To me, one of the sad truths about the world today is that most people look upon work as something to escape from. To them, this major part of life is a necessary evil, even an obstacle to the life they dream about.
Want proof?
- 67% of Americans are disengaged at their work.
- The 4-Hour Workweek is one of the top-selling books of the last decade.
- People are beginning to define early retirement as their dream.
- Given the option between “work a long time at a fulfilling job” or “retire early,” only 34% of Americans would choose to work a long time at a fulfilling job.
- At least half of the U.S. workforce is quiet quitting.
I could add, from plenty of personal conversations, that there are some people who choose simplicity as a means to escape work. I don’t think that’s what the simple life is for.
There’s not a doubt in my mind that some of the discontent we feel about work comes from our faulty thinking on the reason for it. In our desire to get out of work, we are missing the point of it.
Dorothy Sayers, in her famous essay Why Work? begs us to see work anew. She seeks nothing less than “a thoroughgoing revolution in our whole attitude to work.”
Sayers believes we should look upon work, “not as a necessary drudgery to be undergone for the purpose of making money, but as a way of life in which the nature of man should find its proper exercise and delight and so fulfill itself.”
Work, in this regard, is not something to be avoided. It is something to be pursued and enjoyed.
Your work contributes to the good of society and moves us ahead. We need your talents and abilities. We need you to work hard and do it well. It makes us better as people and it enriches our lives.
I enjoy hard work. I work 50 hours most weeks because I find happiness and joy in it. And I believe that those who feel the most fulfilled at the end of their lives are those who have chosen to work hard on the right things during it.
Now, just to be clear, I am not advocating to be busy just to be busy. And I am not advocating working hard for wrong, selfish reasons (i.e., getting rich). I am advocating for the importance of doing your work (whether paid or unpaid) in a focused and deliberate way and putting your whole self into it.
I am advocating for doing the best you can, to accomplish the most you can, with the one life you have to live.
Reasons for Work in the Simple Life
If one has chosen simplicity as a lifestyle, where do we find the motivation to learn how to work hard? If we are content to own less (even prefer it), what is the point of hard work and striving for success?
Let me offer a few reasons:
1. Work forces personal development.
Work, by its very nature, presents challenges and growth opportunities. It requires us to improve and develop and become better versions of ourselves. The more we grow, the better at work we get… and the greater the challenges become.
We learn important life lessons when we give ourselves over to hard work: determination, attentiveness, responsibility, problem solving, and self-control. These lessons, in turn, serve us in other areas (health, relationships, hobbies, etc.).
2. Our work brings benefit to society.
Like I mentioned earlier, our work contributes to the good of society. It serves others, it enriches people’s lives, and it moves everyone forward. Whether we are bagging groceries, delivering mail, analyzing stocks, curing cancer, or managing other workers, we can view our work as an act of love to the people we serve.
3. Hard work is an example to our kids.
When we strive to do our best work each day, our kids take notice. And among the greatest lessons I hope to pass on to my children is the importance of working hard on things that matter.
4. The hours will pass anyway. It makes sense to try to make the most of them.
Each new day brings with it an important choice: either we fill it with our best or we allow it to slip away. There is no other option—the hours are going to pass anyway. Choosing to work hard makes the most of them. (Please note: I am not discounting the importance of rest or balance. I have written about both extensively.)
5. Work is fulfilling in and of itself.
In my opinion, there are few joys in life more satisfying than lying down at night with tired legs attached to a tired body. To know I gave my full energy to something important is an amazing feeling and fulfilling in itself.
6. Working hard keeps our lives occupied with important matters.
Living an unoccupied life is a recipe for disaster. Choosing to fill our time and energy with things that bring value to others helps keep us from selfish and foolish decisions with idle time.
There is value in hard work—both for ourselves and others.
How to Enjoy Work More
I have known countless people who are happy with their work. They find meaning, significance, and joy in it. Additionally, I have met many people who are unhappy with their work and choose to spend an additional percentage of their life complaining about it.
Changing our attitude toward work isn’t always easy, but it’s possible. And I would argue, important. As I’ve stated above, there is joy and fulfillment to be found in it.
Sometimes, learning to love work can come from a simple change in our thinking—rather than the much more drastic change in jobs, which doesn’t usually solve the problem anyway.
So let me end with a few thoughts on how to think differently about work and find more fulfillment in it:
1. Realize that 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. 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.
2. Understand that work always 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.
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.
3. Notice how your work contributes to the common good.
If the goal of our work is to contribute good to society in exchange for provision, then our work ought to benefit society. We should spend 40 or more hours per week producing a benefit for others—notice how your specific work accomplishes that.
Whether you grow healthy food, produce quality clothing, intentionally parent children, create beautiful art, build strong shelter, develop new life-enhancing technology, do taxes, research medicine to prolong life, educate others, govern society honestly, or operate in any other of countless opportunities, you contribute to the common good of our neighbors and our society.
4. Do your work ethically.
Work done ethically and honestly with proper balance will always result in more enjoyment than the alternative. Your motivation for work is also a part of your ethic.
These same principles of life hold true to every aspect, including the 20% we spent working.
5. Stop trying to get rich.
While fair compensation is always appropriate, the pursuit of riches and wealth as an end goal is a losing battle. Riches will never fully satisfy. We will always be left searching for more.
People who view their work as a means to get rich often fall into temptation, harmful behavior, and foolish desires.
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 greater value in our work.
The Value of Work
Please don’t view your work as something only to be endured or avoided. Rethink the value of it—whether you are 18 or 80.
Regain focus and motivation to use your passions and abilities to contribute good to a society in need of them. Utilize your strengths. Develop your talents. Study your craft. And encourage others.
Work hard. Enjoy it. And at the end of the day, we will all be better because of it.
Sarah says
This post seems a bit… Puritan to me.
Sharon says
Although I agree that work allows us to grow personally and in our profession of choice. It turns out that it may be – as it is my impression more and more now then ever before – work is a place of daily struggle and no longer a place where work is combined with pleasure. At least as I have seen too often, it is a battleground between people who have political views and want to be heard in the workplace, as is unfortunately too often the case. And that won’t change any time soon unfortunately. Discrimination, micro aggression of all sort resists and is in the mainstream to stay unfortunately still.
joshua becker says
Of course work is a struggle. You are imagining a scenario where work is always pleasure? I work for myself and can tell you there is daily struggle in my work. Even roses have thorns.
Ramona Jar says
I believe in work that’s enough to pay the bills. I am running a small business at the moment and, although I could scale up a lot, I’d rather keep it small. Manageable. I’d rather spend time with my daughter, drive her to tennis lessons, cook for the family, take vacations anytime we’d like to, than run a huge agency and be a slave of my own success. When it comes to being hired, I did the 50 hours per week / no weekends off thing and the only thing I got was 10 years wasted for someone’s business. When they closed it down, it didn’t matter that I put in my best years. No, because it wasn’t my business and there’s nothing I can do about it.
I’m a firm believer in working as much as you are comfortable to. For some people work is the no.1 item in their lives. For many of us kids and husbands trump any titles and huge salaries. As long as we understand what makes US HAPPY, there’s no right or wrong.
joshua becker says
The only thing you got was “years wasted for someone’s business”? Are you really going to stand by that statement?
Oscar says
I am not sure if you meant for it to come across this way, but there seems to be an implication here that choosing not to work or frankly not to work “hard” (50 hours a week?) is somehow bad/suboptimal. I disagree. I think that so many, Americans in particular, are unsure what they would do with themselves or feel “unproductive” if not working is a sad statement to the lack of balance in our culture. There are many beautiful, wonderous things we can do with our time outside of work, many you might deem “unproductive”. We can enjoy the outdoors, volunteer, spend more time with family, pursue hobbies or passions, do more of the things many are forced to pay others to do, sit and watch children play, watch the trees sway in the wind. . .In a more balanced world, we would be able to work 20 or 30 hours a week much of our life and enjoy all these things throughout our life. Now we bookend them into childhood and retirement and often never make it to the retirement bookend because the lack of balance destroyed our heath. My family is European/Mediterranean. My grandfather had time to garden more, make his own wine, spend more time with his neighbors. These non-work activities feed the soul, round us out as humans, and make us better/happier friends, spouses, parents and ironically more productive members of society (though I am not sure that should be the goal).
joshua becker says
Are you confusing “work” with “job?” Volunteering is work, so is serving your family.
Kallisto Indrani says
Let’s face it. Most of us work because we have to for the money. I think the people that really love their work are workaholics because they don’t find anything else to give them joy and meaning.
You can find joy and meaning just as much in hobbies then in work. If you do find joy and meaning in your work that’s ofcourse better but honestly, a lot of people are just glad they have work that pays them enough to pay the bills (and a lot of people don’t even have that luck.)
So yeah, I can totally understand people that want to retire early and then spend their time with hobbies and other activities that bring them true meaning and joy.
joshua becker says
You believe golfing (a hobby) will bring true meaning to a person’s life?
Elizabeth says
Joshua, have you thought about becoming a public school teacher, especially in an area of high need? Young students could really use a wise and thoughtful person like yourself on their side.
Jo says
I completely agree with loving what you do and working for purpose and contributing for the good and not for financial gain. However do we really need 40-50 hour weeks to do that? I don’t think so. I can guarantee our kids would prefer we spend some of that time with them rather than at work. We can be purposeful through being a good citizen in so many ways and not working so many hours. So many people I’ve worked with who have burnt out are because of long work hours. Not to mention those who would struggle to work these long hours you mention because of their health. Not everyone is in a position to do what they love because of poverty, racism, their health, societal stigma etc. So this feels quite a damaging statement to me.
I think its OK to choose a simple life where we don’t work as much. There’s a huge amount of pleasure in taking a seat by the river and watching the world go by sometimes and this is massively beneficial to our mental health.
So maybe we can consider that purposeful work is an important part of our life but not stick a number on how much we need to do
joshua becker says
No, I have not. But thanks for asking.
veronica says
I resigned from my job before the Great Resignation became a thing. FINALLY I got to do things that were meaningful to me, that drew upon my creativity and problem solving skills, all of it unpaid. I no longer have to tiptoe around egos, listen to why I couldn’t work on a project because I didn’t have the right letters after my name despite having many more years experience, get paid $20K less per year than the male employees etc. And this was one of the better places I worked at! You could not put me back in the yoke of a job for any amount of money in the world. If employers can’t find employees to work for them now they have only themselves to blame. Using workers as “just in time labour” to be shed the minute the bottom line wobbled has consequences. The bill is now due.
Patrick says
I find the views in this article are very middle class. There is more slavery in the world now than ever before. People are expected to work overtime to ridiculous amounts for no extra pay. Technology has made our working days more complex not less and more is expected. Employers and corporations will do anything in their power to take away the rights of workers by taking away unions, the only real voice that employees have, and big business is destroying the planet. Yes I guess we should work, feel fulfilled and shut up.
Nicole says
Patrick, I understand your point, but I would argue that the article was written to encourage the employers and big corporations to change, to prevent the very slavery which you mention from continuing to happen. For example, “Do your work ethically” and “stop trying to get rich”. I don’t think Joshua meant for us all to “work, feel fulfilled and shut up”. I think he meant “work, feel fulfilled, and make a difference in the world”.
I currently live in a developing country where the minimum wage is about 10 USD per day. People work hard here to meet their basic needs, but they exhibit many of the positive attitudes about their work that Joshua writes about. I see such creativity and optimism coming from that hard work in the culture here.
joshua becker says
You thought this article was about slavery? That’s what you took from it?
Diiann says
I am very shocked at the reactions and feelings towards working. Working is so important to a successful economy and growth of the people in your area. I never questioned work. Not working was not an option to my future development and success. If I had a bad manager or environment, I learned a lot and what not to do in my next opportunity. Each was a stepping stone.
So sad that so many feel this way about working hard.
Accidentally Retired says
Spot on as per usual! Since I’ve retired early, I have realized that productivity is part of what makes me happy. It is not the entire thing, but a large part of it. If I am productive even around the house, I feel better…happier. BUUUT I want to do it on my terms.
I think the sweet spot is to realize that the way we can all contribute to society is by doing work that means something to us, AND that helps the larger good. Finding the right fit of productivity and meaning is where it is at.
Rose Halpin says
I worked as an itinerant teacher of the Visually Impaired & Orientation & Mobility Specialist (teaching cane travel) for about 45 years before I retired. I really feel this was a gift given to me by God (to be able to do this work). I loved it most of the time. Loved my students & parents, liked most of my supervisors, tolerated most of my admins (but there were exceptions to all of these). I worked in several states throughout that time, always my focus was on my students. Now @ 67 I am waiting tables two days a week or so at a local dinner theater 7 miles from home. Wasn’t even looking for a job & just fell into it (a God moment). I get to serve people & help them have an enjoyable experience (I waitressed before I went to college & in college), get to be around people of all ages, & make a little extra fun money. I love my colleagues here & have made new friends. My life has been so blessed, even though my husband passed 6 years ago & my only brother & parents are gone. Life is what you make it, but when you let God lead the way, it’s even better.