Imagine if Work=Enjoyment!

How’s Your Worklife?

Last autumn my husband and I took in the annual Frederick Street Art Walk. It’s an “open house” event to the many artists’ homes located in this downtown Kitchener neighbourhood where the community can purchase every imaginable art form. I couldn’t resist a small black and white graphic by local artist Andy Macpherson. In his usual playful, simple and joyful style, Macpherson’s piece captures the essence of a good life: Across the top is a simple word, gratitude, and beneath are depicted three essentials: community, good food and good work.

Think about it: belonging is a human essential, we all enjoy a good meal, and there is nothing that gives one quite as much satisfaction as a job well done and a paycheque in hand. Human beings need to be busy, and enjoy being useful. But more than that, we need to make use of our particular and unique gifts. It is only when we do what we are good at, and work at that which gives us enjoyment or satisfaction, that we will thrive and excel. And it is only when we work to our strengths that we can develop a successful career: excelling at work generates workplace accomplishments which provide the backbone of a top notch resume; those accomplishments then make an interview a breeze, and thus a career takes shape.

I speak from experience. I spent years in jobs for which I had no passion. I suppose I did well enough, and I certainly enjoyed the benefits that went along: paycheque, good working conditions, pleasant colleagues, pension plan and more. But at the end, no benefits could deter me from doing what I had grown to love, and I left a secure job for self-employment. Now I am passionate about what I do, love the positive feedback, marvel at my success, and sometimes feel like I’m cheating because even though the hours are long, it doesn’t feel like work.

Imagine living this equation: work = enjoyment. You owe it to your own well-being to figure out what you love to do. Studies have shown that those who don’t like their jobs are most at risk of ill health – and that the risk is equal to that associated with smoking and a sedentary lifestyle. That’s pretty serious and reason enough. Next blog will help you figure out what you want to be when you grow up!


Stephanie Clark, B.A. C.R.S., is owner of New Leaf Resumes. See www.newleafresumes.ca
“the Deeper the Root, the Higher the Reach.”