4119: A 7-Step Path to Enjoying Work by Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist on Finding Purpose

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[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_01] This is Optimal Living Daily, a seven step path to enjoying work by Joshua Becker of becomingminimalist.com. And I'm your host, narrator and commentator, Justin Malik. And we're gonna get right to it as we optimize your life. A seven step path to enjoying work by Joshua Becker of becomingminimalist.com. Quote,

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_01] For extracting sleep, on average we spend 33% of our waking hours working. You can find more details on these statistics, but don't worry too much about the method of statistical computation. They tell us what we already know. We spend a significant amount of our life working. It is a large piece of our life, and it is important to think thoughtfully and intentionally about it. I've known countless people who are happy with their work. They find meaning, significance, and joy in it. Additionally, I've met many people

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_01] who are unhappy with their work and choose to spend an additional percentage of their life complaining about it. Interestingly enough, these differences in attitudes have little to do with the actual work being done. In fact, two people in the same field can have completely different responses to the same job. This is helpful because it means enjoying work has less to do with your actual job and more to do with your attitude towards it. Changing our attitude towards work is often far easier than changing jobs.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_01] It also means that with only a few exceptions, you can be happy in your work today. You can find joy and fulfillment in it. And sometimes this can come with a simple change in thinking. A seven-step path to enjoying work. Number one, realize you were designed to work. Whether by creation or evolution, humans are designed to work. This is an important part of our nature. It explains our drive to grow as individuals and as a society.

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_01] It explains the internal satisfaction we experience when completing a task. It makes sense of the positive emotions we experience when resting after a hard day of work. And it may help us understand why some studies indicate early retirement has an adverse impact on physical and mental health. The realization that we are designed to work is an important first step in finding fulfillment in it, even though work looks different for each of us. If we are designed to accomplish work, it is not something to be avoided.

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_01] Instead, it is something to be sought, welcomed, and enjoyed. Number two, understand work takes place in an imperfect world. Our world is imperfect because we exist in a universe full of people who often fall short. Though we each have an ingrained desire to accomplish good for the sake of others, in reality, we often function with selfish desires and intentions. These imperfections always lead to less than ideal working conditions.

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_01] As a result, work includes overbearing bosses, deadlines, stress, under-resourced projects, tasks we do not enjoy, and often anxiety. The realization that these imperfections are always going to be present in our workplace allows us to accept them and move forward. Now, just to be clear, this present reality does not mean we don't fight for equality and justice when appropriate, but it does mean we can stop looking for joy in the perfect work environment because it doesn't exist.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_01] And it opens the door to finding joy in our existing one. Number three, use work to supply provisions for yourself and your family. In its simplest definition, work is a bartering tool. We work our jobs in exchange for money. This money is then given to another in exchange for growing food, producing clothing, building shelter, or discovering new medicine to keep us healthy. Because of work, we are freed to spend our days doing what we love and are good at.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_01] In exchange, we receive goods, money, to trade with someone else who used their giftedness to create something different than us. This is the goal of work. This is also the prescribed means of providing for those who are dependent upon us. Looking for shortcuts, lottery, dishonest gain, unnecessary dependence on others, to supply provisions is often a foolish direction for life. Number four, notice how your work contributes to the common good. If the goal of our work is to contribute good to society

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_01] in exchange for a provision, then our work ought to benefit society. We should spend 40 to 45 plus hours a week producing a benefit for others. We should grow healthy food, produce quality clothing, intentionally parent children, create beautiful art, build strong shelter, develop new life-enhancing technology, research medicine to prolong life, educate others, govern society honestly, or any other countless opportunities to contribute to the common good

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_01] of our neighbor and our society. This step results in one of two possible outcomes. First, it forces us to view work differently. It allows us to wake up on Monday morning with a positive attitude and opens up the door to finding new joy in our role. We are not solely working for the net income box on our paycheck. We are working to benefit society. Or second, this truth forces us to find new work. If for whatever reason we do not believe our job is contributing good to society,

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_01] we must find a new one. No dollar amount can ever equal the satisfaction and joy experience in contributing good to the world around us. For this is the purpose of work. Number five, work ethically. Work done ethically and honestly with proper balance will always result in more enjoyment than the alternative. These same principles of life hold true to every aspect, including the 20% we spent working.

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_01] Number six, humbly and proudly accept honest compensation. We each have skills and talents this world needs. There are other people willing to compensate us in exchange for them. Therefore, we ought to work hard at proudly developing our craft and humbly learning as much as we can from others who have gone before. It is also wise to discipline ourselves around the improvement of these skills and talents. The greater we develop them, the greater worth we are to others. And the greater worth we are to others,

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_01] the more honest compensation we should receive for providing them. Number seven, remove the pursuit of riches. While honest compensation should always be sought with both humility and pride, the pursuit of riches and wealth as an end goal is always a losing battle. Riches will never fully satisfy. We will always be left searching for more. People who view their work as only a means to get rich often fall into temptation, harmful behavior, and foolish desires.

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_01] The intentional understanding of steps six and seven provide great freedom for us to enjoy work on a whole new level. When we replace the desire to get rich with a more life-fulfilling desire to receive honest compensation, we open our hearts to find peace in our paychecks and create value in our work. Indeed, may each of us find greater value and fulfillment in our work. And in doing so, may we increase joy in this important and essential aspect of our lives.

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_01] You just listened to the post titled, A Seven-Step Path to Enjoying Work by Joshua Becker of becomingminimalist.com. And I'll be right back with my commentary. Every time I go in for a physical, they run a dozen markers, and I walk out with the same sentence. You're fine, see you next year. Fine compared to what? I've watched conditions run through family and friends, and fine has never felt like a plan. That's why I'm fascinated by what Superpower is doing.

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[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_01] to unlock their new health intelligence. Head over to superpower.com and use code OLD for $20 off your $199 superpower membership. And after you sign up, they'll ask you how you heard about superpower. Tell them OLD sent you to support the show. Back to school starts now. Get long-lasting battery life on the Dell XPS laptop powered by Series 3 Intel Core so you can work from anywhere. Now starting at $699

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_01] with exclusive student pricing starting at $599. Complete your setup with savings on select monitors and must-have electronics and accessories. Limited time deals and free shipping on PCs and more await you at dell.com slash deals. That's Dell.com slash deals. Thank you to Joshua. There's a line early on that stood out to me that whether you enjoy your work

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_01] has less to do with the actual job and more to do with your attitude toward it. And he points out that two people can have the exact same job and feel completely differently about it. And that really lines up with something I've taken from meditation. I spent a lot of hours meditating over the years. And the biggest thing I took from it is that our reactions don't really come from what happens to us.

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_01] They come from the filter we put on it. So two people can face the same situation or the same job and have totally different experiences of it just based on how they're seeing it. Now this doesn't mean you should just grin and bear a job that's genuinely bad for you or stop pushing for things to be fair. Sometimes the right move really is to find something new. But for a lot of us on most days,

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_01] the thing we actually have some control over is the attitude we bring to it. And noticing how your work helps other people is a good start, even if it's in a small way. It's easy to just see the paycheck. But when I remember there's a person on the other end, it changes how the day feels. So maybe today, just try to notice that. Who does your work actually help?

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_01] A good question to ask. So thank you to Joshua for this one. And thank you for listening and being here every day. And I'll see you tomorrow as usual, where your optimal life awaits.