
Second, I don't believe that the thing that motivates people in the general sense is more money for more stuff. Certainly there are people who do this, immediately negating any advancement in income by buying a bigger house, or a better car. I can't relate to that, but I know people who are that way, and I assume they're motivated by status, appearance or something else that ultimately is not fulfilling.
I will be the first to admit that finding fulfilling work is seriously challenging. The harder thing might even be having the courage to ditch what you don't like to find something else, in part because of the fear surrounding a lack of income. Multiply by 10 in a poor economy. But get a little more abstract, and I think you'll find that the fulfillment problem is larger.
Simply put, you can't find fulfillment in work alone. Not only that, but you can't wrap your entire existence in what you do. I don't know what it is about our culture that puts this on us, but I'm certainly guilty. My first layoff in 2001 just wrecked my self-esteem, and it took awhile to get over that. It would be years before I realized how screwed up that was.
Think about it this way, if you work 40 hours per week, there are at least 60 more waking hours each week that you're not working. What are you doing with that time? Work can certainly be a part of the thing that gives you meaning and purpose, but it shouldn't be the only thing. If it is, I think that you're doing it wrong.
Looking for meaning in life is a strange thing. I certainly don't have all of the answers, but I get it from a lot of places. Work contributes to that sense of purpose now, but it didn't always. You have to decide for yourself how much it should do for your sense of self.
No comments yet.