Productive Work

When we think of work, what do we think about? Money? A job? A career? That's what I thought when I heard the word work. All three were what I pictured when I was younger. It started at the age of twelve umpiring baseball to make money so that I could buy a bike and anything else that I wanted. When I got older it progressed to working part time at a grocery store to save up for a car. And when I graduated college it meant finding a career to start a life of my own. Hardly at all did I ever think of doing something I would enjoy. I just wanted money so that I could move forward in life and for awhile, it was fine. I moved up in my company which happened to be the grocery store I started at, and all of my twenties were dedicated to making as much money and moving up as much as possible to make even more money. In terms of money earned, I succeeded. But at thirty four, I look back at the trail of blood, sweat, and tears I laid down just to get ahead, and ask myself, is it/was it worth it?

This thought led me to quit the company I worked for of nearly twenty years, and move on to another company of a similar nature. In hindsight, it was a panicked move, a desperate grasp to leave behind a company I hated. But now I'm back to square one and I quickly realized this time that this isn't what I want to do with my life. The word work has taken on a different meaning for me than it once did when I was twelve years old. I realized that what I wanted was productive work. I even took the time to create my own definition for productive work:

"Achieving or producing a meaningful result in an activity involving mental or physical effort."

Meaningful is the key word in the definition. I realize that I want something that makes me feel like I've accomplished something when I come home, something worth while, something I want to be doing. In my opinion work should be something that us as humans see as a worthwhile and rewarding endeavor. Doing something that we enjoy that provides us with a way of living can be a great pathway to happiness. 

The temporary goal of this blog will be to study what productive works looks like and how I can achieve the goal of finding such work that provides me with meaning and purpose.

M