Why Work? Essay, Research Paper

Why Work?

Sometimes it seems as if our jobs are slavemasters, barking out orders telling us when, how long, and where to do our needed task. Why do people listen? Why would someone want to work a graveyard shift with double-overtime? It is not because they want to, as the old utopian adage goes, ?accomplish their job for the betterment of the community.? No, most people work because they are stuck in a financial rut and they are trying to claw their way out. Why else would anyone put himself or herself through the stress, premature balding, gray hair, and hear attack causing action called work? We work not so much because we are slaves to our jobs, but that we are slaves to the paycheck that the job creates.

Financial stability is important to most people in today?s society. No one wants to live paycheck to paycheck and wonder every month if they can pay the bills, feed the children, and make the mortgage payment. Having money creates many amenities. A person what has money does not have to worry about unexpected expenses. Financial stability is also the main reason why people stay in dead end jobs that they dislike. A dead end job is classified as the type of job that one dreads waking up for in the morning and leaves at the earliest time possible in the afternoon. But he or she do no want to leave too early, as that would mean getting in trouble and getting fired, therefore losing his or her precious paycheck.

Other that financial stability, why work? Why would anyone want to go through all the negatives of work, such as waking up early, keeping a daily schedule, working on the weekends and holidays, and (the biggest negative of all) having a boss? Even though it is not obvious, work is good for us as human beings. Work helps us grow as individuals in many ways. If a person works a morally right job, a job in which he or she is helping others, which the personal satisfaction gained from working that charitable job will out-weigh a big paycheck. By working we can also accomplish personal goals such as finishing a project by deadline or landing a big client. Accomplishing individual goals helps us gain self-confidence, and a sense of importance. By gaining these attributes we are able to become more confident in ourselves, and in the job that we do. Gaining confidence allows people to take on harder projects and land bigger clients one. Accomplishing goals has a snowball effect on self-confidence once an individual obtains one goal the next one comes easier and the one after that is even easier to accomplish and so on.

Work also provides people with an outlet in which they can channel their own personal creativity and uniqueness. If a person can find a job that utilizes his or her personal creativity, then they will not think of work as negative, because if a person has attributes that are specially suited for a certain job, then his or her job will be easier. In turn they will be more content. An example of this is if a witty person works as a comic. By working as a comic that person would be working in their element. Their element meaning, the environment in which they feel and function best in. Utilizing a person?s own personal creativity and uniqueness will cause them to be more productive in the work place. Their boosted productivity will therefore make them more self-confident and more financially secure. So in order for a person to get the most out of working, they must first utilize their creativity and uniqueness. Because from this utilization stems the main reasons why one might work; for personal satisfaction and confidence, along with financial security. The later reason being not as important if a person gets a personal satisfaction from his or her job.

Jobs become negative when people get confused on how to balance work and their personal lives. They become wrapped up in the personal and financial gains that they achieve through working. Thus they become enslaved to their jobs and acquire too much of a ?good thing.? This is when work becomes a negative aspect in one?s life. In order for this not to happen, a person must find his or her happy medium between work and leisure time. This entails balancing the positives created by work and the personal rejuvenation that is produce from an adequate amount of personal time. Too much of either will prove negative in ones life. For people to be completely satisfied in life, they must first find a job that utilizes their personal talent?s in order to obtain the positive aspects created by work. Then they must take the positives gained from work, and incorporate them into their daily lives, but all the time making sure that they are not becoming too involved in their job. Because overinvolvement in one?s job will cause the misfortune of a lifetime, missing out on the finer things in life.