31–40 of 87 posts
I have to work almost all the time. My day typically begins at 3am and ends around 7pm. The reason for this is that my own projects and goals are often contingent on the successful completion of projects by other teams, and organizationally we tend to hire C workers at best. So I spend a lot of time pushing other people and other teams. It doesn’t make me popular but it does make me effective.
Where will this lead? How would you react if you were laid off ?
You can have meaning or you can have happiness. You cannot have both -- at least not all of the time. This conflict can be seen clearly in a movie like "Office Space", where both the male and female leads are working for happiness (and survival) whereas the work environment expects them to be working for meaning. (How many pieces of flair are you wearing?) The trick to this discussion is that people on one side of th…
I think there is more nuance to meaning and happiness. The process of attaining meaning, in my view, is torturous. Think of any field - sports, theater. I don't think any athlete or sportsperson would call the process of attaining meaning a happy process. It's no fun to wake up at 5 in bone chilling cold for a workout. There's definitely some element of happiness driving this process. From what I can postulate, it's…
Anything you do that doesn't bring immediate gratification is work, whether you're going somewhere to punch a clock or just cleaning up the yard after a storm. Some people manage to do a lot of work without finding any happiness. Some people are able to find happiness in most any kind of work. Perhaps they are more internally-focused?
When I see people that society regards as having a lot of purpose and meaning in life, athletes, religious folks, and so on? Frankly it looks like a struggle. As you say, it's no fun to wake up at 5 in bone chilling cold for a workout. There's no external stimulation here, yet there are people at 5am that have a pleasant feeling that they are on the way to do some good in the world, no matter the external circumstances.
The interplay between meaning and happiness is quite complex and nuanced. I not don't think you can separate them out cleanly but at the same time there are two completely different things at work and they deserve separate consideration. When we conflate the two, it makes the reader dumber than they were before they started. Much better to start from a position of "These are two different things" and then talk about the interplay between the two than treat them all as one thing and lower the level of the discussion.
You can have meaning or you can have happiness. You cannot have both -- at least not all of the time. This conflict can be seen clearly in a movie like "Office Space", where both the male and female leads are working for happiness (and survival) whereas the work environment expects them to be working for meaning. (How many pieces of flair are you wearing?) The trick to this discussion is that people on one side of th…
Also importantly, overworking yourself does not lead to happiness and only to illusion of meaning. Long term 70 hours a week schedules are not about effictivity or happiness. Even if you absolutely love that job.
I couldn't think of anything I could do for the number of hours that I work that wouldn't send me insane. Travelling, hanging out with friends, partying, sports, random interests - not that I don't like them a bit, but I would lose it after just a few weeks.
You can have meaning or you can have happiness. You cannot have both -- at least not all of the time. This conflict can be seen clearly in a movie like "Office Space", where both the male and female leads are working for happiness (and survival) whereas the work environment expects them to be working for meaning. (How many pieces of flair are you wearing?) The trick to this discussion is that people on one side of th…
Happiness is a more complex question, I'd refer people to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I'd add that happiness is usually fleeting, contentment and engagement with life is more achievable.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. My father told me a story of when he was stuck in traffic with somebody who was then about the 10th richest person in the world. To make conversation, my father asked him what his plans for the coming year were. The guy listed all sorts of business goals. My father asked if he had anything personally that he was planning. The guy basically replied that those were his personal plans. He made no distinction be…
There is a HUMONGOUS difference between owner of a business and employed by a business. Makes sense for the "10th richest person in the world" to work long hours. It's his call. He is working basically for himself. Totally different when you're making say 50K and the "10th richest person in the world" wants YOU to work all day every day too.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think there is more nuance to meaning and happiness. The process of attaining meaning, in my view, is torturous. Think of any field - sports, theater. I don't think any athlete or sportsperson would call the process of attaining meaning a happy process. It's no fun to wake up at 5 in bone chilling cold for a workout. There's definitely some element of happiness driving this process. From what I can postulate, it's…
I agree. I am vastly oversimplifying for a large audience. Anything you do that doesn't bring immediate gratification is work , whether you're going somewhere to punch a clock or just cleaning up the yard after a storm. Some people manage to do a lot of work without finding any happiness. Some people are able to find happiness in most any kind of work. Perhaps they are more internally-focused? When I see people that…
Much better to start from a position of "These are two different things" and then talk about the interplay between the two Spot on ! I've so far been unsuccessful at understanding this interplay.
You can have meaning or you can have happiness. You cannot have both -- at least not all of the time. This conflict can be seen clearly in a movie like "Office Space", where both the male and female leads are working for happiness (and survival) whereas the work environment expects them to be working for meaning. (How many pieces of flair are you wearing?) The trick to this discussion is that people on one side of th…
Because I like to work. People who don't like to work often misunderstand this when looking at the stories of successful people. They think successful people force themselves to work hard in order to be successful. In fact successful people often like their work so much that there's nothing else they'd rather do. I doubt for example that there's anything Jeff Bezos would rather do than run Amazon. I bet it seems to h…
You can have meaning or you can have happiness. You cannot have both -- at least not all of the time. This conflict can be seen clearly in a movie like "Office Space", where both the male and female leads are working for happiness (and survival) whereas the work environment expects them to be working for meaning. (How many pieces of flair are you wearing?) The trick to this discussion is that people on one side of th…
I think most people want meaningful (purposeful?) lives. Some find that almost exclusively through their work, some through their nonprofessional activities, some through their families. Most are probably a mixture. I think people often find happiness through figuring out what's important to them and organizing their life around that.