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This Affects 87 Percent Of People, But Almost No One Challenges It

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Over your lifetime, you’ll spend seemingly limitless resources preparing for, diving into and executing actions related to your work. There are few things in life people spend more time, attention and money on. These “life competitors” may be one’s family, love interest or overall reason for existence, but no rocket scientist needs to make the case that the question of what to do for work is a big one.

Gallup’s Findings

Three years ago, famed and esteemed business resource Gallup released their 2013 findings on job satisfaction and engagement. The results were far less than encouraging.

In their State of the Global Workplace, which included vocational scrutiny of 142 countries, only 13 percent of people were found to be “engaged” at work. In other words, for every 10 people, roughly nine would be happier if they didn’t have to go into work today. In fact, it’s probably more accurate to say that there’s a dread surrounding work for most people that falls deeper than simply happiness versus unhappiness.

Isn’t this a problem?

Isn’t this a problem?

Isn’t this a problem?

If the vast majority of people in this study disapprove of their work on a fundamental level, there almost can’t be a clearer sign that a workplace revolution is overdue. In fact, it presses the point that the very redefinition of work is necessary.

What Is Work Truly About?

Education is surely a part of this catastrophe, but it’s simply that – a part. Also, the solution to this problem can and will not be reached by simply playing a global game of point-the-finger. There are surface level issues, sure, but far more important are the root causes of such job dissatisfaction.

Do many people have minimum wage jobs or overall low-paying vocations? Yes. But, aren’t there also people who are making “mad money” who are bored to tears over what they call a career? Yes. It’s unfortunately not as simple as saying people need jobs that pay more money.

The fundamental truth behind work satisfaction is that genuinely fulfilling work is available to all people when innate gifts, talents and desires are poured into the work itself. It’s foolish to think that fulfilling, authentic work is just a matter of passing a number of tests and then getting hired by a blue chip company. While there are certainly many individuals out there who call this type of workplace home, and are satisfied with it, these people represent a fraction of the already dismal 13 percent.

Work Is The End

Work must no longer be viewed (on a global scale) as a means to an end, but the end itself. When you spend the better part of your waking hours (and days) involved in something that you call work, it must be fulfilling for the actual work part. There’s no such thing as a truly worthwhile – or genuine – life where you spend 40-50 years building someone else’s empire while neglecting your own.

This post naturally cannot offer all the answers, just as it cannot even pose all the questions. I hope this encourages you more than deflates you, however. The brightest part about the aforementioned statistic is that there’s so much room for millions more people to uncover and plug into work they love.

What do you think about this situation? Do you maintain work that keeps you engaged? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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Published inBusinessDreamsEducationGoalsLeadershipLifeMoneyMotivationWorkWorld

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