Live to Work or Work to Live...
I see it in the office all time time, but some things occurred this morning that triggered the urge to ramble about it (since I'm constantly reminded that I don't post here enough...)
I often notice, particularly in guys, how work defines them as people. They are Managers, Architects, Directors, Support Engineers, whatever, and they not only take pride in their work but it defines who they are. These people live for the work, the importance of it, the difference they make each day that they show up.
I'm not that guy.
It's a job, a paycheck, and a means by which to pay bills. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the success I have at work, but mostly because failure means more work. Success can gives me more work, too, but it's different work and that gives me the illusion that I'm not just grinding out the same stuff everyday in a mundane existence. I'm really all about finding the least painful method of continuing to get paid entirely too much money on a consistent basis. I work to live.
Life for me is really about relationships, and I get close to very few people. In general, I'm tremendously shy, although I can usually fight it off enough to function in society. (I can gab with a variety of people about a large number of things that really don't matter to me all that much.) One flaw (or feature, perhaps) I have is that I generally won't waste people's time on a subject if my opinion isn't respected. I will listen, nod, probably learn something, and move on. Why should I waste their time or mine if there is no value associated with the words I speak? Now, to be clear, I don't expect people to think I am right, I only expect that people believe I mean what I say. There are a large number of topics where there is no clear right and wrong, but if you think what I spout is bullshit, then I will spout it no further.
Oddly, in my life right now, the only place where I feel my word is believed is at work, which led me to wonder if that is how people who define themselves by their work get created. I don't think I'm there (yet?), but the trust I get from work has recently become important to me in replacing the trusts that I have lost elsewhere.
I often notice, particularly in guys, how work defines them as people. They are Managers, Architects, Directors, Support Engineers, whatever, and they not only take pride in their work but it defines who they are. These people live for the work, the importance of it, the difference they make each day that they show up.
I'm not that guy.
It's a job, a paycheck, and a means by which to pay bills. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the success I have at work, but mostly because failure means more work. Success can gives me more work, too, but it's different work and that gives me the illusion that I'm not just grinding out the same stuff everyday in a mundane existence. I'm really all about finding the least painful method of continuing to get paid entirely too much money on a consistent basis. I work to live.
Life for me is really about relationships, and I get close to very few people. In general, I'm tremendously shy, although I can usually fight it off enough to function in society. (I can gab with a variety of people about a large number of things that really don't matter to me all that much.) One flaw (or feature, perhaps) I have is that I generally won't waste people's time on a subject if my opinion isn't respected. I will listen, nod, probably learn something, and move on. Why should I waste their time or mine if there is no value associated with the words I speak? Now, to be clear, I don't expect people to think I am right, I only expect that people believe I mean what I say. There are a large number of topics where there is no clear right and wrong, but if you think what I spout is bullshit, then I will spout it no further.
Oddly, in my life right now, the only place where I feel my word is believed is at work, which led me to wonder if that is how people who define themselves by their work get created. I don't think I'm there (yet?), but the trust I get from work has recently become important to me in replacing the trusts that I have lost elsewhere.