Samin Jahan

Professor Jamison

FIQWS 10108

3 October 2018

The Compass to My Career

Since the beginning of mankind, humans always have questioned their existence on earth and created different views on life. Just like everyone has their own view on life, they also have their own view on work. More than half of workers in the United States take work as a burden and just can’t wait until it’s Friday. This is because they’ve failed to bring together their view of life and work. In the book “Designing Your Life” by William Burnett and David J. Evans, “Building a Compass” is essential to help guide readers the right path in order to design a life that they want. The book divides our view of work and life into two different categories. They state, a view of work and life must cohere in order to know if you’re heading the right direction.

For most of Americans, work takes up the most hours of their day. Work is a person’s duty, every worker having a different drive towards working. Some people work because they love it and feel a part of them is missing without it. While others see work more as having no other option, to make money and survive. The meaning behind work is to do something daily or almost daily, regardless of whether the person enjoys it or not, to make money.

Work is an important part of our society whether we like it or not. The good news for those who hate their work is that, without work our society wouldn’t be as efficient as it is today. The millions of people working every second around the world makes many things possible in our life. For example, having an affordable cell phones with computer capabilities, getting items delivered to your front door, safe food products, and everything else that’s a product of workers. Work brings our world of workers together in to one place and to accomplish one goal, which is to get the work done. This is common especially in the engineering field when engineers work together to design or advance something.

Unfortunately, not everybody finds a work they love. One quality or sign of a worthwhile work would be where someone always accomplishes something during their working time. It doesn’t have to be a big accomplishment, it can be small goals that you set for yourself during your work time. Without success, it means you’re not having fun and progressing. Another quality of a worthwhile work would be some work that pays high with low working hours and nothing that really bothers you about the job. Money shouldn’t be the main drive for work (unless it’s extremely high). This is where many people have problems, finding a work by pay instead of the uniqueness of the task. But if it comes to a point where you can’t survive, then in this case money should matter. Environment is a big factor to consider while working. Everybody has a different taste of their perfect environment. Usually the mass people in the setting are the ones who define the environment. So the friendliness and how you get along with your peers greatly define a worthwhile work.

If you enjoy the work, you also don’t need much prior experience. Experience should arise from you enjoying your work. Growth is a big factor in work, because in work you won’t always accomplish the goals you have set. Without failing, there is no growth or improvement.

A worthy work has many great qualities but if it’s missing the main aspect, then it’s not worthy enough. And that is if it’s too time consuming. Besides work, there are many other important necessities, one of which is love. “make sure that employees understand how their own everyday actions contribute to that goal” (What Makes Work Worth Doing?” Amabile and Kramer), is a claim some authors make towards a worthwhile work. But I still don’t think it’s as significant as a work that gives you no free time for your mental health. If you find the perfect work, but if it takes too much time then it isn’t worth keeping.

Since the beginning of mankind, humans always have questioned their existence on earth. The main division in society about the start of life is between believing in God or believing in a chance, which uses science to back it up (Evolution, Big Bang, etc.) There are also many, like me, who believe in both. Science and religion propel each other forward, they coexist if you ask me. For some, like me, this is an amazing aspect of life when you have a great interest in science and are a devout believer in God.

We are here only because God has given us a test by creating us, the earth and space, and everything in it. The purpose of life is to make the most out of your life by doing good deeds, obeying God and struggle to be righteous in the eyes of God. Good actions are something you believe is the right thing to do in your heart, unless clearly not accepted by God. God/religion is the ultimate judge of good and evil. But if the situation isn’t clear sometimes, then you go with what your heart believes.

I can’t imagine my life without giving service to God. When you think of it as a way that such a supreme being gave life to me and put me among his best creations ever (mankind), how could I disobey him? Devout believers in an Omnipotent being are greatly impacted by religion because to them at the end of the day, everything you think and do relates back to religion.

Aside from that, I think the most important and beautiful components of our life is intelligence, happiness, and love. Intelligence is what gives us free will and makes us the superior being compared to animals. Love brings our world together, making us do actions that logically don’t make sense but simply just to make each other happy. And the parts of life that aren’t so great; well that’s just life. We can’t make the world perfect because we just aren’t perfect ourselves. The relationship between individuals and others is to share this earth with each other. Family and the rest of the world are meant to be loved and helpful towards one another.

Many people today live without believing in any spiritual beings. “Almost certainly God does not exist” (“The God Delusion” Dawkins) is a claim by Richard Dawkins based on an imperfect genetic mutation he observed. However, for those who do believe in spiritual beings, it can have a big impact on their mental health and lifestyle.

Talking about my workview and lifeview, I noticed what they both emphasize is happiness, love, and helpful peers. In my workview I stated what defines a good worthwhile work. But I also gave it some conditions. Which are that no matter how much of a perfect work you find, if you’re working 12 hours a day and 7 days a week, then it isn’t a work worth keeping. A work like this leaves you no time for anything else. It can be mentally abusing by especially leaving no room to spend time with family or people you love. So love is complementary and prioritized among both the views.

The people we spent most of the time with have a great unconscious impact on us. We start to act like them, think like them, be like them unconsciously. It’s pretty clear that our peers are important to us, just as we are important to them. Another complimentary view between my workview and lifeview was having helpful peers. Because our friends are important to us in our daily lives, they must also be important to the ones we make at work.

The final similarity among the complex views of my workview and lifeview is happiness. I stated in my lifeview that if you’re not happy about something or life, then something isn’t right. This statement also applies to my workview.

My lifeview seems to dominate the aspects of my life more because I take my spiritual beliefs very seriously. This is how they drive one another; my views of life are established. And from there, I develop my views on work based on my views of life. If there is a disturbance between the two views, then I would change my work views but not my life views.

 

Works Cited

“The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins

 

“What Makes Work Worth Doing?” by Steve Kramer and Teresa Amabile