Work life.
How’s your work life?
When was the last time someone asked you this question? When was the last time you asked yourself this question?
There’s a lot of talk of work-life balance. But less talk about the importance of cultivating a better work life. If it sucks less, there’s less pressure on the precarious balancing act of keeping work woes from overtaking our lives. But what if we didn’t think about work as a necessary evil? Or perhaps a better question, how can we make it less of a necessary evil?
And that’s a question that we spend a lot of time thinking about here at Creative Voices.
It’s rooted in a desire to make enjoying work more and enjoying life more the goal. Listen closely, how often do people talk about getting somewhere? Rushing toward retirement. The bigger house. Financial freedom.
And I get it. We all want freedom. But there’s freedom in spending our days how we want too. Doing work that we choose for ourselves.
Spending our days with more moments that make us feel happy, relaxed, and fulfilled.
For me, it’s two things. The workshops — pouring time and energy into people and seeing them relax. Seeing the confidence come back to their posture. Seeing the ideas flooding into their heads. And the creating — directing films, taking photographs. The tactical work of bringing the brand I have in my head into the world.
If you haven’t read the book The Alchemist, I highly recommend it. Sometimes the best business advice is found outside of business books and business education. It was certainly the case for me with this book.
There is a moment where the boy, the story’s protagonist, asks the wise alchemist why other people have failed in the past. The answer is worthy of remembering.
“They were seeking the treasure of their Personal Legend, without wanting actually to live out the Personal Legend.”
How often do we fall into the same trap?
There is so much noise telling us to go faster, work harder. We stop focusing on enjoying our days and start looking forward. To when we have more money. More success. More accolades. More security.
We inadvertently miss so much beauty. Our days are a blur of hurry and anxiety and feeling behind. But whether we notice it or not, there’s also sunrises and sunsets. Morning light pouring through windows. Cups of coffee. Homemade bread drizzled with olive oil. The breeze through the windows. These moments surround us daily.
We focus on the outcome of our work instead of the work itself.
And maybe that distinction is the key. The gateway to more peace and more meaning.
So next time you feel your blood pressure rising or your motivation dwindling, give yourself a kind little reminder. Are you focused on the outcome and the treasure or are you focused on living your days well?
Because that is what I wish for us all. More soul and contentment in our days. More moments of beauty and awe.
Moments that aren’t bought but just noticed and appreciated.
And more joy at just doing the work — doing something with our time and effort that we feel is important.