Saturday, September 22, 2007

WORK THAT MATTERS

This blog aims to provide helpful information in choosing or changing your career. Work takes up too much time to be stressful, miserable, dull, or depressing.
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There are three essential parts to choosing work that will satisfy both your head and heart:
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1. You have to know yourself.
2. You have to know the labor market.
3. You have to know how to conduct a dynamite job search.
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Here's a good place to start:
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Rule # 1: It's HOW You Work, Not What You Do
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Philosopher Matthew Fox tells of an Auto Mechanic who was depressed by his work but stuck with his job because of family responsibilities. He saw his work as meaningless. Through the advice of a Sufi teacher, he began to speak a religious term each time he turned the ratchet to repair a vehicle. By doing this his whole relationship with his work changed. “Now”, he said, “I love my work. I love cars. They are alive. It is a mistake to think of cars as inanimate. A car will tell you, if you listen deeply enough, whether it wants to be repaired or whether it wants simply to be left alone to die.”

Does this story sound silly to you? It is not as unusual as you might think. Gardeners will tell you that plants tell them what they need. Pet owners will tell you that they understand their animals’ communications completely. Homeowners will tell you that they have an unexplainable connection with their houses and sometimes know intuitively what attention the house needs. Artists and scientists will tell you that they are given ideas and information from sources that they do not know about and do not understand.
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To think about your work as a living thing, to tend to it because the tending somehow matters, will bring you closer to good work.
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People who do good work feel that their job means something, that in some way large or small what they do makes a real difference to somebody, or to some situation or some event. It does not matter if the worker is the President of General Motors or the Grill Cook in the company cafeteria. It does not matter how much money the job pays. What matters is that the work matters. And what matters most of all is HOW you work, not WHAT you do.

9 comments:

kj said...

the first person to comment might get an award--you never know.....

Ces Adorio said...

Congratulations and best wishes KJ. May you find great success and happiness in your new endeavor. You have a unique way to turn anything into something special. You have a Midas touch. Love the color of your new blog.

kj said...

ces, it's my absolute delight that my dearest best friend is my first visitor here!

Joy Eliz said...

Kj... this is sooo interesting and much needed for those of us who haven't found our way yet.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
xo
Joy

Debra Kay said...

I hope to be a regular here-perhaps it will help me navigate my way through my mid life crisis!

Anonymous said...

Great idea! I just have put 'Careers' in my favorites to follow this and hopefully give smart comments ;-)

RED MOJO said...

I like what you have to say Kj. You are a very wise woman.

kj said...

joy, it is a pleasure to share this.

debra kay, mid life crisis seekers are well known and welcomed here!

wieneke, i am honored you will visit here.

rm, thank you. i hope to be wise, whimsical, and entertaining!

:)

human being said...

i tended my work too much i think... i loved it so much although i was paid a little... i always thought of new ideas to use in my job which was teaching... but i lost it!
here in my country they don't approve of you doing your job very seriously... your coworkers or sometimes the boss plot against you and you miss the job sooner or later!
this blog is very useful... maybe i can start a new job...
thanks for your invaluable insights