Loving Monday: I Want To Work Hard
I want to work. I want to work hard.
I want my work to be meaningful and rewarding. I want my work to charge me with as much energy as it requires from me.
I want to make a difference. I want to make a contribution. I want to play at the top of my game. I want to be fully engaged… and then some.
Why then am I ignored? Why then am I taken for granted? Why am I considered nothing more than the generic job description whose rote list of chores I am tasked to complete?
Why am I treated like the enemy? Why are wage increases treated like a form of extortion instead of a simple exchange of value? Why are promotions considered crass grabs for power instead of appropriate placement in order to maximize potential?
Why am I considered an expense to be minimized instead of an asset to be maximized?
Something is backwards. Something is upside-down.
Does anyone else see it? Is anyone else interested in change?
It is time for a new wisdom in the workplace. A new attitude toward the energetic and productive interplay between people and profit. Fresh perspectives on the structuring of power, the measurement of success, and the unfathomable potential of the human spirit in its pursuit of life, liberty and work that we can love.
It is time. It is past time. There is an urgency in the air. The unemployment lines lengthen as the powerful dither. The numbers of those who hate either their job or their boss multiply. Can the accumulating stress across an entire nation be sustained for yet another business cycle before something gives?
I want to work hard. I want to engage fully.
What about you? What are you experiencing? Where do you see need for change? More significantly, where do you see opportunity for change?
December 8th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Karl, I can’t answer the why questions you asked. But I do want many of the same things you cover in this post.
One option for folks is starting their own businesses. Working for yourself can open up opportunities and provide a different perspective on things.
December 8th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Hey Chris,
My point exactly. The questions are deep and problematic for our culture. In one sense there’s obviously something wrong, but at the same time we’re somehow too invested in the current system to think boldly and creatively outside of it. I’d like to see a nation-wide conversation on the topic.
Encouraging and empowering people to start their own businesses is a great avenue. Thank you. And still many people are waiting for the government to create a job for them. The tension on the spectrum between stressing over survival and contributing enthusiastically is palpable in the current economy.