Standard Preamble: Mrs. Denmarkguy, aka @cosmictriage, and I have chosen to do the Daily OM's 52-week writing challenge A Year of Writing to Uncover the Authentic Self and have decided to share this exploratory journey here on Hive, as part of the exercise. If you're interested, I encourage you to follow the link above and sign up for the course... OR you can just use the weekly prompt here, although you will NOT get any of the sub-prompts and text that goes with being part of the "official" coursework.
The laughing baby dragon after whom our garden is named
New post every Sunday afternoon/evening (US Pacific time).
Since this is an exploratory exercise, the writing in these posts will be more flow-of-consciousness and less structured than my usual Hive content.
If you DO decide to do the challenge, feel free to leave a link to your post(s) in the comments section!
Week 02: "Work"
Most of us spend a large amount of time at, or doing our work. This work can include a job where you go outside of the home, as a self-employed entrepreneur, caring for your home and/or children, etc. The dream, of course, is to spend this massive amount of time with work that is engaging.
Work... ah, work.
Perhaps more than anything, what holds true for me about work has been my relatively persistent refusal to take "the conventional road" with work.
I cannot remember a single time in my life where I thought about such things as "having a CAREER," or even having a profession. Perhaps the closest I got was around age 19 when I seriously considered going on the European pro golf tour and making a living that way. I ended up deciding against it because I was not motivated by "winning gold tournaments," I just wanted to "make enough of a living that I could play golf all the time."
For the curious, yes I actually was just about that good...
I admit it — I seem to have a very low level of ambition and drive, compared to almost everybody else I have ever met. At the same time, I work extremely hard at whatever I do decide to undertake.
It's not that I ever doubted the reality of having to work, I just never saw work as anything other than something I had to do in order to pay fundamental bills, buy food, ensure I had shelter, and such. Interestingly enough, I also never wanted to be "a burden" on anyone, so the idea of living my life as a professional mooch never entered my mind.
I have known my share of professional mooches, and I really never liked their company!
List as many past jobs that you've held as you can think of.
Jeebus! This is going to be a very long list!
- As a kid, snow shoveler and lawn mower, starting around nine or ten.
- I also would go around and gather self-sown tiny trees and grow them to be larger, then sell them to local yardmen.
- Age 15: graveyard shift worker in a bottlecap factory.
- Age 16-18-ish: Occasional housepainter (outside).
- Age 17-18 (summers): Kitchen assistant and prep cook at a large hotel.
- Age 19: Worked as a deckhand on a sports fishing boat for rich people. Cleaning fish in 26 degree (-4 degrees C) weather... ick!
- Age 21-24: Library filing clerk at the University of Texas, as a student.
- Age 21-24: Doing "Make-ready's" for rental property; cleaning, painting, small fix-it jobs.
- Age 21-24 (summers): Assembly line worker ("piece work") for General Electric, Denmark
- Age 25-35: Import business and retail store operator (self-employed); this was actually the longest I did something in one stretch
- Age 25-Now (sideline): Dealer in rare collectible postage stamps and old letters for collectors.
- Age 32-35 (free lance): Newsletter writer for corporate clients; also wrote ad copy for print and radio ads.
- Age 32-Now: Sporadic book and article editor (free lance) primarily in the self-help and spirituality fields.
- Age 35-37: Contract technical writer and usability specialist in the IT industry; IBM, Dell, 3M and others.
- Age 36-Now (sideline): eBay entrepreneur, buying and selling collectibles from flea markets, antique malls and thrift stores.
- Age 36-37 (free lance): Skills and aptitude test designer and tester for corporate testing company using computer adaptive learning.
- Age 38: Technical writer and usability specialist for children's educational software company.
- Age 38: Technical writer for start-up software company.
- Age 39-40: Online grader for written high school exit exams; ETS, Inc.
- Age 42-43: Home care assistant for the elderly.
- Age 46-Now (sideline-ish): Professional beach comber, selling "found objects" to artists and jewelers around the world.
- Age 52-Now: Wannabe artist; sticking to it!
I love painting on rocks! It's part of my "patchwork economics" quilt of working
I'd add "writer," but the truth is that I have almost never been paid for writing, so it hardly qualifies as "work."
I'd also add "spiritual workshop organizer," but it's yet another form of work that I really enjoy... but don't actually get paid for.
I'm sure I've forgotten some, along the way.
Are you currently fulfilled at work? If so, why or why not?
I would have to say yes, I am. I'm self-employed, and I get to do things I enjoy doing. And that's better than most people can say.
I also get to do a wide range of very different things, which fits my short little span of attention pretty well.
The only part of the equation that's missing is the part where my work actually provides "a living," rather than just the ability to "scrape by."
Does a part-time or full-time position suit you better? Why?
Pretty much throughout all of my adult life, I would rather have three completely different part-time jobs than one single full-time job.
Would that always hold true? Well, not sure I have identified any exceptions, yet.
The other day I was having a conversation with Mrs. Denmarkguy, and I allowed as how — in an "alternate universe" — I would start as a bagger at Safeway (supermarket) at age 16, become a checker and just do that till I "was retired" after 35 years of service. Something simple and predictable that ended up paying pretty well... and would allow me to use most of my emotional/intellectual bandwidth for things I actually enjoyed doing.
However, I don't actually inhabit that universe.
What are your work values? Think of values that bring you emotional fulfillment (being challenged, helping others, influence, etc.) as well as external things that you value (high earnings, job security, having adequate time away from work, etc.)
If you are going to do something, do it well. If you're not prepared to do your best, don't take it on, in the first place. Mediocrity bugs me!
I value reciprocity, in the sense of fair compensation for quality work. Sadly, I seem to have been part of a lot situations (being self-employed) in which people seem to believe that the benefits they are going to get "should be free."
Is that really true?
In many cases, it seems more like I do a lot of things that appeal to/cater to the more or less penniless who love what's on offer but can't pay for it.
What is your dream job? What if you thought of your work as a calling instead of a grind (even if just for now)? Are the internal values more or less important than the external things you receive?
Silly as it might sound, I have my dream job. Except it's not really a JOB.
In a sense, it is my calling... I write, I create art, I buy and sell things I'm interested in, I work with things I enjoy.
What would make it better? I suppose not having to battle quite so hard for every penny would be nice. Feeling like there was a better balance between effort expended and compensation. Other than that, I wouldn't really change much.
Some Closing Thoughts...
Bottom line is that "work" has always been somewhat of a struggle for me. I don't like working. I don't have the so-called "Protestant Work Ethic."
I work really hard at things I enjoy and really suck at doing things that feel like an obligation.
Thanks for reading, and have a great week ahead!
How about YOU? How do YOU feel about work? What are YOUR work values? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20210718 23:45 PST
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