The Difference Between a Job and Work
Introduction
While colloquially we might use the two terms interchangeably, and understanding them any differently in our day-to-day doesn’t change much, the reason for this post is to discuss and highlight the different types of work and labour, and the effects they can have on us and our mental well-being. Jobs may be necessary, but not always good for us - and that isn’t to say that they can’t be good for us. Work is almost inherently good to us, with the few exceptions being when it’s forced upon us either by ourselves through necessity or by others through threats of violence, etc. Let’s begin by defining the two terms before delving deeper into the subject at hand.
Work will be defined as:
“Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something.”
A Job will be defined as:
“to perform work or fulfil duties regularly for wages or salary”
All jobs entail work, but work does not necessarily entail a job. A job provides a wage and payment, while work doesn’t necessarily entail money. There is, however, always some reward or “payment” gained from work, and it can be the finished product itself or an accomplishment.
This blog post will detail the difference between a job and work, and how to find meaning in both your work and the job you do. Work gets a bad reputation, and often because of jobs, in reality, work is fulfilling and something fundamental to the human experience. When performed correctly and in accordance with the will of the person, it’s something filled with importance and significance. The ideal and difficult goal is to make one’s Work one’s job, and not one’s job into one’s work.
You might find me capitalising the word “work” throughout this and other texts, and that’s to signify a life’s Work. It’s the most important activity which leads to a fulfilment of our existence, it’s more than significant, it’s a purpose.
Jobs: Meaningful Employment & Wageslaving
“A cigarette takes 10 minutes of your life, but a job takes 8 hours, so unemployment is the real healthcare.” - Unknown
Jobs have been necessary since the early beginnings of urbanisation and economic development in societies, and work has always been necessary and continues to be. We find ourselves in a bit of a peculiar time, where large parts of the world are very well off economically, and most of our basic jobs can or are already outsourced and automated. Higher education is now more common than ever, and there are new venues of jobs that have opened up in the last 20 years that our ancestors could never have imagined. These days, people prioritise jobs not by survival and necessity, but by interest and meaning. Existential priority over physical need. While these new jobs may be fun, creative and engaging, there is also another side to it, which has plagued our economic system since the industrial revolution, and that is the industrial attitude towards efficiency and work.
By the 20th century, Henry Ford would come to define the industrial ideal with his ideas of the assembly line, a mode of operation which not only factories operate from today, but most corporations and, by extension, jobs. Workers these days are specialists and monotone assemblers. You’re supposed to find a niche and fill it, and only do that. Doesn’t matter if your work is creative or not. For maximum efficiency, you should do one thing over and over again, endlessly repeating the same task. This redundancy has led modern jobs to be largely unstimulating and overconsumptive. They steal away most of your day, most of your week, most of your month and most of your life.
This has given jobs a bad reputation among younger generations, and they’re viewed as obsolete and boring. Unimportant, and they’re often compared to modern slavery in their function and life-draining quality. The seething for jobs doesn’t entirely stem from laziness and spoiled attitudes, as is often perceived by boomers and older generations, but it’s a youthful rebellion against the system and its functions. By estimates, a modern worker works more than a medieval peasant, so why in this age of abundance and economic growth are the majority of the population still selling their time and selling themselves short? The natural reaction to life in the system is aggressive, like a dog chained and beaten. The antisocial behaviour and attitude towards jobs and work are as natural as breathing.
That’s when it becomes problematic, when the hate for jobs overextends to work. That leads to laziness, listlessness, apathy and depression. We will discuss that shortly, but I want to make it clear that there is nothing negative about having a job that just pays your bills. It’s noble to survive and to endure monotony and the vices that come with modern jobs. The goal most people have is, of course, to find a job they can be happy with. Something meaningful that still pays them to live the life they desire. It’s not bad to work jobs that aren’t that, and it’s not wrong to ask for more. As a human, you should have the right to the life you desire as long as you are willing to work for it, because while you might be able to do without a job or create a job for yourself which you love, you can never be rid of work.
Work: Life Purpose & Tedious Chores
Life needs meaning and goals; without them, you’re just aimlessly drifting, and perhaps if you are a wandering soul, you enjoy the sights, but even travelling and walking are work. Work is a consistent factor and the only effort which directs and takes you towards your goals and accomplishments, no matter what they may be. Work is essential to doing anything, and while today a lot of people shy away from the word because they associate it with chores and jobs, work is much more fundamental than that.
It is, of course, true that work is part of doing chores and a job, but it’s also part of hobbies, interests and relationships. When we shy away from work, we shy away from life. Things take effort, and everything in life worth doing requires effort, and we reap what we sow. The rewards for work are bountiful and not always immediate; they might be the end result or the work itself. The process itself can be just as rewarding and meaningful as the goal.
This is especially true when talking about the Work. Life purpose and meaning is a journey, not a destination where all is revealed and declared, but it’s the lessons and experiences along the way home. If you learn to enjoy the process, then any work you do will be much more rewarding. Even chores can become enjoyable and something which isn’t so tiresome and awful to do. When embracing work, we achieve more, we create more, and we live more. We have to work to maintain relationships; we have to work to make our dreams come true, and we have to work to be healthy. Avoiding work leads to listlessness, apathy and unhealth.
Work can be overwhelming, and it quickly grows when we don’t deal with it. It piles up and eventually, from a few things we want or have to do, it grows into a mountain of chores and must-dos. The more we try to avoid it, the more it grows in the absence of our gaze, and the more we try to run from it, the more it consumes of our lives, either directly or indirectly. Work ethic affects us on all levels in our lives, and it’s to our great detriment if we let listlessness set in and we avoid work at the cost of ourselves and our lives. This isn’t to say that rest is the avoidance of work; rest is necessary and balancing them is important, but one of the greatest follies of modern man is the idea of working to not have to work.
What most people mean when they say they don’t want to work for the rest of their lives, they they don’t want to have a job they dislike. They want to spend their work energy doing things they love, instead of spending all of it working for somebody else. People who love what they do don’t want to retire, because we as humans want to do things, and we want to work. We think we don’t because we’re overworked, tired and stuck in dead-end jobs. But what would we do if we didn’t work?
No work means a life filled with meaningless consumption and tiredness. It’s a life spent consuming until we explode, it’s a head filled with ideas that is suffocated by them, and it’s potential bottled up until your very being implodes.
Final Words
While they’re often used interchangeably, there are important differences between work and jobs. Both are important, but more often than not, jobs are perceived more negatively, and this negativity can spill over to a person’s relationship to work, which can be detrimental and damaging to their life. It’s important to earn a living, and there is no shame in having a “regular” job as you work towards fulfilling and realising your Work.
A job is work, and often tedious, but necessary for payment. Modern wageslaving is a way of survival, but not necessarily thriving. It can be demanding, both physically and mentally, and if the job isn’t fulfilling and enjoyable, it’s even worse. People often confuse their job with work, but the truth is that we as humans love work.
Work is any action directed towards achieving or doing something. We work on relationships, we work on improving ourselves, and we work towards our dreams. Work is meaningful, and it’s the natural progression and process of life. When we confuse work with a job, we get things twisted, and it can make us apathetic and filled with despair.
Avoiding work means avoiding life, and we earn things through our work. Easy come, easy go, and should we only desire for things to fall into our laps, we will soon find that they will leave just as easily as they came to us. If we want something meaningful and something to last, we have to work for it, and we may have to struggle for it. Find meaning in your work and find the strength to continue. It’s not easy, and I hope you find the strength to continue moving forward. Don’t shy away from work, and make your Work your job, not your job your Work.
