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November 28, 2005
Do we Live to Work or Work to Live?
I was having dinner with friends over Thanksgiving and the question came up, do we work to live or live to work? My parents taught me as a kid that if you can work, you should work. I took 6 months off once and my parents thought I was nuts. I was mentally exhausted after my run at a software company and wanted to chill out for a while. No matter what I did to assure them that we were fine financially, they couldn't understand WHY I would do this. But I came out of that time off more refreshed and a clearer perspective about what was important to me.
At the end of one of my seminars recently, a participant yelled out "Thanks for loving your job--it shows!" I truly believe this work makes a positive difference in peoples' lives. I love that it teaches me about completion, so that I don't overcreate or overcommit. And, I also have my job crafted in a way that is in balance for me. I don't work more days than I want in a given month (I'm fortunate to have a choice.) So in a way, I live to do this work because I love it AND I also work just enough to live the kind of life that I want.
Posted by Kelly at November 28, 2005 09:54 AM
Comments
In my opinion, when we have finished schooling and start working, that means "work to live", after that when we are on the middle age, we are still work to live. On getting old or at old age, we work to live, that means we just work enough for our living, then we will have a happy and peaceful life.
From: Boonlert Saisanit, A.M.D., C.Ht
Posted by: Dr. Boonlert Saisanit at January 3, 2007 06:33 AM
“Work to live” and “live to work” are two different kinds of philosophy. “Work to live” follower accepts whatever to live and continue living; in other word, they believe it is important to survive in any price. “Live to work” followers believe that surviving is not the priority (to survive in any price), but the right of choice is more important. They live not for the sake of living but for particular purposes in life. The majority of population belongs to “Work to live”; necessarily, the market economy system prefers “Work to live” philosophy.
Posted by: JJ at February 7, 2007 08:44 AM
"You won't have to work a day in your life if you have a job you love." This is from Michael J. Fox' biography, and I think it's quite insightful. You are going to spend 1/3 of your life working, so you'd better have fun doing it. :)
Posted by: Jan Gundtofte-Bruun at October 7, 2007 01:11 PM
