At the Harvard Business blog, Gill Corkindale wonders whether it is realistic to expect work to make us happy:
According to Swiss philosopher Alain de Botton, we are living in a unique era, when we are encouraged to seek happiness through work. The idea of work as a source of fulfillment has been around much longer (championed by Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century), as has work as a source of meaning (articulated by Victor Frankl in the 1940s). Yet work as a source of happiness is something else. De Botton believes that while work has been important in all societies, it is now so closely tied up with our identity that the first question we ask new acquaintances is not where they come from, but what they do.
In his new book, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, de Botton interviews a range of workers, from rocket scientists to biscuit manufacturers to accountants to artists to find out what makes jobs fulfilling—or soul-destroying. One of the most disturbing discoveries he makes is that most of us are still working at jobs chosen for us by our sixteen-year-old selves.
My own sixteen-year-old self would have chosen for me to be a lawyer—a vocation which I would have been particularly ill-suited. Still, it was a reasonable answer to the ever-present question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And in 1985 I could have never imagined where my career path would lead, since the technological changes that would pave the way were still in their infancy.
Which makes me wonder how I should advise my own sixteen-year-old daughter about her future plans for work. Should I emphasize the acquisition of certain marketable skills or should I encourage her to think about specific careers? The old cliche about doing work that you’d do even if you didn’t get paid worked out for me (eventually, though it was a long, circuitous route to get here). But is it realistic? Should young people now entering the workforce (and older folks who are looking for a change) tone down their expectations that their career will be a significant source of personal fulfillment?
Where does your job fit on the line between fulfilling and soul-destroying? And how would your teenage self feel about the work you do now?
August 28th, 2009 | 8:53 am
It is called a “vocation” and it calls one to glorify God, provide for one’s family, and serve one’s community. It probably has little to do with happiness, but faithfulness in it will go a long way towards holiness.
August 28th, 2009 | 9:19 am
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August 28th, 2009 | 10:28 am
My job (making movies) is very fulfilling. My teenage self is all a twitter (no pun intended) with my current profession. Of course I don’t have any job security and there are no guarantees that I can provide for my family on a consistent basis. But I am very happy with what I do.
I would like to see people talk about the fact that there is no real split when it comes to “work/life” issues. It’s all life in my book.
Better yet…start a discussion on vocation as how you provide for a family.
August 28th, 2009 | 11:38 am
“Nobody says, “I want to be a church secretary when I grow up.” ”
My teenage self would be horrified. (My teenage self also never pictured me married with six children.)
And though the job oscillates between fulfilling and soul-killing with frightening regularity, I would have to say I might still wish to keep doing this even if the money were not necessary. So…that means I’m pretty happy!
August 28th, 2009 | 3:26 pm
My sixteen year old self was studying for the ordained ministry. I enjoyed golf as a sport/hobby. I have done ministry in a variety of settings, parish, institutional, and administrative within two Lutheran church bodies for 35 years, but now public ministry is my avocation. I am now mowing and playing a course of my own design. Deeply satisfying at a physical, social, and spiritual level in a way that the church has never been. Haven’t made much money at it but my body and soul are more alive in my 60′s than in any other decade of my experience. I have described it to close friends as my version of a hospitality cloister. I still love worshipping, proclaiming the word, and celebrating the sacrament, but I am free of the majority of what had become soul sucking for me in church. You can see my project at arguementgolf.com if you care to.
August 28th, 2009 | 4:02 pm
I’m an engineer with an international technology company… as the company grew bigger over the last 10-years, the bureaucracy became increasingly soul-destroying… but now with 2 young kids, I keep at it so my wife can stay home with them, instead of supporting me while I search for a job to “make me happy”.
My 16-year old self thought engineering would be a career involving math & science… turns out it’s nearly as much politics and bean-counting. But without up-rooting my family to chase other opportunities, or impoverishing them to change careers, it’s the best we can do at the moment. Praise God I can provide for them still in the current economic turmoil…
August 29th, 2009 | 7:40 pm
“it is now so closely tied up with our identity that the first question we ask new acquaintances is not where they come from, but what they do.”
This seems like poor reasoning to me. What we ask about new acquaintances is not that aspect of their lives that makes up their very identities. Doing so would probably be untoward and intimidating. Rather, we ask about something that is likely to have a tame response, but which is nevertheless likely to be interesting enough to facilitate more conversation. And since we know almost nothing about these people but guess that they’re liable to do something for a living (seeing as how they manage to go on living), we ask that. The same reasoning is applied to asking where someone is from. Everyone is from somewhere, even the unemployed. But the content of small talk tells us next to nothing about our deepest sense of identity, and what it does tell us is negative. The fact that we feel comfortable asking total strangers, “what do you do?” means that we aren’t so wrapped up in work that everything hangs in the balance. And if you don’t believe me, try a little experiment at a party. When you meet someone, instead of asking what he does for a living, ask him, “so, what are your deepest desires? What is it you are looking for in life? What will make you happy?” See how that goes over.
August 30th, 2009 | 12:10 pm
I am a general music teacher at an elementary school. As a teenager, I very much wanted to be a visionary jazz saxophonist. That didn’t work out, thankfully, so now I sing and play all day with children who think little of adult problems. It’s a wonderful job and one that suits me perfectly and is extremely fulfilling.I am lucky that I can “be as a child” as Christ wanted me to be. Though I’m married and own my own home, there’s a part of me that never did have to grow up!
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