I read this in Radical Candor, where the author quotes an employee talking about her work, “Plutarch laid bricks, Spinoza ground lenses..Tedium is part of life”. This person also happened to have studied philosophy in college. I found this passage quite invigorating. Then again, not everyone reads philosophy or has this natural “optimistic”, or shall I say “stoic”, view upon life.

Back to where I picked this topic. Every now and then I think about this idea of “following your passion” and “doing work that is meaningful”, which is based on the premise that people are happier and more productive when they do the work they like or that makes the world better. Can we expect though that everybody working in a company to share the vision and the passion of its founders? How do you know that by being more productive we are making the world better? Is it wrong to work hard to just earn a paycheck that supports the life you want to pursue?

“Only about five percent of people have a real vocation in life, and they confuse the hell out of the rest of us”. 

Each one of us derives different meaning from their work. While not everyone shares the vision of their company, they might find meaning from other parts of their job. Like supporting their colleagues in a kind and proactive manner, smiling and being present in stressful times, doing work that goes beyond their job description..“We sometimes mistakenly see our careers as the selfishness part of our lives because we earn money or make profit, while our altruistic acts, giving to charity, say, or volunteering at the soup kitchen or giving blood, that’s the work we do for others. We think that’s what we do that makes the world a better place. We forget that being good at our work, helps others and makes the world a better place, too.”- Russ Roberts in How Adam Smith can change your life