I quote Ron Livingston, in his iconic role as office cog-cum-construction-worker Peter Gibbons: “We don’t have a lot of time on this earth! We weren’t meant to spend it this way! Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about mission statements.” You know you’re in trouble when “Office Space” stops making you laugh and starts pissing you off. And, in his prestigious think tank job and despite the PhD in philosophy under his belt, Matthew Crawford, the author of a new book called “Shop Class as Soulcraft” was most definitely in trouble. So, after several months of doing suprisingly little thinking at said think tank, he left, and opened up a motorcycle repair shop. His book is about the satisfaction of an honest day’s work–and how our society places too little value on such work (witness the extinction of shop class). In a recent NPR interview, he said:
Anyone with halfway decent test scores is getting hustled into a certain track, where you work in an office.
He argues that we’ve created an “educational monoculture,” with “only one respectable course” (those words made me think of the creepy meat-grinder scene in Pink Floyd’s The Wall–check the video at the end of this post), and goes on to say:
It takes a real contrarian streak to live more deliberately and make these calls for yourself…
That reminded me of this comment from Tamara, in response to my post about The Uniform Project, and whether less choice leads to more creativity: “I think it really comes down to an individual’s ingenuity and courage to be themselves.” And it does take courage–and a bit of a contrarian streak–to be yourself. Assuming we can find that courage and tap it, Crawford describes the point of work, as he sees it:
The point is to find some work where you can make yourself useful to people in a straightforward way that engages your own judgment and thinking so that your actions feel like they’re genuinely your own.
Seems like a lot to ask for from a job–and yet it also seems so profoundly simple, there’s no way it can’t be true. Leave it to a philosopher. But really. Do you feel like you were steered away from your passions, your soulcraft, in pursuit of…. a job? And, again back to the choices thing, I wonder if, as overwhelmingly inclusive as the whole “you can be whatever you want!” mantra is, it’s all too easy to just get on the conveyer belt, and hope to make some decent… hamburger? Don’t get me wrong: there’s a lot to be said for hamburger. Security. Benefits (dare to dream). But what about fulfillment? What about passion? Is it possible to have any pudding, if we don’t eat our meat?
Barbara Kelley
Shannon Kelley
The issue, in part, is that people today tend to see themselves as defined by their profession. I am a lawyer and I consider myself a pretty decent one. But when I leave the office I am a person with outside interests, friends and family. My “lawyer” hat comes off. I am not defined by my career choice and I do not expect (or want) my work to be the most gratifying or interesting part of my life. I would rather be gratified by the personal relationships in my life, the non-work experiences I have (some of which I can only afford because of my day job), and the values I hold dear.
Fifty years ago, most of our parents or grandparents were doing manual labor, blue collar work, or some other non-creative, non-interesting work. They, unlike us, did not believe that they were entitled to some sort of carreer nirvana. Having a job you love and that fullfills you is a luxury; you are very lucky (and in the minority) if that is your reality. But for most people, it’s not. It’s called “work” for a reason — if you wanted to go work every day, they wouldn’t have to pay you to do it.
I’m not saying that we should stay in carreers/positions where we’re miserable — don’t endure torture just for torture’s sake. But set realistic expectations about how good your career can make you feel about yourself and limits on how bad your job can make you feel about yourself. Focus on loving your non-work life and finding your happiness outside of work.
I really think our generation is in the process of redefining this educational mono-culture that Crawford talks about—which largely prepares us for the “white collar world” of nebulous paper-pushing, ladder-climbing and ultimately indefinable dissatisfying work at a desk. It seems that men and women of younger generations are trying to get back to a “work with your hands” culture. I agree with Alison’s response above, that we must get past this unrealistic notion that our work lives are supposed to somehow define the happiness and success we have in this world. But I also think we need to embrace that contrarian notion that “successful” work doesn’t only exist behind a desk, but can be found at a bakery, in a garden, at a boutique. I still hold that the best job I ever had was working at a bookstore. The work was fun, engaging, never the same and full of varied tasks that broke up the monotony. Its no wonder that “young” vital cities like Portland and Austin, are full of interesting, creative businesses. Younger generations have flocked there to pursue a different kind of American dream—where life is a little more well-rounded, you can own a small business that speaks to your interests—whether that be vinyl records or old letterpresses.
[…] gingerbread compound was the centerpiece of a fundraiser later that month. But the magic was the soulcraft: the nightly stream of lawyers, doctors, engineers, chefs, writers — clearly folks with […]