A higher salary won’t satisfy our desires for our work
These days we expect work to give us something, but forget that meaningfulness comes from our motivation.
As long as the work is primarily about how much money I can make, how much influence I can gain, or how much recognition I can achieve, frustration, contempt or hatred will inevitably bubble to the surface. We need to rediscover work as our contribution to making the world a better place.
Today marks 134 years since Workers' Day was marked for the first time. The importance of the labor movement in Norway cannot be underestimated. It has reduced the differences between different social classes, prevented the exploitation of workers, and given the prosperity of the world's richest country to ordinary people.
Those who protested on May 1st in 1890 would probably have been satisfied with the changes the movement has achieved. At the same time, we are constantly seeing new strikes. Public employees such as teachers and nurses feel neglected and we have the highest sickness absence rate in the world.
Can we see progress similar to what we saw in the last century or is this doomed to be an eternal struggle?
An ancient problem
To see such an improvement, we must lift our gaze from our needs and desires. Research has shown that we experience increased happiness with increased prosperity, but this only applies to a certain point.
Twentieth-century thinkers such as Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, and Kirkegaard tackled alienation from being human in the modern world. However, this is nothing new and was put into words by a Jewish thinker as early as 200 BC.
In his work of literature called Ecclesiastes, which quite simply means preacher, we meet a character with the same name. The preacher wants to experience everything that can be experienced to figure out what can truly satisfy. To his great disappointment, he discovers that nothing really can.
Neither seeking mastery and recognition, experiencing all kinds of sensual pleasure, nor achieving the deepest form of wisdom is enough. Still, he discovered one thing: nothing is better for man than to enjoy his work.
Why? Because we need to live for something bigger than ourselves.
The future of work
When my peers rationalize their career choices, generally three things come to mind: Salary, meaningful work, and a good working environment. All of this is necessary, but when it becomes the reason why we work, we are in danger of losing ourselves.
Everything becomes a transaction where the aim is to get the most from my employer, colleagues, or customers. If other people cannot give us what we need, it is easy for bitterness to creep into our lives. Opposing interests thus become a threat to the self. We shoot ourselves in the foot if we start by looking for jobs that can satisfy our needs before we ask ourselves what we can contribute to the world.
In a world with more opportunities at our feet than ever before, both the potential and the drop in career choices are higher than ever. We will continue to celebrate the victories of the past, but we will not win the future by fighting yesterday's battles. We win it when we see what we can contribution to the world.
This text was first published in the Norwegian newspaper “Subjekt” under the title “Arbeiderbevegelsen har hatt enorm betydning for Norge. Men den har utspilt sin rolle” regarding Labor Day at May 1st.
