Work

is a magnificent thing. There is no way you are defining a human being without taking in consideration their purpose and their ultimate work. I know this can be a bit controversial.

The last time I wrote about work being the source of our ultimate fulfilment and not a religion, that article was met with serious doubts. Eyebrows were raised and rebuttals made. Questions were asked and people engaged.

The Purpose of Work

Our thinking about work and fulfilment has to change. I believe that work is a good thing. I also believe that we were all created so that we can offer this world the best of our works. If it is about glorifying God, then I do not think there is anything greater than work.

When I talk about people not working, I am not necessarily talking about people not having jobs. I am talking about people at work, not working. What causes that?

I mean, the whole world would stand blessed when we put all our efforts, spirit, attention, finesse and excellence in our work. However, that is seldom the case. We end up doing just the ordinary and the bare minimum and we call it our “work”.

What is Work?

The essence of Life Signatures is simply this: to do your work in such a way that it speaks for itself for eternity. To deploy your work in such a way that it leaves a signature behind.

Such kind of work will, of course, be something that is connected to your ultimate calling and purpose in life. So the question still begs, why is it that people do not really work?

We have already looked at two things in the previous post. The first one is distractions and the second one is indiscipline. You can access that information here.

4. Procrastination

Author and teacher Brian Tracy wrote a legendary book on this topic titled “Eat that Frog”. To be honest with you, even the best of us suffer from a bout of procrastination or two. What procrastination does is devastating as far as our work is concerned. Procrastination is fueled by the need to feel comfortable.

Work and Comfort

Real work of value, for the most part, will require us to trudge and grind. It will require us to be uncomfortable. The problem is that at the very time that you are faced with the prospect of grinding, you have an easy choice available to you to do some work that is less engaging.
For the most part, we end up choosing the less engaging work with the consolation that we shall revert back to the hardest work later.

Diminishing Intent

The law of diminishing intent states that the more you delay to deploy your work, the harder it gets. Brian Tracy advocates that you “eat frogs fast” before you can do any other thing in the day. The analogy is that if you faced the prospect of eating a frog in the morning, you will probably go through the rest of the day knowing that you have done the worst.

Big Rocks and Pebbles

Stephen R. Covey has an even better and practical analogy. It is about filling a jar with “big rocks” first before you can add the smaller rocks, for they will find space left by the big rocks. If you tried to do it the other way, there will be no space for the big rocks. The big rocks here represent the work that is demanding.
If you wanted to work and be fully deployed, it would be great if you started with the most demanding and painful work there is first. Unfortunately, we spend the best part of the morning checking emails and notifications thus wasting crucial work time.

4. Culture of looking for Jobs

The culture of jobs is something else. It has to evolve. Work and jobs are two different things. You will find people not doing anything because “I am not employed”. Their school of thought is that anything that is not paid for, is not work.
That way of thinking is keeping people from working. In fact even after they have been employed, they will work for one reason only—and that.

Personal Motivation

Someone who is motivated by the job mentality is not a safe bet to the attitude of work. Work has to be something that we love to do, we are equipped to do, we are passionate to do, and we are intent on making a difference with excellence. The pay will only come later as a byproduct of the work.
However, if we work for the pay, we shall only work for the pay. We shall not go the extra mile and deploy our utmost at it.
In any case, the attitude of joblessness is the one corroding the real and authentic work ethic. I am not in any way saying that all jobless people are lackadaisical. Not by any chance. I am saying that if we have a mentality that we have to be employed in order to work, chances are that our quality of work will not be as excellent as it is humanly supposed to be.

We shall continue with these thoughts in the next article.