Why do we work?
Try to imagine how you would fill in 24 hours a day, every day, if you didn’t have to work? You would go to the beach, sleep late, read a book, catch up with friends, etc. It would be wonderful to be able to do that every single day. Or would it? To be honest, you would either get bored or run out of money.
Money is an important reason to work but not the only one. We work because we are good at something, we want to reach out and help others, we want to grow and learn more, we want our competences to be recognized. In other words, we want to make an impact on the world.
So, what motivates us to work? Here’s a TedTalk that reflects on our attitudes towards work, and what motivates us to not just work but be happy working.
Here’s a very interesting article that reflects on the reasons why people work
4 Reasons Why People Really Go to Work
What do you think?
- What did you want to be when you were young? Did you always want to be the same thing, or did it change over time?
- Do you think social media websites (e.g. LinkedIn) are important tools in modern day job-hunts? Why, or why not?
- Phrases such as “live to work” and “work to live” are used to describe different attitudes towards work. What do you understand by these phrases? What is the difference in meaning between them?
