Do We Need To Re-Think Our Relationship With Work?
What role should work play in our lives?
Even though we’re technically past Labor Day, something that I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about lately is the relationship we have with work. Sure, if you’re reading this post, you probably have to work to fulfill some of your most basic needs (food, shelter, providing for yourself and/or your family, paying off college loans) and it’s also probably fair to assume that you believe working is a good way to put your skills and knowledge to work and to contribute to society.
But the past 18 months has given all of us time to think deeply about the many aspects of our lives. For many of us, work consumes a great deal of our life, so it’s only natural to start to ponder the relationship we have with our jobs and our careers. We’ve already heard stories of those who have already done this through the Great Resignation, and they are worth reading and listening to, but I encourage everyone who has the means and the opportunity to figure out how this manifests itself for you as an individual for your own life.
Because this is such a pervasive conversation as of late, I’ve had the good privilege of discussing this with some friends and colleagues, and am enjoying a few more discussions. I would be curious to see if anyone else has any thoughts on this, and please drop me a line if so. I’ve toiled with a few pieces on this, but am hoping to put together something more holistic over the next few weeks.
In the meantime, here are few articles and podcasts that are influencing my thoughts and ideas:
How Our Views of Work Have Changed Forever (BBC)
The whole purpose of life changed. So [has] the purpose of work,” says Bhagyesh Shah in Gujarat, India. - This piece walks through how COVID-19 has changed the views of work from a number of diverse workers across the globe. It’s good context setting to better understand how others have been impacted by COVID and how that’s impacting their own world views on work.
Your Work and It’s Meaning (Jungle Gym)
Nick deWilde has one of the best career newsletters out there so if you haven’t signed up I highly recommend it. Nick walks through three mental models for how to evaluate your relationship with your job and career.
Should You Be Grateful For Your Job? (BBC)
I think many of us have been told to express and show gratitude as a means to acknowledge what you do have and what is working in your life. This is all well and good and often gives us perspective, but there are limitations to acknowledging that sometimes stuff just sucks and we shouldn’t feel bad about acknowledging that truth. If you’ve ever been in a situation where you were at work and had a challenging moment but also told yourself that you need to be grateful for just having your job, this is a good article to help you reframe your thoughts on this.
Rethinking Our Relationship with Work (HBR Ideacast)
The episode’s guest, Emily Stefani Smith has studied meaning and fulfillment. In the episode, they talk about how people typically find meaning in work, and how the pandemic has changed (or not changed that) I enjoyed this episode (it’s relatively short) and if you’re on your journey to re-think your relationship with work it's a good place to start.
The past 18 months have been filled with lots of sadness and trauma and for many of us not enough wins and happiness. This article does a good job helping you think about how to reframe work and to find the joy that’s been missing in it during these times.
Workism is Making Americans Miserable (The Atlantic)
Derek Thompson has written a number of thought provoking articles over the past 2-3 years about work, especially aimed at white collar and highly educated workers. In this article, he walks through how Americans got to a point where we made work such a focal point of our culture and society, and the negative implications of that choice.
Remember: What You Do Is Not Who You Are (NY Times)
For many of us, our definition and our self-worth is very much tied into our work, and specifically, how well/good we are at doing that work. This article aims to encourage people to reframe how they align their work and their identity
Are you thinking about your relationship with work? Send me a note or let me know in the comments