Philosophy of Work and Its Place in your Life - Essay Example

Philosophy of Work and Its Place in My Life Philosophy covers an important aspect in human life and can be represented by different categories. Philosophy of work is one of such categories. It seeks to explore how work shapes individual, national, and global life in line with work. However, the question is what exactly it means to do work. The definition of work relates with culture, religion, career, and other societal factors. Generally, work refers to any form of creative productivity that leads to new things coming up. Works takes place in a sequence of events with one event leading to a subsequent one. Almost all religions call the followers to work and, hence, work is a vocational calling. There are different forms of work and workers are always at will to change places of work and type of work where possible. Everybody seeks to perform better in his or her work, as the level of work performance measures the value of a worker. Christianity urges its followers to give work its due priority but not to idolize it. However, the question arises as to why we work. Do we work as a norm, for charity, to earn a living, or for other reasons? My philosophy and view of work in my life rely on my work history that affected my thinking about work and formed my ideas on work life. It also relies on my work background that affected my conception on my work life role. In my life, I have done quite a number of jobs. Some have been voluntary, others as a command, while yet some others I have done to benefit myself intellectually, physically, materially, and financially. In course of my work, I have suffered, enjoyed but most of all learnt a lot. My work history includes many a success and high performance. Although at some places of work I felt misused, unappreciated, lowly paid, and mistreated, I generally enjoyed my work. From these I have really learnt numerous things that completely changed my thinking about work. I have worked in a food store as a junior accountant, in a charity organization as a volunteer, in school as a student, and doing household chores at home. In my course of working in the food store, I learnt that work follows certain classifications and is actually a process. Indeed, work is classifiable in specific classes where workers are responsible for their respective classes. An accountant cannot actually do the work of a Human Resource manager and each has his responsibilities and powers. I also learnt that one piece of work leads to another piece of work; after being food store attendant selling products, I get the work of doing the food store accounts. In my work as a volunteer, I learnt that somebody could actually derive a lot of satisfaction in doing work for no pay. When you help a needy child do his/her chores and spread love to them, you feel their appreciation and, thus, you become satisfied. In my work at home, I leant that work can actually become a duty, for instance, when I was to wash the dishes after school. In my work at school, I learn that work follows certain timelines; research is required to attain perfection, and that we work with the aim of success. As I worked with assignments and projects, these lessons were so clear to me. Ideally, the lessons I get from my work history influence my thinking about work in the direction set by the respective lessons. My work in the food store, at home, in school, and at the charitable organization have formed my ideas about what I do and do not want to attain in my work life. My accounting job at the food store informed me as for the need to do my work in a systematic way, as this makes work easily presentable and ensures accuracy. Again, it informed me on the dangers of doing my work in a hurry, as this may lead to many errors and poor performance. My voluntary work at the charitable organization taught me the need to work without expecting any pay, as this creates a passionate connection between the servant and the needy. More so, while working on my assignments and projects at school, I learnt on the need to keep time in my work, as lateness leads to low performance. I also learnt on the importance of teamwork in doing work that leads to good ideas and better performance. This information changed my ideas and view on what I need to do and not to do in my work life, as I was more enlightened and the application of this information would foster my performance in any work environment. My work history highly depends on my work background that consequently affected my conception on the role I want to play in my future work life. Indeed, my work history and background changed my perception on how I should work as shown herein. My work background originates from the poor family foundation. My parents were financially instable; I had to work to foot some of my needs. Actually, I had to take a personal initiative to train as a junior accountant to get the job. Since my hope was to keep the job and perform better in order to get some earnings that would support me financially, I took charge of my duties with accuracy, order, and dedication. As a result, I avoided errors, achieved accuracy and, hence, better performance in my work. This has affected my conception on the role I want to play in my future work life where I will have to take personal responsibility of all activities that pertain to my work. Unlike at the initial stage, where I had the conception of delegating my responsibilities, I learnt that not all works would allow this. Indeed, personal initiatives are more beneficial than delegated initiatives. I will, thus, take a direct and personal role in my future work life to ensure better performance. In the reading by John Updike “A Sense of Change” from the chapter “A Life of Work, a Quest for Wealth”, the author looks wistfully at what money means in doing a given piece of work (Harvey). John Updike seeks to explain how it was impressive to receive any payment for work done. Indeed, he quotes that however modest the payment may be, it impresses one to work. He reckons that it derives a sense of pleasure to handle money after work. Actually, earnings motivate people to work and as such, most people only work to earn a living. This has been the philosophy of work for decades. Indeed, monetary terms value work done and money equally appreciates workers efforts. Conclusion Work is a very diverse topic ranging from types of workers, types of work, why people work, and the benefits of working. Generally, work refers to any form of creative productivity that leads to new things coming up. Workers work for charity, to earn a living, as a norm, or for other reasons. Moreover, the definition of work relates with culture, religion, career, and other societal factors. In any piece of work, an individual seeks to perform better as the level of work performance measures the value of a worker. Most significantly, my work history affected my thinking about work and informed my ideas on work life. My work background, on the other hand, affected my conception on my work life role. Above all, the aspect of money in motivating one to work and valuing such work links work and money. Works Cited Harvey, Wiener. “Major Themes for Modern Writers”. Buscalibros.cl. 2010. Web. 25, June 2012. < http://www.buscalibros.cl/major-themes-for-modern-wiener-harvey-cp_1889599.htm> Read More