Against Happiness During Work

 Work is a necessary part of life. For me, since I am early on in my career, and since the majority of responsibility in my life is centered around school and studies, the larger part of my energy and priority third only to health and family is work.

Work is meant to be meaningful, not fun. And I feel that work begins to lose its meaning if it is also fun. Now, I do think that motivation to work is helpful, and that enjoying one’s work can be beneficial as a means to improve the quality and quantity of one’s work. If one finds motivation in doing what they do, they can do the job better.

But, there is something about work that makes it meaningful. I am a strong believer that meaning is not derived from happiness. Happiness and pleasure are meant to be experienced when one rewards oneself or achieves a milestone in their work, not in the mere act of doing the work.

If one learns to expect happiness while working, then they would be rather disappointed and demotivated when they encounter challenging work. The ideas expressed in Bhagavad Gita come to mind, as they are indications that one should take an indifferent attitude to work, easy or hard. Work is meant to instill discipline, rather than to create enjoyment, and it should be pursued as a means of raising oneself and one’s virtue.

I feel that if there were minimal challenge to be found in work, then it would be of little utility to humans. The things that society has not accomplished yet have likely not yet been accomplished because they are difficult, and they take a keen and disciplined mind to approach. One can find value in attacking and approaching these problems, such as by conducting research, and presenting novel ideas to the world, or by undertaking a world of service, as did Mother Theresa and Mahatma Gandhi, in their quest to make a meaningful contribution to society. Dr. Peterson expresses his belief in the importance of contributing to society, and making the world a better place; I trust his advice and agree in that working on a task which one can find meaningful and worthwhile can enable one to convince not only others but also oneself that they have a passion and a meaningful contribution to society.