What’s in a Job?

I think for most people there's not much more in a job than a paycheck, and if their lucky, health insurance. I'd like to think that people actually do their jobs because it gives them some kind of personal satisfaction, even joy – and it may be that some do. But for most people, I think a job is just a way to get by.

I've had a lot of different kinds of jobs. I even have a doctorate degree and at one time I had an honest-to-goodness professional career. I can honestly say I've never had a job I cared about. I've had jobs I enjoyed more than others. For example, I liked working in a plant nursery for the Von Trapp family (yes, of Sound of Music fame) in Vermont better than bartending in the Napa Valley in California. And I liked mowing a golf course better than dental assisting. But my work has never gone any distance at all to define who I am.

I struggled with that for a lot of years – that feeling that my work lacked significance or meaning – until finally one day I decided that the meaning of my work is to give me a paycheck so I can live my life with meaning. Some people have meaningful jobs, and on some level I still wish I were one of those people. I have a meaningful life and a job I must do in order to sustain it.