
What it Means to Work
For most people, who are not engaged in meaningful employment of their own design and choosing, these ideas may be difficult to grasp or perhaps even seem incredulous. The old industrial age mentality still predominates where unions and government must protect workers from evil, exploiting enterprises. In most developing countries, workers feel it is their right to demand high paying employment. This was especially true prior to the recession where the shortage of workers around the world drove up wages and gave employees unprecedented bargaining power. In booming cities like my hometown of Calgary, companies were forced to pay exorbitant wages and offer generous sign up bonuses just to attract workers. When jobs are plentiful, workers’ inflated egos dominated and a rock star mentality emerged where companies couldn’t rely on workers even to show up to work, never mind actually having a productive day.
It saddens me to see the corrupted values of workers who were brought up in a time of immediate gratification and insatiable wants. Work and business shouldn’t be something to avoid and dread. Work takes such a huge portion of our adult lives that it is too bad that most people waste all of those hours and years doing something they hate, at levels much lower than they are capable of. Our work is the primary vehicle to express who we are and make a contribution to the world around us. Work shouldn’t have such negative connotations. If you don’t truly enjoy what you are doing, you owe it to yourself, your family and mankind to start working on things that excite you.
With the state of technology, it is completely feasible to work anywhere with internet access. Most companies offer flexible time and work-at-home options. The rules of work have changed and will continue to change. Expect much more flexible hours, options for shorter work weeks, more freelancing opportunities and more chances for sabbaticals and other learning time. We are not in the industrial age anymore.
It is not all fun.
Work isn’t and shouldn’t always be fun and interesting. Even rock stars get sick of getting on another stage and playing the same songs to a different crowd in a new city. That is the price of doing great things. Don’t expect your career to offer you endless happiness and eternal bliss. That is not what it is for. Work is to trade your time for money, which in-turn allows you to purchase the product of someone else’s time. We are all trading our own output with other citizens on this planet. Fundamentally, it is not much different than ancient hunter gatherers, we have just made it a little more complicated. The more productive you are at work, the more value you create for others. Just common courtesy, honesty and a smile would go a long way to adding to the lives of people around you. What happened to civility in Western countries?
End of the Nation State
Living abroad in Japan for the last decade has really opened my eyes to the limited world view that any single country offers. No matter what country you are from, your culture and ideas only comprise a minute fraction of what the world has to offer. Experience the world, you will be better for it.
It is not only the personal development aspects of travel that are important. National boundaries are beginning to make less sense in a globally interconnected world. When you are hiring Eastern European web developers, buying goods from China and having your taxes done in India, the limitations imposed by your country and government only disrupt the natural connectedness of the world. Why can’t I download songs from anywhere in the world? Why are visas still so difficult to arrange in many parts of the world? Why are developed countries still so racist against the immigrants vital to future growth? Stop identifying yourself with a particular country, join humanity and become a Jet Set Citizen.
The distinctions between work, play and travel are disappearing. We are all humans interacting with other humans, with the same hours in a day and same days in week. Your personal life doesn’t stop when you are at work and you don’t stop thinking about the job after hours. We need to stop compartmentalizing our lives and focus on what it means to be human. Don’t live for work, but at the same time strive to improve the lives of those around you. Work is the primary means of contribution for all of us.
I agree with you man! As much as I love the US, I try to think of myself as a citizen of the world, not so much affiliated with one national group, political group, or religious group. Governments are going to have to catch up to us one day and start opening up the physical borders to the truly nomadic, free lifestyle. But of course they’re not gonna want to, because then they’d have little power over the individual!
Love this post John! Stumbled.
.-= Cody McKibben´s last blog ..49 Tools for Living the Location Independent Lifestyle =-.
“Work is to trade your time for money” – exactly, and you have to make sure that the trade suits you. Living in a place where your money goes further can also help you get the best from this exchange.
.-= Sharon Hurley Hall´s last blog ..Tips for Reaching Writing Goals =-.
Thanks for reading Cody!
These are exciting times. It is sad that governments are going to be at least a decade behind on making substantial changes to accommodate the international flow of location independent professionals. Visas should not be so complicated in the 21st century.
Thanks for the comment Sharon!
More and more people seem to feel they are entitled to high salaries doing fun things with low work hours. It doesn’t work that way. Remuneration comes from creating value for others. If you can live abroad and require less to live on, then sure, work as little as you like.
Everyone needs a sabbatical or break so it is great to have short bursts of extreme fun and relaxation. However, that gets boring quickly. Working to serve others is the only way to get real satisfaction out of life in my opinion. It could be from parenting, art, business or whatever you want. Work is good in my opinion.