What is Work For?

 That's the question that Jeff Goins poses in Chapter Six of his book, The Art of Work.

(While the main theme of that chapter is "portfolio work", a collection of different types of work that combine to satisfy a passion, each necessary but insufficient when taken individually, this question of "Why do I work?" has given me cause to pause and muse lately.)

But life is too short to not satisfy my passions. And if I can satisfy my passions while also paying the bills, that is the ultimate success scenario. But if I cannot do both, I must ask myself, "Do I live to work? Or work to live?"

If I work to live, I'm living at a mere survival level. I'm doing what I have to in order to survive. I might be surviving in high style, but if I'm doing it just for the money, I am prostituting my soul for a buck. I'm better than that.

But if I live to work, then I wake up in the morning excited about the day ahead. It gives me energy and purpose. It lets me tolerate minor inconveniences to reach for a higher purpose. That's the life I want to live.

When I live to work, it is hard for me to distinguish between work and play. If I can enjoy my work so much that I'd do it for free, I would have no need for "unwinding" after a hard day's work. Stress and anxiety issues melt away.

But then that raises another question: "How much should I expect to get paid if I'm enjoying it so much? If I'd do it for free, why should anyone pay me at all?"

Those questions are based on a false premise, that one is paid for toil. Work should be hard. No toil, no pay.

I subscribe to the narrative of the Judeo-Christian creation story as outlined in the first few chapters of the Book of Genesis. In that story, when God kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, he cursed the ground and promised that mankind would forever have to work by the sweat of the brow to survive.

Has my brow sweated? Hell, yes!

From growing up, learning about life and business, working through tough times like layoffs, the Dot-Com Bust, and the challenges of the Great Recession---those gave rise to tough times. But each one was easier than the last. I've learned a great deal, like how to prepare for the next hiccup in the economy, and how to turn lemons into lemonade. Yes, I've survived by the sweat of my brow, but I can profit from the lessons leaned at the School of Hard Knocks to enjoy my passions. I'm not condemned by the curse to work the soil.

Instead, I should look at my work, no matter how much I enjoy it, through the lens of a business model.

When I work, I create work and deliver it to my "customers". Those customers might be my employer, who, in turn, resells my services internally to other stakeholders or externally to their customers, but the fundamental principal is that I am creating and delivering value to someone. It is simply fair to expect to be compensated for that value.

Before I came to that conclusion, I thought I was paid too much. Once food is on the table, the mortgage is paid, and the kids can go to college, money doesn't mean so much to me.

Well, I'm told I should save for retirement, too. I'm supposedly a little behind schedule for that. But if I love my work, if my work is play, if it feeds my passions, then I just might never retire.