During our discussion, the whole atmosphere went dull and blue at the instant when the fear of hunting a job came on the scene. Shaky job market was not what pulled our faces long, but rather what we exactly want and where we could fit in. Yes, we do care what we are working for.
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Why do we bother what kind of job we hold? As the civilization goes on, a remarkably growing awareness of selecting a right job drifts in. Message behind this interesting change is that people nowadays appreciate ‘job’ in a more sophisticated sense. Dating back to old days, people were, to a great extent, merely working for the sake of making a living. Choices of occupation were not complicated then, yet, they did not pay too much attention to what they do either. As long as they could survive with that, any kind would do them favor. In contrast, people in the modern days do hold preferences in seeking a job. The implication is they are expecting something beyond simply fulfilling basic needs - the pursuit of other desires, qualities of je ne sais quoi. As modern human beings, we anticipate intrinsic comforts, namely pleasure, from ‘job’, rather than viewing it as a tool for soothing fleshy needs only.
So what is work?
Generally speaking, paid jobs are definitely considered as ‘works’, in which you put energy and effort in. Alike idea as Physics, the concept of work is interpreted as the displacement you make with the amount of energy input. Similarly, energy input in jobs will then become contribution, switching from mechanical energy, or whatever form of energy, to objective property, which is commonly seen as money. Regardless the substantiality of money, yet we know our ‘done work’ will continue its life in a new form. This golden rule, very much applied to all, is conceptualized as the idea of contracts in Economics. According to businessdictionary.com, it has a clear definition on ‘work’ in this regard - the entire scope of a project encompassing all people, equipment, material, and other goods and services required to fulfill the contractor’s obligations under a contract.
In other words, work is basically an established agreement made among two or more parties oriented goods and services exchange. Recalling the birth of currency, the start of quantifying one’s effort in a physical means, we should appreciate this is an ancient notion been deeply rooted from the start of human history.
However, what about those unpaid yet productive activities, such as volunteer work and housework? Under the concept of contract, it seems like they do not get any concrete reward at the end. Isn’t it just a one-sided devotion, a blunt end contract? Standing from employer’s point of view, be more liberal with the meaning of contract, employment is about using money in exchange for ‘work’, which can be something intangible. Seeing this way, employers do receive emotional comfort. Applying to volunteers, abstract satisfaction is what they get in the end, at the expense of their effort and time. With no argue, as a human being, you must feel something when you time is occupied. Volunteers devote and pleasure is the reward. Same as housewives, satisfaction from settling things with their own hands is their ‘wage’. Same with us, students, feeling a big relief upon submission by deadlines is arguably a contenting salary. People use the word ‘work’ for any activity involving energy and time expenditure. No matter voluntarily or involuntarily, people do get something in return, either tangible or intangible or both. Our whole life is work and, work is just a way of living.
Why do we bother to ‘work’ anyway?
Or the question should be: why do we ‘need’ reward from work? The most obvious reason is that we need to fulfill our basic needs simply for survival. Yes, we do need money for bread. The end of the day, with limited time and resources, all tasks cannot be simply managed by oneself. Surely it is possible to sew, grow, build and transport your own, but why don’t you do that? Because we should appreciate different people are gifted in different ways. This is why people need interaction. We are cooperating, still under the idea of contract, for better quality of life. Don’t forget, humankind are born with complex functions and thoughts. Solely fulfilling basic needs, even to its most luxurious extent, is not sufficient for us to feel satisfied. Our souls need to be fed with spiritual bread too. This may better justify the fear of hunting a right job, in which is utterly driven by our intrinsic eager to pursue abstract satisfaction. Working is about living and living is about surviving with well-fed souls.
Bearing this substantiality of work in mind, switch to our trivial reality, treating your job more than a money-making tool could potentially bring your surprises in your career path apart from making sense to your own.
‘The person who will make the greatest contribution to a company is the mature person - and you cannot have maturity if you have no life or interest outside the job.’
This quote, which I agree on very much, reveals the subtle link between maturity and work. In a logical sense, people who make great and impressive contribution to the company are more likely to have a brighter career path. This would be an uplifting motivation for us to engage in our occupation and build intimacy with our ultimate aspiration, in parallel with our personal life attitude.
Another appreciative point the author made here is the importance of keeping an interest or life outside job, which is echoing to my belief, namely the importance of feeding your spirits. The author also points out the need to nourish our souls from something we enjoy doing. After all, eating physical bread alone could merely keep us surviving. Maturity is more than about growing old. The key is wisdom, which has no direct correlation with age. To be exact, the word wisdom is not superficially about intelligence, but also the ability to manage one’s emotion. In that sense, maturity is about sophistication in managing both technical and psychological issues.
In my own interpretation, the underlying meaning of that statement is the essence of developing as a whole before daring to talk about maturity. What’s more, do not mistake quantity alone can compose ‘great’ contribution, quality shall not be forgotten here. If one is mentally starved, such creature is no better than a programmed robotic flesh handling manageable tasks. No matter how well the duties are managed, such contribution, even at its best of the best, is very much restricted in quantitative respect. Missing is the organic chemistry from the ‘mature’ mind, the mental library created from time to time through daily experiences and exposures. Such abstract treasures can no way be quantified but rather qualified. Organic wittiness, as a result of maturity, would be the essence in making qualitative contribution.
How to make a great contribution is not the scope to be discussed here, but how and where to pursue maturity matter much more. After knowing the value of making qualitative contribution in a company as well as importance of harvesting spiritual nutrients from non-technical interactions (more from enjoyable activities), so why don’t you find a job you could ‘live’ with it at the first place? Why not pick a job that can be blended in as a part of your life and take it as a way of living?
By now, you should have a better idea why you feel so frustrated in job hunting. It is purely about the ‘calling’, lusting from inside for something is physically and mentally (and financially) beneficial to ourselves, something we feel comfortable and satisfied with our own touch. We should eye on a job that we can engage and build an intimacy with. We should eye on a job that is purposeful in our own sense. If you happen to take a job that you cannot connect yourself with, you are about to fall into the bottomless pit of being a dead-alive.
Work is a just a way of living, take everything as a whole
‘Consistent purpose is not enough to make life happy, but it is an almost indispensable condition of a happy life.’ In my own visualization, consistent purpose is about connecting everything to my own backbone, my soul. Picture our life as a fish backbone, the branches of it are vital in supporting other body parts, different specialized parts of the whole. It is the same in us, we only grow as a whole with everything connected to our master mind. However, the so-called development in various aspects of our lives are merely the fleshes. Without genuine sensible connection to our master mind, solid branches to our backbone, such piece of flesh is no better than a tumor which can be potentially harmful to us.
The implication of having a whole intact backbone with no dispensable part of one’s life is that: every moment of one’s life belongs to oneself and is connected to one’s ultimate intention in life. Most importantly, the feeling of having all the time reasonably personal is pleasant and enjoyable, simply because we can enjoy more control over personal precious moment. Having the power to shape one’s own time, to a considerable degree, composes one’s happiness. As suggested, consistency plays a big, yet, not an absolute role in leading a happy life, though the opposite is may be true. Unhappiness emanates from something unintentionally bumped into one’s life that is not enjoyable to the counterpart. In that case, it is less likely for oneself to commit, let alone establishing intimacy. This is to say it does not match with one’s personality and expectation, not to mention one’s ultimate purpose. If that activity is unfortunate enough to be your job, which takes up two third of one’s time, then happiness will be fairly distant from that being.
All in all, hunting the right job, in which you could possibly bond yourself to, is a fundamental staircase to happiness. To step up the ladder of happiness, you should work with your job, as well as other miscellaneous things in your life, cohering every single element with your attitude and intention of life.
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Flare
