Is work a noun, a verb, something else, both, neither?
Just one ☝️ of many thought-provoking questions that arose during our conversation about work with a lovely group of people from our community last week. It was a treat!
Many of the musings on the day centred around defining work. Some of the definitions that emerged:
🟣 “The transfer of energy by a force acting on an object as it is displaced”
🟣 “Activity involving mental or physical effort, done in order to achieve a purpose or result”.
🟣 “it involves a value exchange – the most common form is money, but it doesn’t have to be.”
🟣 “ A calling – what am I being called to do in the world, here and now? How can I use my skills and resources to fulfil this calling?
And some observations about work that found resonance in the group:
🔸“Context matters!”
🔸 “We need places of non work”
🔸 “I need work to be about production, creation and learning.”
It went wide and it went deep but in two hours we only touched the edges and we can’t wait to continue & expand the conversation!
Where we we landed: In the end, we were left holding questions. Lots of questions.
Just a few that stood out:
✨What about work when it starts as a passion? Is work work when passion prevails? ✨How to integrate what I value with what the society/everyone else values when it comes to work? ✨What about money? The need to work to earn a living remains for most people. How does this affect the choices people make/feel able to make? ✨Is this a conversation we’re only able to have because our privilege affords us the space to step back and even consider it? ✨What would work look like if there was an abundance of energy for transfer?
✨Does work have to be hard, in order to qualify as work?
✨How does work need to develop and grow beyond what it is now?
✨What is success? What makes a good (working) life? The energy to live a life of value?
Feel free to add your voice and ongoing reflections in the comments here or join us in upcoming meet-ups. You can sign up for those here.
A request:
We’re already a fairly eclectic bunch, with people from a variety of backgrounds, working roles and contexts, and we love that this space and conversations include a spicy and varied mix of perspectives. One of the things we concluded is that work and its impact in the world touches us all and feels very alive and ripe for reinvention (as does life) in the world today.
To this end, we're always open to others joining the conversation so please feel free to invite anyone you know who might be interested in participating - we welcome anyone who is keen to explore the topics, together with others. Curiosity is the only requirement!
And we look forward to seeing those of you who can join us for our next meet up on the 4th May where we will be considering: Wellbeing at Work: Oxymoron?