Work

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

~Aristotle

The word “work” often has a negative connotation. We have to wake up every day and do something that we might not necessarily choose to do if we weren’t getting paid for it.

But if we think about our days as a series of moments, each special in its own way, we can transcend many of the negative aspects of working and change our attitude about what we do—from one of working to one of being—making the most out of each moment and realizing that each moment is special.

In our jobs, we may not always have the flexibility to work on the things we care about or enjoy, but we do have control over the person who shows up for the job. We should care about the work we do because we are the ones doing it. We are bringing our presence, intellect, energy, and personality to our jobs. We are giving of ourselves, and that, in and of itself, makes the work we do special.

We can decide if the person who shows up is a curious, creative, thoughtful, energetic version of ourselves, or a bored, downcast, uninterested, weary version. Bringing the best version of ourselves to work is a win-win proposition. Not only will we get more out of our job, our employer will also get a more valuable employee.

Bringing the best version of yourself to work is part of making the best life for yourself. It entails taking control of your health, energy level, organization, and attitude. The person—you—is just as important to employers as the usual measurements of an employee’s worth. That’s a big part of the reason why people are interviewed in person. Employers want to get a glimpse of the person behind the resume.

The word “work” usually means doing something for money. But our work can also mean doing something that gives back in terms of satisfaction. When I think about my life’s work, I do think about my job, but I also think about my creative pursuits, my efforts to be healthy and fit, raising my son, and my writing. I consider all of these part of my life’s work. I’m also lucky enough to have a job that I’m extremely passionate about and that I enjoy very much.

Part of what I love about my job is the people I work with. How we influence our interpersonal dynamics at work is a critical part of what we bring to our jobs. How do we approach our interactions? Is the work version of ourselves someone our coworkers enjoy seeing every day? Are our interactions productive? Do they contribute to our effectiveness? Almost all jobs are at least partly dependent on how we interact with others and those interactions have great potential to contribute to the enjoyment and meaning of our work.

All of us have parts of our jobs that are not enjoyable. We can and should make the most out of every moment, but that doesn’t mean being stagnant or passive about the moments that we have. If aspects our jobs are less enjoyable or meaningful to us, we have options about what we can do. We can change our approach—try to find a way of doing that part of our job so it is more meaningful or enjoyable. We can try to avoid, delegate, or defer those tasks. If our options are limited, we can move toward finding a different job.

The trajectory of our careers can run parallel to the trajectory of our personal evolution. As we go through our professional lives, we discover both what we care about and what parts of our jobs we’re passionate about or are meaningful to us. We can also learn about our strengths—what it is about ourselves, our personalities, skills, and abilities that we can bring to our jobs that have the most impact. Armed with these insights, we can seek out jobs that are the best fit for us and have the potential to become part of our life’s work. This process can also be a way to assess how we’ve grown as people.

We all have to go to work. But if we can make work an element of our lives that gives meaning and joy, our work will become part of who we are.