Does Your Work Make You Happy?

Is there really a difference between a “vocation” and a “job”? They both require you perform some sort of labor. You have the opportunity to earn money with either of them. The real difference is that a job is only a necessity to pay the bills and beyond that it may hold no further value to you. Your “vocation” or life’s work on the other hand is something that you value and when performing it you feel is has meaning, whether or not you are making money.

What that “meaning” means is hard to define and varies per person. What do you think would make your work meaningful? Do you feel you have to be a Mother Teresa or great inventor like Einstein for your work to have meaning? Or, is creating an artistic masterpiece meaningful? It seems most people think meaningful work must be something on a grand scale or lead to national or world recognition.

To get in touch with your thoughts on meaningful work jot down everything that comes to mind about what the general consensus of the term meaningful work is. It may be helpful to write down names of people who seem significant and why.

Next, answer the question for yourself of what makes labor valuable. These are your own personal reasons and it does not matter if this is the general popular opinion. There are no right or wrong answers.

Now read over what you have written and see if your thoughts are inline with the following concepts. 1) In order to be meaningful the labor has to bring good into the world or help people in some manner. 2) In order to be meaningful your labor must be noticed in a big way. Success is the measure of your work and you must be successful to be valuable. 3) Those who are 100% consumed by their ideas, to the exclusion of sleeping or eating, like Columbus or Ben Franklin are the only ones with meaningful work. 4) The world values people who try their best. People should have a family, house and a decent job and be upstanding members of their community.

Finding truly meaningful work is not easy. If you have all your needs met and yet you get scared you are going to be stuck in a job you don’t really like, then you are dealing with the philosophical question of value or meaning. It seems to be human nature to think you must contribute to something larger than yourself or be acknowledged and if you are not doing something that really matters then you are just going through life going through the motions and that doesn’t really feel like it counts.