Work Is A Four-Letter Word
I can hear the jokes already and most of them are not
politically correct. Let me throw out a word that we often don't
attach to work and yet I think it is a word of redemption, of
contribution, of achievement, of community, and ultimately, of
legacy.
Here it is: LOVE.
Kahil Gibran proclaimed, "Work is love made visible". I would
further clarify his position by insisting that a job is what you
do for a paycheck. Work is what you do for a life. It is that
energizing, all-encompassing activity that allows you to bring
skills to bear in ways that are satisfying beyond a pay period.
It is that activity that saves you from being a faceless number
in a mechanistic wheel-hence it holds redemptive powers. It is
that activity which makes a contribution to a larger world
order. It is that activity from which you sense a measure of
accomplishment and achievement. It excites you. It gives you
joy. It binds you to a community of people who are stakeholders
in what you do. Ultimately, it has a ripple effect and the
potency of a legacy for those who follow.
"Ah come on!" you insist. "How about a garbage collector? A
waiter? A store clerk? Who is going to love those jobs?"
Great question. And at face value, it seems that not every
employment opportunity has such grand potential. Just take the
money, leave it as soon as you can for greener pastures. Screw
those miserable bosses. Thumb your nose at the customer.
And tomorrow you die.
That's it. Plain and simple. While you are looking for the dream
vocation, the better work environment, the nicer boss, reality
can step in and your one moment on the Planet is gone forever.
It's a reality made even MORE real by current events.
There's an uneasy shift that has taken us by storm and rattled
our plod-along workaday world. Many are paralyzed by the
insecurity of the times. The terror of 9-11 and the subsequent
global aggressiveness pushed us over the edge. With a wobbly
U.S. economy, unsettled change continues to bombard us.
Mega-mergers boggle the mind with the endless zeros streaming
behind a behemoth's financial size. We gasp at the number of
employees who are cast off from a consolidated giant. We see
plant closures and layoffs in everything from clothing
manufacturing to banking. Overnight web companies turn almost
under-age youth into millionaires and executives at age 40 are
left scratching their heads. Then, dot.coms fail, leaving
bewildered employees in the rubble. Wall Street meltdown,
corporate greed, and icon-like presidents who crash as fallen
idols make daily headlines.
Despite statistics that indicate employment is coming back,
there's pain and inaccuracy behind these cold numbers. We are
working more but feeling as if we're earning less and living in
time poverty. Affluenza is an all too common word. The
consistent notion that work should be a 24/7 event is being
challenged by a rising number of strident voices. And with those
voices comes a cry for the most urgent answer to sustainable
success: finding meaningful work that makes an impact and lets
us live in the bargain. Answer that plea and we'll unleash a
productive and creative power akin to a tsunami.
In short we want to LOVE what we do, who we do it for and who we
do it with AND love the life we create outside that work. That's
the essence-the Holy Grail-the mysterious work/life balance
piece. Finding that Holy Grail is done by parallel processing,
working on two tracks. The first track is to make work "work"
for you in your current situation.
Wouldn't it make more sense to transform wherever you find
yourself-even while continuing to search-so that if and when you
leave, there's a faint footprint of achievement, community,
contribution and yes, even the memory of a beneficial
interaction. Such a transformation allows you to love yourself
in the process. It keeps bridges from burning and strengthens a
network of relationships that one day you might call upon. The
critical question becomes: how do you turn a "job' into a
"work"-into something that gives you more than a paycheck? No,
you might not be able to alter the corporate strategic plan,
paint the garbage truck peppermint pink or change a boss from a
toad to a prince. But, there are specific action items you can
take within your sphere of influence. Too often, we expect
management to lead us in career directions, to provide us with
recognition, to make "it" a better place. It's just like a
marriage: there's responsibility on both sides. Using the tools
offered by Bev Kaye and Sharon Jordan Evans in Love it. Don't
Leave It (available at major bookstores), you'll find a literal
alphabet soup of specific action steps to help you take
ownership for your life at work
Don't wait. Time is too precious to squander. You CAN fall in
love again.
(c) 2004, McDargh Communications. All rights in all media
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