Why work?

The easy answer to that question, of course, is to “make money”.  But is that really the answer?

What would you do if you won the lottery and never had to worry about money? What would your sister or brother do?  What would your mom or dad do?  What would your best friend do? Everyone will have a different answer to that question.

How do you define work?

The truth is, we all need to live and, to do that, we need to make at least enough money to live the quality of life that we want to live.  That amount is different for every person and changes depending on where we are in life.

Ideally though, we would all make tons of money doing what we love to do. However, most of the things we dream about doing do not earn much money, especially at first.

However, there is more to compensation than just money.  Someone once told me and I believe there are three important reasons we work: Money, Time, and Significance.  All three have to be present for true life satisfaction and work enjoyment.

However, most of us really need to survive, especially at first.  So we concentrate on just earning money. We find jobs that are tolerable and earn us some money – something within our ethical boundaries and our skill set.  Then we get comfortable. Pretty soon, all those things that we dream about doing become just that – dreams.

I would challenge you that planning is essential in the process of finding that perfect job/career so that dreams don’t go by the wayside.  We spend a lot of time working.  Let’s make our job as enjoyable as possible and maybe even fun!

To love what you do and feel that it matters – how could anything be more fun?

– Katherine Graham