I work therefore I am
By Taru Bahl

"WHAT do you do for a living?" is a pointed question about the work one does or the profession one is engaged in. "What are you going to be when you grow up?" is also a question that pertains to work. Here one’s identity is linked with the work one chooses to do. These are not fundamental questions about jobs, pay and perks but questions about life. Work is applied effort. It is what we put ourselves into and expend our energy on, for the sake of accomplishing or achieving a specific task. Work then has more to do with what we do with our living and not what we do for a living.

While a woman may work very hard at keeping her house going, teaching children and playing nurse to ailing in-laws, she does not get paid for the services she renders. But she is happy in her little cocoon, comfortable and content with the work she does, the deadlines she sets for herself and the organised manner in which she executes her various roles of wife-mother-daughter- friend et al. Work is therapy for her and her raison d’etre. Even on days she can afford to sleep all day, she finds things to do — embroidery, darning, baking — the list is endless. There is love in her heart and work is the only way she knows of expressing it.

On the other hand, there may be a teacher who earns a decent salary from school and private tuitions and yet not give students her 100 per cent. Disgruntled and dissatisfied, her cribbing may in fact mar the morale of students . Work, therefore, is effort applied towards some end. The most satisfying work involves directing our efforts toward achieving ends which we ourselves endorse as worthy expressions of our talent and character.

Work can be classified into two broad segments. One includes all those tasks, activities and jobs which we know we have to do. Whether it is because of familial, societal or financial compulsions, we are not given a choice as task upon task is piled on our shoulders. Minor things like running the house in parents’ absence may be borne with lesser resentment since the time span involved is brief but things like being stuck in a job which one absolutely detests, or having to work in a country which refuses to grow on us are long term irritants. They are best tackled as soon as possible either by opting out entirely; seeking viable alternatives, or going in for an attitude overhaul — learning to like the very things one doesn’t like!

On the other hand, are tasks which one undertakes out of choice. There are no compulsions, obligations and pressures. Whether working out of a sense of duty or sheer love for the task at hand, it is important to strategise, prioritise and plan in order to ensure that hard work leads up to satisfaction and quality results. There is no escaping the fact that some tasks have to be done. A child has to brush teeth, eat meals, do homework, come rain or sun. He can make excuses, wriggle out once in a while, but the sooner he learns to enjoy these tasks, the easier it would be for him to secure the maximum output and greatest personal satisfaction.

Is the work we do really so important? Who decides what work qualifies as good, honourable and acceptable? Should one work to please oneself or others? What matters more — the work we do or the manner in which we execute the work? These are questions which we are confronted with at some point of time in our lives. Go through the scriptures and holy texts or read the autobiographies of the world’s greatest men and women and you will find that the one constant thing about them is their unflinching dedication to work. For them, work is worship.

They will vouch that success was not something which came to them accidentally. It took a lot of preparation and character as also sacrifice and self-discipline. Henry Ford said, "The harder you work, the luckier you get." Michelangelo said, "If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem wonderful at all."

Aristotle had pointed out the association between happiness and activity — both physical and mental. According to him, "Happiness resides in doing things that one can take pride in doing well and hence that one can enjoy doing." Enjoyment is not necessarily frivolous amusement, futile leisure or unproductive relaxation. It need not be perceived as a waste of time or as something which the hard worker has to shun. Having fun can involve genuine investment of the self--- spurring us to better our performance.

Which is why it is often said that life’s greatest joys are not what one does, apart from the work of one’s life, but with the work of one’s life. Those who have missed the joy of work, of a job well done have missed something very important. To enjoy life at a deeper level does imply finding work and enjoying that work.

To quote Kahlil Gibran, " When you work, you fulfil a part of earth’s fondest dream assigned to you when the dream is born." Gautam Buddha said, "Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it." By being true to our work, we can expect destiny to be true to us. Work is one thing, which we have to do ourselves. We cannot expect others to fill in for us. Even when a professional assignment comes our way thanks to contacts in the right places, what we ultimately make of it depends on our calibre, dedication and effort. Just the way incompetence and disinterest will eventually be our undoing in the work sphere,so also patience in this context will prove to be a vice rather than a virtue. Waiting for things to happen, for problems to get solved, for doors of opportunity to miraculously open, is not going to take us anywhere. We have to go out into the world, adapt to the demands of the moment, espy even the faintest glimmer of a chance, grab it by the horns and give it all we have got. This is the reason that work is also defined as action.

Work is the most logical expression when it comes to fulfilling personal obligation. Through work we contribute to the collective good of society and the evolution of man. Work is an essential part of our self-expression and self-preservation. Many of us think that being a beast of burden, continuing to work monotonously, unquestioningly and unthinkingly is the essence of a duty-bound person. But it is not so. Work essentially entails a routine which has to be followed even by the most gifted of persons.

Moreover, hard work alone cannot guarantee success, though it is an essential component in the recipe for success. Hard work, diligence, sincerity and honesty has to be backed by intelligence, planning, and organisational and time management skills. It is important to do things the right way, to synergise thought and action. Many of us in order to cut short effort and time take short cuts. There are no short cuts to success, as any high achiever would tell us.

We all work. Some work out of choice, some out of necessity. Some enjoy work, some treat it as punishment, many others are indifferent to it. If we can learn to love the work we are doing, not only would our work be qualitatively superior but we would also be more at peace with ourselves. Gibran said that working with love is like weaving the cloth with threads drawn from the heart, as if the beloved were to wear that cloth. Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. There is this beautiful quote which sums up the essence of the truly work centred person: "I slept and dreamt life is beauty, I woke and found that life is duty. I worked and realised that duty is beauty."