What is work?

[Poki]

Work is the label we give to activities we don't enjoy.

The first step is to stop calling it work.

Work is something I dont enjoy doing. If I can make something fun then it stops being work.

Its interesting to look at how we go about things in different manners. Yours is to stop labeling it, where as mine is to figure out what causes it to have that label and when it is fun then the label of work goes away.

While others will push through at all expenses because its a necessary evil that we just have to get past.

These methods or the way we go about things to me are at the root of our personality.

 

[KDude]

For me, it's changing the work entirely.

 

[Poki]

For me, it's changing the work entirely.

So what do you do when its not possible to change the work entirely?

 

[KDude]

go unemployed for awhile, eat wolf brand chili and rice.

 

[Lark]

I think this is a really good question, I dont have a really good answer to it.

Its about being productive, although that can be an alienating version of productivity like you've no choice, circumstances compell you, you need to earn a living some how but there's also the other highly satisfying productivity which is what people are talking about when they talk proudly about their "life's work".

There's a whole debate about what qualifies as work too, what sort of effort, marginal cost, opportunity cost or sacrifice is involved.

 

[Poki]

go unemployed for awhile, eat wolf brand chili and rice.

My P comes out and everything starts slipping until it becomes fun again(challenge is fun to me). When I become to bored I start looking for challenges.

 

[KDude]

I look for challenges too, but sometimes I need to get out of an environment entirely to do that. Unfortunately, that's happened more than what some may consider "normal". I may experiment with moving around within the job first though (if I can).

 

[SillySapienne]

Work is hell.

For me, at least.

I am one who enjoys enjoying life, I cannot stand that I have to do anything I cannot stand in order to eat, and live.

 

[teslashock]

I am not looking for physics definition.
I am questioning what work is for the human race.

Whoops, I thought this was in the science subforum. My bad, yo.

 

[Chunes]

Its interesting to look at how we go about things in different manners. Yours is to stop labeling it, where as mine is to figure out what causes it to have that label and when it is fun then the label of work goes away.

While others will push through at all expenses because its a necessary evil that we just have to get past.

These methods or the way we go about things to me are at the root of our personality.

There's basically two things you can do: change your circumstances or your attitude.

Sometimes the latter isn't an option for me, such as when I was expected to lie to customers at a job I once had, so I quit. I think the key to being happy in the monetary aspect of the world is to change what you can reasonably change and then adjust your perception of the rest.

Trying to change your circumstances in this world often comes with high diminishing returns and so will not be a good sole option for everybody.

 

[SillySapienne]

Whoops, I thought this was in the science subforum. My bad, yo.

lulz, leave it to an NTP to make this mistake!

Seriously, though, I'm currently at work, and the missus is asleep, which is nice, but she will be awake soon which is not.

I've been working for her for just slightly over a year.

Her condition has worsened.

Her health, her energy-level, her depression and her dementia.

It's all so very sad. :sad:

I have found that I've been detaching myself as a form of self-preservation, she doesn't talk much, but she likes and needs my attention.

It's just scary, she's like 20% alive and 80% dead, awful.

Honestly, if I get to be 85 years old and miserable like her, I'd want my loved ones to help me off myself.

She tells me a lot, never get old, it's awful!

And, to make matters worse, I LOVE DOGS, and her dog happens to be the only dog I've ever known and come across who is a soulless, obnoxious package of existence, the weirdest thing ever.

So, when at work, I am surrounded by relatively negative life forces, not good, not good at all.

This is my third and last day (till next weekend), that I am here, thank god.

I don't know if I can do this anymore, it used to be more... pleasant, okay, fulfilling, but now it is taxing, energetically taxing, so not worth the money I make.

Bleh, but I need money to live, story of most people's miserable lives.

I wish I had no ethics, and I could happily marry some rich guy who'd afford me a life a leisure, that's all I want, to live a life where I am pursuing things I like, and then I could help people for FREE.

In fact, I could still do that, it's been a while since I've done any community service, during the summer time I babysat some boys primarily for free to help their mother out, that was awesome, these boys were chalk-full of life, and positivity!!!



Ugh, my sister is with an incredibly ridiculously wealthy guy and she need not worry about work or money, but I don't think she's happy either.

 

[SillySapienne]

Fuckaduckasaurus, she's up.

save meeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[Mole]

what is the underlying motivation?

Scarcity and literacy create work.

But two things have happened - scarcity has been overcome for the first time in human history in developed nations, and secondly print is being superseded by electronics.

And so work is coming to an end and creative participation is beginning.

 

[Not_Me]

Work is anything you would not do for free.

 

[Chunes]

Work is anything you would not do for free.

I do lots of things for free that I consider work.

 

[wren]

i like work...you gotta find something you like. i can go to work in an awful mood and feel like a new person by the time i leave....i still don't like going to work...but i'm cool once i get there.

+1 with the condition i can move on when i want

 

[wren]

When I was little I dreamed about being somebody who mattered. I really had lots of ambition for myself. The thing is I didn't have any special talents like some people do, and I was stuck in a small dreary town with low expectations (unless you were good at gossip), so it was harder for me to go the direction I felt I needed to go. Over time I became frustrated with the interactions I had with others, mostly family-- when you are five or six, who else really bugs you? --and I felt the burden of them also bringing me down. There was always drama around me, all these siblings with problems, how could I ever actualize my game plan?! Anyway, not to sound like I'm scapegoating or anything. Just saying all this cuz I could have been this most successful entrepreneur or something, if only. Do you believe what I say?

 

[Beorn]

I think there are only two states that a person ought to be in. One is a state of work, the second is a state of rest. Sadly a third state has taken up much of my time as well as many of my fellow americans... a state of vegetation.

I believe I was made for work and that in a perfect world work would still exist. This is because there is nothing inherently bad about work. There are toils and strife that may accompany work, but they are not to be confused with work itself. Work is simply any output of energy to achieve an end.

Work can be going to a party to maintain social ties. Work can be exercising in the morning. Work can be writing poetry or painting a picture. Work can be taking your child to the zoo. Work can also be sitting at a desk for 8 hours doing data processing.

Rest is a state of reflection and intake of energy.

Furthermore, I believe that I do not choose to work. Rather I'm called to work. This distinction has the power to give significance to the most mundane tasks. I believe there is an all powerful God who has a perfect plan for the world that includes every task that is required of me. Because of this I can choose to find joy in the most mundane or even painful tasks because they are done not just to achieve worldly ends, but to honor a God who loved me when I did not deserve it and to take part in his grand design.

 

[valentine]

The morality of work is the morality of slaves, and the modern world has no need of slavery. - Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness

 

[Beorn]

The morality of work is the morality of slaves, and the modern world has no need of slavery. - Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness

The ideals I stated created a society wealthy enough that someone such as russell would have the time to write such dreck.