“Work is the only thing that gives substance to life” –
Albert Einstein*
I recently heard US Senator, Ben Sasse, discuss the dangers
of viewing consumption over production as a desired goal. He communicates the innate
desire created within human beings to produce value and highlights the dysfunction
that comes when individuals lose that balance between production and consumption
and become primarily a consumer.
Consumption often leads to a very empty state of being. I
see this every day in my work. Just as an example, our society has an errant
view of “retirement” as a chance to turn off one’s creative efforts, sit back,
coast and enjoy leisure. While this can certainly be part of one’s goal, and financial freedom should create more flexibility
to have that precious down time, severe problems arise when “not working”
becomes the overarching life goal and an end in and of itself. We see this in
micro form in people who are always trudging from Monday through Friday, just
to make it to the weekend. Again, not working becomes an end goal. It’s as if
our culture is working to quit.
If we were to view “retirement” not as a cessation of production,
but as the flexibility to produce and create in an even more meaningful and
impactful way, I wonder how that would change our outlook and journey along the
way. What would your life look like if you weren’t working to quit, but working
towards finding even more meaning and fulfillment in your tasks? What if deep,
meaningful work was not a just a means to an end, but an end goal itself?
*Good ol’ Al was fairly intelligent dude, perhaps he was on
to something here. I can’t think of anything truly valuable in my life that isn’t
wrapped in effort and hard work.
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