Roget's Thesaurus offers some 50 synonyms for the word "work," of which most are overwhelmingly negative. We as a society, apparently, abhor work and consider it to be a punishment. We live for vacations, and we are obsessed with saving enough money for retirement so that we can spend our golden years, if not playing golf, then, at least, not working.
With all of this, it's hard to remember that work can be something else altogether - that it can be an expression of our essential self and a way for us to feel that we are making a contribution to the world. We may believe that we'd rather not work, but the actual truth is that we still want to work - just not at the jobs we're at. When I ask my career-transition clients what it is that they are looking for in their new careers, the answer I hear most often is that they want to feel that they are making a difference, that their work is personally meaningful to them.
And the truth is, those who say that their work gives them a sense of meaning report far greater sense of on-the-job satisfaction than those who don't. In fact, the greatest levels in work satisfaction are achieved by those who view their work as a calling, rather than just a job or a career.
Work as a calling is one of my absolute favorite subjects. A calling is often understood in religious terms, but there is a secular definition. Here's how Martin Seligman, the father of Positive Psychology, defines a calling in Authentic Happiness:
“A calling (or vocation) is a passionate commitment to work for its own sake. Individuals with a calling see their work as contributing to the greater good, to something larger than they are, and hence the religious connotation is entirely appropriate. The work is fulfilling in its own right, without regard for money or for advancement. When the money stops and the promotions end, the work goes on..."
Carolyn Myss, an energy intuitive and a leading contemporary thinker on spirituality, says in her Advanced Energy Anatomy that when we find ourselves searching persistently for that job that we were “meant to do,” we are not actually searching for a job or a career. We are, rather, searching for a vocation - a way to express our spirit through our work. She says:
“You begin by the need to work, then you develop a thirst for a career, then you develop a need for a vocation. You want a career because it pays more than work (work at the base level). You want a vocation because it's fulfilling.
...You develop a thirst for a career and a passion for a vocation. And it will happen to everybody.”
The trick here - and it's something that all life purpose/vocation “gurus” tend to agree on - is that we are not called to do a particular job. We have to look at the idea of a calling or a vocation in much broader terms. A job may or may not enable us to fulfill our calling, but that particular job is only incidental to our pursuit of the deeper understanding of what it is that we were meant to do with our lives. If we were to leave that job - or if that job disappeared, was outsourced, or we were simply laid off - does that spell the end of our calling? Of course not. A calling or a vocation is something that is part of who we are no matter where we find ourselves, and it can be expressed in many different ways and many different settings.
In fact, Selgiman believes that any job can become a calling:
"The key is not finding the right job, it is finding a job you can make right through recrafting. If you can find a way to use your signature strengths at work often, and you also see your work as contributing to the greater good, you have a calling. Your job is transformed form a burdensome means into a gratification."
The idea of "recrafting" your job to turn it into a calling is intriguing, because it calls for something of a perceptual adjustment. You could view yourself as someone with a job of a hospital cleaner and get aggravated by the patients who get in the way of your doing your job and getting home. Or you could choose to view yourself as someone who is a key part of helping patients heal and thus feel differently about the work. People who view their work as a calling tend to be more creative and go beyond the job description they were handed down when they were hired.
Of course, it's not always possible to find meaning in your work and to recraft your job so that it feels more like a calling. (I was never successful at getting there with my previous occupations.)
So the question is, if you can't, should you try to figure out what other occupations could be an expression of your calling? That's up to you. But the thing is, wouldn't we all, as a society, be much happier if everyone made it their goal to only engage in work that is their calling - if we viewed our work as a labor of love rather than the daily grind? I mean, who would you rather have as a chef at a restaurant where you're taking your family to dinner - someone who's just doing his job for the paycheck or someone who will surprise you with a new twist on a familiar dish, just because taking this extra step gives him a sense of satisfaction? Wouldn't you rather deal with people who love what they do than the other way around?
I know that I always notice when someone I hired to do work for me or who is providing me with some service is really loving her work. And when I find such a person, I make sure to hold on to her and pass on her contact information to others. And that's when the old adage - Do what you love and the money will follow - begins to come true.
Insightful stuff. I also think from a generations perspective, this job-as-calling stuff really came to be in the 80s with the Boomers. I wrote about it a while back, so you may not have seen it:
http://genxpert.blogspot.com/2007/12/boomer-calling.html
Love you blog. Definitely subscribing.
-generationXpert
Posted by: GenerationXpert | April 28, 2008 at 12:01 PM
Hey GenerationXpert, thanks for stopping by. Interesting thoughts. I never thought of it as a generational issue. I'm feeling a long(ish) comment coming so I'll mosey over to your blog and leave it there... Anyone reading this thread, please follow.
Posted by: Izabella Tabarovsky | April 28, 2008 at 03:07 PM