Seth Godin wrote a blog post called Reasons to Work, and as usual, he talked about the softer side of work that applies to intellectuals, knowledge workers who don’t exist, and imaginary CEOs of profitable software companies.
I know Seth knows better, but he wrote a list of reasons ‘why people work’ and suggested that money isn’t as important as some of the other reasons on his list.
That’s great — but one of the problems with America is that we now read in lists instead of paragraphs.
The other problem? We’ve been sold a bill a goods. We gave up cash compensation in favor of health benefits and a retirement account — but companies can’t meet those obligations. Now they’re now selling us a bill of goods about passion and meaning at work.
You are responsible for your emotional and physical well-being. Stop looking externally. Get paid in cash for your services and go find meaning on your own terms. If that’s at work, great. If not, don’t worry about it. Go cash your paycheck and kiss your wife.
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I hate how easy it is to forget that adults work. That’s what we do. It’s not an intellectual exercise. We need to earn money to honor our obligations in life and to meet the needs of our children (or cats). Yes, adults need to overcome challenges, engage in fun activities, follow our calling, make an impact, improve our reputations, solve problems, and improve our communities — but a job is worthless if you don’t make enough money to pay your bills.
A lot of effort and no money? That’s called charity.
And just because you’re following your passion doesn’t mean you will make any money. The woman who does my nails is Vietnamese. She is in her mid 20s and has been in this country since she was two. She recently dropped out of college because math, science, and business classes don’t interest her.
She said, “I don’t want to spend all that time doing something I’m not passionate about.”
And I suspect that her parents, who immigrated to this country after witnessing the horrors of war, are heartbroken.
I asked her, “Don’t you feel like you’re wasting your time doing nails?”
She said, no, she likes to sing and do karaoke. Doing nails gives her time to hang out with her friends. Then she recommended I try the OPI gel polish (in black cherry chutney) because it lasts longer.
And I bit my tongue.
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So if you find yourself in a job that lacks meaning, get to work with the other 16 hours in the day and find value somewhere else in life. Get a second job. Get involved in your church or community. Volunteer. Tutor. Mentor. Pay attention to your children.
Seth’s list is lovely and sweet, but it’s built on a naive mindset that is ruining this country.
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You wrote, “The other problem? We’ve been sold a bill a goods. We gave up cash compensation in favor of health benefits and a retirement account — but companies can’t meet those obligations. Now they’re now selling us a bill of goods about passion and meaning at work.”
I’m not sure Godin would disagree. If I recall correctly, his first chapter of Linchpin made a very similar arguments as the one you claimed. He argued that we trade off the freedom of independence in exchange for benefits and job security if we simply follow instructions and do what we are told.
Agreed. Every intellectual makes that argument. Where they go with it is different. Godin wants us to break free of the factory system, and that’s great, and I support it — but there’s a hippie strain in his thinking that doesn’t pan out. You don’t break free by discounting the value of money or hoping that, if you work hard enough and have big enough thoughts, your dreams will turn into social/economic opportunities. You break free by smashing the system in the face. Say no to debt. Say no to consumerism. Say no to saying yes to teams that are meaningless.
When you are free from obligation, you can carve whatever path you choose.
Ultimately, Seth and I are headed in the same direction. Sorta. We differ a little, he’s smarter, and I still disliked his post.
Why does everyone assume that everyone wants to be challenged at work? I don’t. I’m happy with that; I own it. I want to be paid at work, and I want to do what I do well. But challenged? Nah. Life’s complicated enough. Maybe this makes me a bad intellectual.
I’m really thoroughly uninterested in #6 and #7 on his list, too. Who cares? Pay me.
I don’t want to be challenged at work. And I don’t want to be challenged at home, either. Basically, I don’t want to be hassled.
Laurie, I read this post and smiled…This is a problem that I struggle with while talking with people. Trading $$ for benefits (like many non-profits) is great when the benefits last. And, as you mentioned, many companies cannot keep up with the demand they created.
For people to feel fulfilled work is one aspect of life, those who are fulfilled have other hobbies and varied interests. These other interest make them valuable to work because they have a life. The “company man” accomplishes less and creates more drama because work is all he has.
If you want to get work done, find the person who has life outside of work and they will accomplish the task in a shorter time. People who are only working take longer to complete work tasks, because nothing in moving them to leave.
If you want to get work done, find the person who has life outside of work and they will accomplish the task in a shorter time. People who are only working take longer to complete work tasks, because nothing in moving them to leave.
That is so well written.
I remember when I first worked in HR. My boss told me I was too fast. I kept completing jobs in a short amount of time.
- Remove medical documents from personnel files?
- Type up labels?
- Hang posters in the break room?
- Change the toner on the fax machine?
Jesus, lord. This is HR and it doesn’t take all day.
And I need to get home and watch TV.
This article is long, can you make it a list?
1. Hahahahaha.
2. Brilliant.
It’s a ruse to get more work out of less people. By pushing the shiny, happy people ploy, “the company” can increase productivity and decrease expense. Shareholders walk away happy. Zombiefied minions who have been brainwashed into trading less bucks for more smiles get ripped off in the end when ends don’t meet.
Ok, so I am a bit cranky. It happens when the promises of the ideal jobs ring hollow.
By pushing the shiny, happy people ploy, “the company” can increase productivity and decrease expense. Shareholders walk away happy. Zombiefied minions who have been brainwashed into trading less bucks for more smiles get ripped off in the end when ends don’t meet.
I love this. Cynical and conspiratorial. Perfect.
We only get so much time in this life (I have 24,088 days if all goes according to plan) and wasting time doing some job you hate just because it brings in big money doesn’t seem like a good use of it.
I don’t advocate quitting your job to follow your passion, but people should have some plan to get out of a crappy job even if it pays them lots of money. We don’t need nearly as much money or stuff as we think.
I’m with you — get out of a crappy job. But let’s not be naive. Most jobs are crappy. That’s why we get paid, yo. Solving problems and changing the world? Tough, hard, unsexy work. And sometimes a horrible job is only horrible because of the baggage we bring to it… the dashed dreams… the sadness… has nothing to do with the work and everything to do with our perspectives.
Said the girl who knows this firsthand.
Donny Osmond said “If you have to do something hard, or something you don’t want to do, make a game out of it.” Then he went on to win the coveted Mirror Ball Trophy 2 weeks later.
The minute someone ties their happiness to their work, they are doomed. I’m not talking about entrepreneurs who run their own businesses. I’m talking about the people working for someone else. Your company isn’t interested in your happiness, your well-being or your “passion” beyond what those things will do for the company.
They’ll lay your ass off without much of a second thought. Okay, they may feel bad about it, but not enough NOT to do it.
I’m with you, Laurie. We must all be responsible for our own happiness, passion and well-being. A job is a job. Equal pay for equal work.
Don’t drink the Kool Aid.
But don’t you know that if you work hard and dream big enough, no one can lay you off because you’ve made your own job…
Except that some of us can’t get capital to finance our dreams, some of us need corporate-sponsored health insurance, and many of us can’t manage the administrative burden of being an entrepreneur.
God knows I can’t manage the burden of being Scrubby’s keeper!
Amen, sister. I’ve found meaning in many wonderful endeavors, such as my family and volunteering. I’ve also found that being overly passionate about solopreneurism, finding meaning in work, overestimating the marketplace and an unsound business plan don’t pay well. At all. Happy Holidays.
I’ve also found that being overly passionate about solopreneurism, finding meaning in work, overestimating the marketplace and an unsound business plan don’t pay well.
Oh crap, that’s my move. I’m doomed.
You are the shining example of how to do it right.
Here is a little testing the HR/Benefits/Comp whenever they are crowing about total rewards, passion & etc.
Complain about your erroding benefits. Specifically complain about things like 401k contribution cuts or health insurance premium increases that outpace the average health cost increases; and then see how many of them became upset.
It is amazing how times I have seen someone go from promoting the concept of total rewards to ranting & raving about how I am lucky that my employer even gives me benefits…
It is amazing how times I have seen someone go from promoting the concept of total rewards to ranting & raving about how I am lucky that my employer even gives me benefits…
I’ve been on both sides of the rant. Sadly.
Hey, I was once in HR.
Or, as someone once told me, “Own your own shit.”
That someone is smart.
I am somewhere in the middle. Doing work you hate sucks, being poor sucks worse.
Work is work, there is no entitlement to self actualization. You are entitled to respect, clear expectations, feedback and equitable compensation. That is it.
Read the Constitution on personal competency. They got rid of serfdom, we brought it back and bought into it.
That serfdom point is really true.
I appreciate this post so much! As someone who over-enthusiastically jumped into a masters program in clinical psychology (“It will be my job AND my activism to help people!”) I learned the very hard way that passion and work do not necessarily combine well (“Now I hate people! They have problems!”). In fact, that combination can all too easily become the well-worn path to burnout. Once I stopped doing psychotherapy I started coveting a career in accounting. Every accountant I’ve ever known (and I’ve known a lot, since I had to do bookkeeping to support myself as a psychotherapist-in-training) has been a happy person. While I’m sure there’s more to it, it bears mentioning that they are actually paid well enough to afford interests outside of work and vacations. Maybe after all that psychotherapy I finally caught on to a healthier way to think about work.
I love it. You could start a blog and pass on what you know!
hah – I thought I’d get on the nonprofit bandwagon and help people and earn some cash and got myself into debt over my M.A. in Social Science from the University of Chicago…it’s a great learning experience, isn’t it?
” – but a job is worthless if you don’t make enough money to pay your bills.” True dat. However, the disconnect I see with so many is that it’s not the job that is worthless if you have managed to create so many bills for yourself that even your dreams can’t dig you out. You’re the worthless problem and not the job. That’s where Seth gets too touchy feely for me. Listen: the majority of people don’t have big time dreams and passions let alone ones that can lead to a financially sound future. I like bad TV – is that a passion? Sure. Do I now have to make this my life’s work. Nope. I’ll keep on keepin’ on and be passionate about saving the world one reusable bag at a time, find joy in driving my Dad crazy with my no longer youthful idealism and positivity, and teaching my youngin’s the value of work to take care of yourself, not define yourself. Life is ordinary. Get over it and change your attitude about work.
It’s true — life is ordinary (for the most part). Let’s not overstate our impact on the universe by proclaiming that are jobs are MONUMENTALLY IMPORTANT.
I work to put cat food on the floor, yo. And Black Cherry Chutney? I will have to take a look at that color.
It was purdy.
It’s not polite of me, but when I read his list, I thought “what a gomer.” Why do we in 2010 think we’re so damn special that we get to have harmonic resonance at work? And what an obnoxious thing to say when millions of people are unemployed and would be glad to just get a call back for a passionless job for MONEY to pay their bills, dude. I was challenged at work several times yesterday, and it pissed me the hell off, and my husband had to shove wine and brownies at me when I got home to shut my yap hole.
We get so “this or that” in modern life. There’s a huge expanse between crappy job and living your passion. There will alway be crap in every job, and hopefully you get some fun in your day on a certain project or just yammering with your co-workers about how annoying Angelina Jolie is, and she’s totally ruined your opportunity to see a new Johnny Depp movie.
Employers want us to believe that money doesn’t matter as much as it does! They want to give us additional benefits like wearing jeans at work (which I like since it saves me MONEY & I’m lazy) or bringing your dog to work in order to make up for your frozen or reduced pay.
My favorite is when you have to donate to charity to wear jeans to work. How about I donate to charity on my own time and you, as a company, have a great philanthropy program and we’ll call it a day?
Also, god bless your husband AND wine.
I’m so in live with this post. I was laid off in Oct 1, but since I knew it was coming, landed a job that started on Oct 4th. I was in a mental state where I needed a job, any job. I kept telling myself that once I landed THEN I could look for the dream. I kept looking for it, essentially keeping me from feeling committed to this job.
Then it hit me. Work is work. And what exactly is my passion when talking in terms of work? I don’t even know.
My time working as an Engagement Specialist brainwashed me into thinking employee engagement is the meaning of life. Employee engagement is s buzz. People should do what they’re good at, which feels great. But it’s not nirvana.
Work is work.
Wow.
Now listen, it’s okay to enjoy your job — and I hope you find something that is enjoyable and let’s you use your awesome skills. But it’s nice to hear an engagement specialist talk about buzz. Thank you for that.
Hang in there.
As someone who left HR to teach and came back to HR due to the painful financial realities of teaching, I get it. Not to long ago I had a long conversation with a good friend of mine. I threw out some idea, and he was like why aren’t you turning that into a business. I looked at him and was like – why would I want to do that? Statistically any business I start is likely to fail within 2-5 years. If it does manage to survive, I’ll probably make less money than I currently make for a lot of years, possibly forever. I have decreased my ability to get a corporate job, should the business fail – Like it or not, and you can tell me how awesome entrepreneurs are until the sun don’t shine, there is a stigma against hiring entrepreneurs for corporate jobs. Even if the business does survive and I manage to make enough profit that my income is comparable, to make it so, I would probably end up caught up in so much day to day minutiae that I would have lost touch with what made it passionate in the first place. Maybe, Maybe if all the stars line up and fairies sprinkles woo-woo on my business turning it into the next Facebook/Google/Whatever I’ll retire early and make a lot of money. OK so what’s my ROI. Bust my A$$ and personal $$s on a venture that is statistically likely to fail, and best likely scenario will leave me in the middle to upper middle class, all for a pipe dream of real success (Whatever the Ef that is). Yeah I could work a side career following my passion, but at what cost. Could I be as effective in my current career with a second “job/career”. More importantly would I be as good of as husband and father with the even more limited time resources? Most likely I would just suck at all three. I’ll tell you what entrepreneurs, feel free to pay me a good wage and benefits package and I will happily work my ass off for you. You assume the majority of the risk and I will do a damn good job of helping you mitigate that risk.
You know, this is exactly why I consider going back to HR. I miss having some semblance of savings, a benefit plan, etc., and I’m not sure that I have anything to contribute to the greater world as a small biz owner.
Sigh.
Working is a business transaction. They pay me, I perform work to their standard. When they change the terms of they pay (including the benefits package they like to remind us so often of when we want more cold, hard cash) and/or the terms of work (you’re going to need to be available on your vacation, but we aren’t going to give you more time off), I find a new entity with which to do business.
The employer isn’t my buddy. I’m not passionate about its goals. I’m passionate about my goals (one of which is to get home and snuggle with the dog).
I support those goals.
This reminds me of an episode of the Wonder Years, where Kevin was being picky about his prospects for summer work, and Jack Arnold said, “Who the Hell said a job’s supposed to be fun?!!”
We all work to pay bills. I’m lucky that I picked a field, Instructional Design, that I don’t mind. Now, if I had a million dollars, I wouldn’t do it. I’d read the complete works of Henry Rollins, jump on a trampoline, and sleep until 2 in the afternoon. I don’t get up every morning and think “Yippie, Instructional Design! I get to use the ADDIE model again and develop learning objectives!”
However, I find some things fulfilling in it. I’m good at it, it allows me to learn different topics, and I can think outside of the box. As long as you’re working 40 hours a week to make ends meet, you might as well not hate your job. Some people do, and they should work on changing this if they can.
As long as you’re working 40 hours a week to make ends meet, you might as well not hate your job. Some people do, and they should work on changing this if they can.
I don’t disagree with this.
This post rocks. I was beginning to think I was the only one who came to work to get my paycheck instead of looking for the meaning of life. The meaning of my life is outside of work, for now, and probably will remain that way until I figure out how to get my own reality show.
And I’m all over finding that OPI color, sounds killer.
Oh let me tell you something — reality TV is overrated. I have a post on this. xo
Laurie:
Long time reader, 1st time poster…..couldn’t help responding this time, and agree with several other posters, people work for the money period, the other items on the list may happen or not and are nice period…. they don’t want to be hassled or challenged and if they make improvements at work to a process or program it’s because they had to or it makes their life easier. If I hear one more time from a manager that they want to challenge or take me out of my comfort zonei……..great topics….
I’m so glad this blog post took you outta your comfort zone and you left a comment. Schwoo!
Trying to follow your passion is like trying to shake hands with your shadow.
Better plan: know it’s there, sometimes in a big way and sometimes barely visible, and then just go about your day.
Don’t forget a trip to Starbucks. I want a triple grande mocha extra whip.
Seth – rhymes with meth – and gets customers to keep coming back. He’s a dangerous idiot.
Oh well that’s harsh. I’m sure he isn’t an idiot. He just found a way to make a buck. I’m jealous. I wish I could find a way to get myself taken seriously like that. Go on Oprah before her show ends. Take over the world.
If I still worked just for passion and not money, I’d be making $10 an hour for doing the creative paint work I was so good at because everyone kept telling me,”Yeah, but it’s great for your portfolio!” Really? Gee thanks, member of the Medici family! So I became a designer. Good money, fun job. My “passion”, my real art? On my own time, my own way. Also, my salary allows me not to feel desperate anymore.
You are right on point, Laurie! Thanks! I like-y this post! It’s important to note that doing charity work can eventually feel like a collossal waste of time since those organizations too are bureaucracies whose “officials” (AKA cronies) don’t know what they are doing to reduce waste in order to deliver the most for their respective beneficiaries. I’m giving up on that free labor, also. I think I’ll just find a mountaintop somewhere and watch the eagles fly in my spare time.
Regarding the 22 year old nail technician: She has time. When she realizes that all of the friends with whom she hangs out don’t have as much time to play because they are, um, WORKING(!), she’ll either go back to school and finish that degree, or find a more lucrative job so she can afford to go to the nicer places her friends are beginning to frequent.
But your assessment is dead on. It’s something I wish I’d learned 10 years earlier than I did: Work pays for living, and the only person responsible for my happiness is me.
I agree with you, as do my parents and my husband’s parents. I’m pretty sure their generation didn’t fall for the crap that we’re falling for now. I have to love my job, find meaning in my profession, blah blah. Sure, you should do something you enjoy doing – but the important things are outside of work as well. Meaning in life can be found (and in our parents’ opinions, SHOULD be found) outside of work.
Shawn’s right about shifting perspectives on success. Sharing a 4th floor walkup, living on ramen & pizza, swilling PBR (or local variant) with the band, closing the bars and crashing on somebody’s couch for the weekend are all great lifestyle choices. Until they aren’t. For some, the low-resource approach stays attractive for a long time, and that’s fine. But for others, priorities change, and that’s what makes people get serious about trading their time/skills for real money. And make no mistake: every decision is a trade-off and balancing act of some kind.
Wow. I’m surprised by all the people who just got in line behind this post. Seth’s post is a modern-day restating of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. And Daniel Pink’s great interpretation of autonomy, mastery, and purpose. The other side of this discussion is very persuasive:
1) Communication (and technology) have blurred the lines between work and life. For MANY work is just part of life (like family). For many of us, work isn’t something we do—it’s who we are.
2) Perpetuating the idea that people should exchange time for money and not also look for an intellectual and emotional exchange (that really can’t be quantified), one where both sides get something beyond the buy/sell, discounts that people are more complex (and smarter) than cash registers.
3) Money is a hygiene issue. People need enough to get the basics. After that it’s so many other things. It’s a method of keeping score. It’s validation of our value. I suspect there are many many things that most people would not do for more money (or any money for that matter).
4) If money were the only thing, why would people choose careers as fine artists (starving and struggling to make ends meet). The expected return on may careers, such successfully selling fine art while you are living may not be any better than the expected return on buying lottery tickets. EXCEPT—there are other rewards. Loving what you do. Creating things. Passion. Working with people you like. Intrinsic rewards.
5) I’ve been paying attention to this issue a lot. I’ve been asking people “What makes you come to work.” and “What makes you go to work.” I almost never hear “Because I need to money to pay my rent.” I hear things like “I love problem solving.” “I like the people I work with.” “I get to use my brain.”
Many many people have tackled this issue. Much of what Seth said in his post can be found in the writings of other great thinkers. He boiled it down to it’s essence. I have to say, I can’t find a compelling way to disagree with him on this.
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