Fallacies in the concept of “doing work that matters” August 15, 2014
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Concept of personal growth.Tags: personal development potential, Personal growth and development, personal improvement, philosophy, self-actualization, spirituality, work that matters
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If you absorb enough contemporary writing or video/audio on the concept of personal growth and development, you will come across the concept of the need to do “work that matters.”
Or stated another way, doing work that is meaningful
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The implication, or perhaps the inference some people make with this, is that the work they are engaged in may not be work that matters or is meaningful, and they should find ways to do work that is.
This can be an emotional and intellectual trap.
If we are not careful, in this approach to self-actualization, we can create an internal environment of self-disparagement when we take an overly simplistic approach to the concept of doing meaningful work.
The problem stems from our having a one dimensional view, or definition, of the idea of “work that matters.”
If we assume, as many do, that it is work that changes the world, then the vast majority of us are not likely to create or find or create such work. And to have universe-changing work as an end-goal will likely lead to discouragement and self-defined “failure.”
However, your work does not have to light the world on fire with lightning bolts for it “to matter.”
Doing any work that supports your family and increases self-sufficiency is work that matters.
Doing work that helps others in any way in their lives matters.
Doing your work at 100% to the best of your intellectual and creative ability matters.
Take-away: If your work matters to you, it matters – period
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