Taste of Work — Part 1: Why Do We Work?

We spend a huge part of our lives working.

We wake up, get ready, travel to work, sit at a desk, serve customers, attend meetings, build things, solve problems, answer emails, manage people, deal with difficult situations and, eventually, go home.

Then we do it again the next day.

For many of us, work occupies more waking hours than almost anything else.

So perhaps we should ask a simple question:

Why do we work?

The obvious answer is money.

We need somewhere to live. We need food. We have bills to pay. We want to provide for our families. We want security.

But if money is the only reason we work, why do some people continue working when they have already accumulated enough to live comfortably?

Why do people stay in jobs they enjoy when they could earn more somewhere else?

Why can losing a job feel like losing part of your identity?

And why can a good manager make an ordinary job feel rewarding, while a terrible manager can make a good job miserable?

Perhaps work gives us much more than a salary.

Work gives us a sense of purpose

There is something satisfying about being useful.

It might be solving a difficult problem, helping a customer, building something, caring for someone, teaching, designing, fixing, organising or simply being part of a team.

We like knowing that what we do has some value.

That doesn't mean everyone needs a grand purpose or a career that changes the world.

Sometimes purpose is much simpler.

I did a good job today.

I helped someone.

I made something better.

People can rely on me.

There is dignity in that.

Work can give us identity

Our jobs inevitably become part of how we describe ourselves.

"What do you do?"

It's one of the first questions we ask someone we have just met.

And yet, there is a danger in allowing our job to become our identity.

You are not your job title.

You are not your salary.

You are not your performance review.

You are not the number on your payslip.

You are a person who happens to do a particular job.

That distinction becomes incredibly important when things go wrong at work.

If your entire identity is built around being successful at your job, criticism can feel like a criticism of you as a person.

A failed project becomes personal.

A missed promotion becomes personal.

A difficult manager becomes personal.

Losing your job can feel like losing yourself.

But your job is only one part of who you are.

Work can give us relationships

Some of the most important relationships in our lives can come from work.

We spend so much time with colleagues that friendships naturally develop.

We laugh together.

We complain together.

We celebrate successes.

We help each other through difficult days.

Sometimes the people sitting beside us at work understand a particular part of our lives better than anyone else because they are experiencing the same pressures.

A healthy workplace isn't simply a place where people complete tasks.

It is a community of people trying to achieve something together.

And that is why workplace culture matters so much.

Work can help us grow

Work gives us opportunities to learn.

Sometimes deliberately.

Sometimes accidentally.

You learn a new skill.

You discover what you're good at.

You discover what you're terrible at.

You learn how to communicate.

You learn how to deal with difficult people.

You learn how to handle pressure.

You learn how to make mistakes without giving up.

You learn that not every disagreement needs to become a battle.

And sometimes you discover something even more important:

What you don't want.

A difficult job can teach you what kind of manager you don't want to become.

A toxic workplace can teach you what you value in a healthy one.

A period of burnout can teach you that money isn't worth everything.

Not every lesson at work is pleasant.

But many are valuable.

But work should not be the be-all and end-all

This is something I wish I had understood earlier in life.

For many years, it is easy to believe that the answer is to work harder.

Get better.

Earn more.

Get promoted.

Take on more responsibility.

Become more successful.

And there is nothing wrong with ambition.

But at some point, you have to ask:

What am I actually working for?

If you spend your entire life working so that one day you can finally enjoy life, when exactly does that day begin?

At retirement?

At 60?

At 65?

What if you could enjoy some of it now?

Work should support your life, not replace it

Your life is bigger than your career.

There is family.

There are friendships.

There is love.

There are hobbies.

There is travel.

There is exercise.

There is learning.

There are adventures.

There are lazy Sunday mornings.

There are meals around a table.

There are books you haven't read.

Places you've never visited.

Things you've never tried.

People you haven't met.

There are memories you haven't made yet.

Work should help make some of those things possible.

It shouldn't consume them.

This is where money becomes particularly important.

Not because money is the purpose of life, but because financial security gives you choices.

The more financially secure you become, the less trapped you may feel by any particular job.

You can stay because you want to.

You can leave because you need to.

You can take a pay cut for a better quality of life.

You can change direction.

You can take a break.

Eventually, perhaps, you can choose whether you work at all.

That is a very different relationship with work.

The freedom to choose

I wish I had understood the importance of financial independence earlier.

Instead of simply thinking about earning more, I could have thought more deliberately about what to do with the money I earned.

Saving and investing aren't just about having a bigger number in your bank account.

They can buy something much more valuable:

Options.

Imagine having enough financial security that your manager's behaviour doesn't determine whether you can pay your mortgage.

Imagine being able to say:

"This job isn't making me happy anymore. I can leave."

You might not actually leave.

You might decide that the company is worth staying with.

But there is an enormous psychological difference between choosing to stay and having no choice but to stay.

That is one of the reasons financial independence is so closely connected to a healthy relationship with work.

So what makes a good working life?

Perhaps it isn't about finding the perfect job.

Perhaps it's about finding a reasonable balance between several things.

A job that pays enough.

Work that you can take pride in.

People you respect.

A manager who brings out the best in you.

Enough autonomy to do your job properly.

Enough challenge to keep learning.

Enough security to sleep at night.

And enough life outside work to remember who you are.

You don't need to become CEO.

You don't need a corner office.

You don't need a six-figure salary.

You don't even need to love your job.

You can simply want to be good at what you do, work with decent people, earn a fair living and go home with enough energy to enjoy the rest of your life.

There is nothing unambitious about that.

Perhaps success needs a different definition

We are often told that success means progressing.

More money.

More responsibility.

More people reporting to you.

A bigger job title.

A bigger house.

A bigger lifestyle.

But perhaps there is another definition.

Success is having a life you don't constantly need to escape from.

A job you don't dread.

A manager who respects you.

Colleagues you enjoy being around.

Enough money to feel secure.

Enough freedom to make choices.

And enough time and energy to enjoy the people and experiences that make life worth living.

Work matters.

But it is only one ingredient.

And perhaps the real art of working isn't learning how to make work your entire life.

It is learning how to make work fit into a life you actually want to live.

That is what this series, Taste of Work, is really about.

Not how to climb the corporate ladder faster.

Not how to become the most successful person in the room.

But how to work, earn, contribute, grow and succeed without forgetting to live along the way.

Because the goal isn't to spend your whole life working for the weekend.

The goal is to build a life you enjoy Monday to Sunday.

I think this gives us the right foundation. Part 2 can then move from philosophy into practice: How to Actually Enjoy Your Job — including pride in your work, relationships, autonomy, learning, boundaries and how to get satisfaction from work even when the job itself isn't your passion.