How To Invest In Yourself: Why Work Is More Than Just a Job

Why is work more than just a job? We spend more than half of our waking hours, over the course of our lives at work, so obviously there is a criticalness in the fact that something we spend so much time doing is of utmost importance to us. There is, however, a difference between a job and work. A job is simply something that we go through strictly for an output. For example, we drive to our job, complete the tasks, and hop back in the car to drive home. Our input is the work conducted, and our personal output is that we receive a paycheck for it. There is a quality of life that comes with that.

However, work is a lifelong endeavor, or at least it can and perhaps, should be. Again, we spend half of all our time working. Further, another key difference between work and a job, is that we want to find something that we are not only good at, but that we also enjoy doing. There is certainly a lot of content out there about how those two things are not the same thing. We may enjoy a lot of fun activities in our free time, but it’s not necessarily something that we may be particularly great at, and often times it is not something that we could do for a career. This may be another topic entirely that could be worth diving into separately.

There is something we need to find that we’re good at, and also enjoy. At least those are the two basic starters. Think about it, our work is hugely responsible for our attitude, and general behavior. What we do for work drives our moods, it influences our relationships, and may even drive people into and out of depression. All based on what we do on a day-to-day basis.

The takeaway: Spend the time, and invest it in finding out what you are good at, what you enjoy doing, match them up, and then take steps to learn how you can spend half or more of your life doing just that!