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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.
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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

Personal growth, self-awareness, work that matters May 7, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Personal Development Potential.
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In our personal development work we will encounter a lot of information about our immense potential for improvement and the need to have a plan for realizing all that we are capable of.

The hidden danger in this is that, if we are not careful, we may subconsciously make the mistaken assumption that much what we are currently doing with our lives is somehow inadequate.

Our increased self-awareness may actually lead us to believe that we are not doing work or activities that matter.

Well, what we are already doing does in fact matter, even if that work or activity is not fully reflected in the appreciation of and approval of others.

It’s great to be seeking ways to make our work more meaningful, but everything we do does not have to change the world in order to have value.

Our contributions in a variety of roles such as mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, employees, employers, bosses, students – each of these roles has meaning and worth. But too often we interpret a lack of positive feedback from those in our circle of influence as a negative indicator of our contributions.

It’s important for our self-esteem to remember that our work would be missed by those in our circle, if we stopped doing it – regardless of whether we are receiving a constant stream of positive reinforcement.

Speaking of “work that matters”, here is an extreme example of  a vital and responsibility-intense life mission; that of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, as related to C.G. Jung in 1924, by one of the Pueblo leaders, Ochwiay Biano:

“We are the people who live on the roof of the world: we are the sons of Father Sun, and with our religion we daily help our Father to go across the sky. We do this not only for ourselves, but for the whole world. If we were to cease practising our religion, in ten years the sun would no longer rise. Then it would be night forever.” (1)

(1) As quoted in Gerhard Wehr’s book, An Illustrated Biography of C.G. Jung, p. 61