Over

the past several articles, I have laboured to explain the fact that work is a core aspect of our lives. I have explained that work brings fulfilment unlike nothing else on the face of the earth.

We also saw that for you to deploy your God-given purpose, work is the conduit through which it will flow. Work is generally one of the greatest blessings we have been given as humans.

Work is not A Curse

Unfortunately, some people think that work is a curse. Nothing can be further from the truth. Real work where a human is totally engaged and focused can be one of the most glorious things to do.

All of us need to experience that aura of being totally engaged at the work that we cherish, the work that we love and the work that we were called to do that time just flies without noticing.

That, of course, is the idea, and we should all strive for that ideal. Probably we might not experience that ideal at all times, but if we are alive long enough, there will be spurts and moments where we experience this “in the zone”.

Two Work Motivations

However, it is good to note that there are two major forces that propel us to work. The first force is internal. It is the love to work, propelled by our internal drive and inherent make-up that is the affinity to work. This resides in every human being and we have the privilege in life to activate it.

Second, there is an external force to work. This is brought about by pressure and being compelled to do nothing but work in order to fend for ourselves.

Honestly, both ways are important. However, the best we can work for our ultimate fulfilment is when we work because we love working. We love the kind of work that we are doing. Not only that, but we are also equipped both through talent and skill to do it.

What Stops Us From Working?

That being said, there will be moments in life where this and that will make us not to work. For the most part, we will be the ones to blame for not reaching the ideal or the ultimate form of work that we were created to do. Let’s start discussing these.

1. Distractions

I have over and over again talked about this subject. We live in a world that is filled to the brim with distractions from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep.

Even while we sleep, the distractions keep coming. I watched a teacher in a master-class explain the phenomenon of distractions. She alluded to the fact that the greatest enemy in writing is not lack of talent, but it is giving in to distractions.

Your ideal work, the one where you are simply in the zone, will always be available to you to the degree that you void yourself off as many distractions as possible.

Distractions will always kill off the flow gradually until the oomph to work is no longer there. You will end up just going through life and not really working.

Your goal in life should be to be at a level where you are really present and engaged in the work that you were called to do. I mean, no one should be sleep-walking through life. No one should be working as if it is a punishment as if it is something that they have to do.
No, we should be doing our work when we are fully involved.

2. Indiscipline

Hot on the heels of distractions is indiscipline. This is a heavy subject. Initially, and I believe even today, self-leadership is one of the greatest forms of governance. I mean, if all of humanity would learn to lead themselves, there would be no need for governments.

What would that mean for work? It would mean that we do not need to be followed up to work. It would mean that we would not be cheating about our work. It would mean that we are absolutely responsible for the excellence of our work.

Indiscipline can be seen in two major formats. First, you are undisciplined if you do not maintain your integrity and priority in life. Every time you veer off of the path of personal integrity, your work is affected.
There is so much you have to deal with when integrity is not in place, and you will be doing this while sacrificing your work. When Iron Mike Tyson was accused of rape at the height of his career, his work was disrupted. He had to go to jail for some years.

What was the issue at hand then? Well, it was nothing but lack of discipline whichever way we want to spin the story. Every time we lack integrity in our lives and especially with ourselves, our work is hindered.

Secondly, indiscipline will derail you from working if you are not certain, decided and planned about how your day, week, month or year will pan out. This has already been covered in the previous point.
If you are not disciplined to determine what outputs you are looking for at the end of the day, your work will be negatively affected. You will be at the mercies of distractions as already discussed. We live in a world that is increasingly distractive. Only when we are disciplined can we escape its alluring traps.

We shall continue with these thoughts in the next article.