By David Magallanes / Guest columnist
In a recent Beetle Bailey cartoon1 in my local newspaper, General Halftrack walks into headquarters and sees his two female secretaries in full party mode. He asks, “Champagne? Party hats? Decorations? What day is this?!”
The secretaries cheer and scream: “It’s Friday!!”
Yes, TGIF. Thank God it’s Friday! I used to celebrate Fridays. It meant two days of not having to do “the job.” It meant not having to “go to work.”
I’ve heard it said that if we look forward to Fridays every week, we’re in the wrong job!
In today’s economy, many of us feel fortunate just to have a job. It may not matter what kind of job we have — just so we have one.
As we weather this economic storm, many of us are desperately clinging to the rocks as the tempest sweeps over us. We just want to survive. If we lose this battle, we’re liable to be swept out to sea. We’ll do anything to keep this job we have, no matter the cost to our psyches or our emotional health. Because, after all, we have to pay the bills. We have to eat. We have to provide. We have to feel useful.
A lot of statistics are thrown around regarding worker job satisfaction. I’ve seen references to as much as 95 percent of workers not being satisfied with their jobs. However, a 2009 report2 provides a likely more realistic assessment, indicating that whereas 65 percent of employees are “satisfied” with their jobs, only 43 percent are “moderately satisfied” or “extremely satisfied.”
This means that less than half of Americans are what I would call “happy” on their jobs. That’s still a lot of unhappiness in something that occupies such a huge chunk of our lives. What can we do to attain a higher degree of “happiness” in our work?
In her book, Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow3, author Marsha Sinetar refers to “Right Livelihood.” She defines Right Livelihood as “…doing our best at what we do best. There is no way we can fail.” (p. 10)
So there it is. The key to a happy and rewarding life. The problem that many of us encounter with that is that we often don’t take the time to reflect, to visualize, to deeply ponder our place in the world. We often take jobs simply because they’re available. How often do we hear people, now especially, saying, “I’ll take anything”? Of course, if it’s a matter of survival, it’s incumbent upon us to indeed take anything that will keep body and soul together. But once that has been accomplished, and our basic needs are met, then it’s time to move toward “Right Livelihood” and map out a plan for achieving it. Ms. Sinetar tells us, “The very best way to relate to our work is to choose it.”(11) Only then will we find the satisfaction that eludes so many. Only then do we have any hope of being amongst the 14 percent who claim to be “extremely satisfied” with their work. Only then will we flourish as individuals and feel as if we are leading a life worth living. After all, if in fact we have a purpose in life, then it’s important to fulfill that purpose in our work and in our relationships.
But what if we don’t know what our purpose is, or how to find it? In Wishcraft, How To Get What You Really Want4, Barbara Sher writes, “All the people we call geniuses are men and women who somehow escaped having to put that curious, wondering child in themselves to sleep. Instead, they devoted their lives to equipping that child with the tools and skills it needed to do its playing on an adult level.”(p. 9)
So if we’re not satisfied with our work, let’s reach back into our childhood and try to remember what made us not only happy, but gleeful, and see if we can’t somehow bring that into our work in the adult world. If there is no such job, let’s create it!
We are, after all, for better and for worse, creative beings.
1 Greg and Mort Walker, April 8, 2011
2 Job Satisfaction and Retention In A Challenging Economy, February, 2009. Retrieved from salary.com’s web site, http://solutions.salary.com/jobsatisfaction2009/ on April 19, 2011.
3 Sinetar, Marsha. Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow. New York: Dell Publishing, 1987.
4 Sher, Barbara. Wishcraft. New York: Ballantine Books, 1979.
— David Magallanes is the creator of his own enterprise, Real World Projects, a business primarily dedicated to building marketing business networks for the creation of affluence. In this pursuit, Real World Projects constructs distribution outlets for highly reputable products that offer a healthier life and a more vibrant lifestyle, as well as free training and guidance for those who wish to create their own similar enterprise. David is available for speaking opportunities. To contact him and for more information, you are invited to visit and explore the Real World Projects web site at www.realworldprojects.info
Editor’s note: Please click on links on the right-hand side of the website or click on the Opinion link at the top of the page to see previous guest columns by David Magallanes.