Deep Thoughts About Meaningful Work
February 24, 2008 by Andrea J. Lee
Filed under Meaning..., Money...
Here at the home of the ‘Money and Meaning Movie’ I like to think you and I think a little harder about what it means to create a great life.
You wouldn’t have loved the movie so much if you didn’t think deeper thoughts than most somedays, right? 
Which is why I think you’ll like a quote I’d love to share with you today about work, just before diving into two cool offerings in today’s news. The quote is from a book I’m enjoying at the moment called ‘My Job, My Self: Work and the Creation of the Modern Individual.’
Had you ever thought that the work you do is making you who you are? Actually changing your identity? Shaping and molding you. Interesting, isn’t it?
Here’s the quote, from Chapter 5: Lack of Vision on page 59. Intriguing stuff.
“If work shapes and defines people, then forms of work are needed that will help rather than impede self-realization:
jobs that offer meaning as well as money;
jobs that impart dignity to the product and the person;
jobs that connect workers and their lives;
jobs wherein “the doing is as important as what gets done, the making as valuable as the made.”
Jobs that meet worker’s three kinds of needs: body, mind and spirit.
But jobs such as these are hard to find. [...] too many of us cry out, “our jobs are too small!… our work is not revelatory.”
My dear business owner, isn’t it true that as we create our own work, we have the opportunity to create revelatory, big work that grows us? Work that serves and earns money, yes, but that also lovingly shapes us into the greatest version of ourselves possible?
I like to think this is the singular responsibility and opportunity of the modern business owner. And I’m so glad I get to share thoughts like this with you.
If this idea rings with you, or if it feels like a struggle to ‘get’ or if you think it’s ‘bollocks!’ I’d love to hear. Post below.
