Focus on work: Seeing work as a stroke of luck
Marianne Klauser Stalder
Is work only a necessary evil or does it offer us something more? Many people go through career crises. But can work also become a 'lucky break'? And if so, how? The following contribution about the basics of job satisfaction opens up a series focusing on the subject of “work”, which is continued in the next issue of 'GrailWorld'.
The joy of work is a most precious human experience, as precious as a harmonious relationship, because if a person is happy in an activity, if he, so to speak, becomes one with his work, then he is in the best sense of the word “in motion” and experiences healthy tension, stimulation and motivation. Above all, work gives him not only the satisfaction of being able to make a living or having responsibility for something, but beyond that he experiences in this “inner state of motion” the merits of his personal nature. He is naturally also confronted with his limitations. This can, in turn, give rise to a naturally developed “self-consciousness”.
Thus an occupation or any kind of work – including domestic home- centred work or volunteer tasks – can bring joy of work. Working to capac- ity, learning and performing in a comprehensive manner are key areas of development of adult life. Here a person experiences consciously or unconsciously how he or she is developing and this brings joy.
Recent studies on creativity, for example by the Canadian psycholo- gist Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, describe this state of activity as ‘flow’ and point out that a person who becomes one with his work and is deeply immersed to the point of fasci- nation, eventually forgets himself ... just like a child who is self-absorbed in play and is oblivious to all around it. It is no coincidence that a child’s immersion in play is described as a precursor of the later joy of work.
Joy of work from movement and development
Viewed in slow motion, one can picture development in work as something like this:
A person faces a new job, and he senses intuitively beforehand whether or not he can cope with the task. He uses his energies, which consciously and unconsciously work towards possible solutions. Initially these solutions are still vague, but through concentration they differen- tiate and crystallise. The so-called “unconscious” collaborates quietly and unnoticed in a person, that is, a part of the personality contacts invis- ible spheres – and suddenly there are new impulses, which tailor satisfac- tory new solutions that conform with experiences in hand. This process is evident in all fields of activ- ity. Here are some examples:
• A housewife would like to make new curtains from a certain material. She has a picture, but no idea how it can be realised. After musing over it a long time, the idea comes to her almost overnight as to how she can lay the pleats, and what she has in mind as the picture becomes reality.
• The surgeon tells a patient on the eve of a difficult operation that he does not yet know how it will be performed, but he will think about it overnight. He gets a good idea, the result turns out excellent, life-saving.
• An engineering trainee invents for the final examination an automatic snow measuring instru- ment that wakes up a caretaker early by SMS, if a lot of snow has fallen overnight. Tackling such a complex task would have been unthinkable in an earlier year of training. This young man experiences not only joy at the usefulness of his work, but, what is more, also a personal development in the best sense.
• A taxi driver, who was at first still unfamiliar with a city and therefore stressed considerably before every journey, is able, on average after seven years of working, to picture every turn and every street of “his” city.
These examples may illustrate how movement and development are accomplished through being active. The urge for advancement is deeply rooted in man. There should be development in the most diverse areas of life, on the spiritual and emotional plane, but also through being practically active, which exerts a constant influence on the spiritual and emotional state.
Work that furthers development does not, however, “happen” by chance. It is bound to certain condi- tions, which are not the same for everyone. Nevertheless, some basic issues can be put forward, for example matching personal character and work, handling time, avoiding distractions as well as the work environment, such as the way people interact while working together, and not least the experienced meaningful- ness of work.
Work matching one’s personal nature
Abilities and inclinations are the resource sides of a human being, thus his individual strengths, which ideally should flow into his work, so that work and personal character comple- ment each other, thus matching the type of work to the personal nature.
This balance must be sought anew in certain phases of life, for example as a person continues to develop naturally or else when the external conditions change such that a job that someone has been doing well for years suddenly becomes dull, and a re-orientation is called for.
This is what happens with some women when their children have grown up and become adults.
Nowadays, however, it often happens that people leave a well-suited job too fast, be it due to better career opportunities or other ambitious plans. The requirements today for continuing education can mean that somebody suddenly finds himself on a level where “the air gets too thin”, meaning that the personal resources are not sufficient to meet the challenges of the new tasks: Following an inten- sive management training, a young company economist is suddenly thrown into management and feels that he is not yet up to the requirements. A young, capable nurse is entrusted with new management duties – something she had absolutely hoped for. But the two young people find that their new duties are suddenly too much and cause them sleepless nights. Fear and helplessness, thus deep discomfort at work, are the result.
The balance can also be disturbed in the opposite direction if someone is prevented from contributing his talents beneficially.
As recent studies show and the examples mentioned at the beginning illustrate, the demands may well be somewhat greater than the current skills. This gives the worker objec- tives and spurs him on. Learning something new can be enlivening and initiate supportive search processes. What should be avoided, however, is a disturbing gap, that is, any exces- sive demands, but also an underchal- lenging position.
Frequently there are career setbacks that call for an assessment and contemplation of this balance of personal circumstances and external job requirements. One should regard such as a “wake up call”.
Get a move on! – Dealing with time
The individual pace of work is differ- ent for each person; it depends on the basic temperament as well as age. A choleric person, for example, is inclined to rush forward and tackle a task at full steam. A person of more mature age, in turn, increasingly senses the need for reflection and may appear slower in his work pace.
Unfortunately, today the working conditions in many occupations dictate a certain pace of work that is oriented to the standards mostly being set by the speed worker.
Many current burn-out disorders have their roots here. If a worker is under high pressure for a long time with regard to the quantity and pace of work, breakdown will inevitably follow. On the other hand, a natural alternation of tension and relaxation might be the best condition for healthy work.
There is also a need with regard to the proper personal working pace to consider the personal character. The demand for the same level and pace of work causes unnecessary pressure and smothers a natural, lively rhythm.
In a lecture from his work “In the Light of Truth – The Grail Message” Abd-ru-shin writes: “Consider: What applies to one does not apply to all! What helps one person may harm the other. Each individual must make his own way to perfection. The abilities he carries within him are his equip- ment for this. He must adjust himself to them and build upon them!”
Occupational and economic studies have shown that although individu- alised work content as well as a customised work rhythm require on the one hand an additional expendi- ture of time, this on the other hand is compensated by increased productiv- ity, good ideas and not least by the reduction in the number of cases of stress-related illnesses. Thus it also makes economic sense for an employer to give greater considera- tion to the requirements and possibil- ities of the employees.
Following the “central thread”: getting fully immersed!
Being able to focus on a task without interruption is another basic condition for a healthy working. This is endemic in many occupations, where in an age of rapid transfer and linking of infor- mation the most diverse projects and working themes must be pursued at the same time and integrated into the daily workload. As a consequence, the worker is in danger of engaging only the intellect, dissipating energies and getting bogged down. The require- ment to multitask as much job content as possible and, what is more, to do this “efficiently” causes stress and discontent. This is the situation of a manager who first thing every morning has to respond to 150 emails on various projects and thus skip mentally from one topic to another, without time to be really grounded.
The absence of calm, absorption and thoroughness as a result of exces- sive pressure of work causes all kinds of stress conditions. Then again, absorption – collection of thoughts – attentiveness to the inner voice can contribute decisively to revitalisation and to job satisfaction!
Esteeming feedback – benevolent climate
An appreciative, benevolent work environment forms the basis for satisfactory work. This is expressed, for example, in a readiness to help each other, in constructive forms of communication as well as in good resource management. Not only superiors are called upon to identify and encourage open and hidden strengths in employees, team members also have many possibilities for this.
A good working climate can, howev- er, also be recognised by the fact that the necessary information flows natu- rally and that various forms of “feed- back culture” are maintained.
Feedback culture – a concept from industrial psychology – sharpens the eye for the strengths in others and develops in the context of an appre- ciative and sympathetic attitude. Feedback culture means a differenti- ated way of perceiving and acknowl- edging strengths, personal commit- ment and beautiful qualities. It should be honestly and genuinely felt and expressed in a personal manner. One could also say it is a form of thanks. A feedback is thus anything but a purposeful compliment. Experience shows that respectful modes of interaction encourage people’s self-esteem, enhancing the joy of experiencing the heterogeneity of people and their cooperation. On such ground mutual trust can grow and the individual can undergo a natural development.
Experiencing the meaning of work
Another important basis for satisfy- ing work is being able to experience the effectiveness, the results, the meaning and value of one’s work.
If in this contribution becoming one with work has been presented as a quasi ideal state of affairs and subse- quently the conditions for healthy work have been described, it is of course not to say that the worker should expect the “nicest and most comfortable” conditions at work. It would also be unrealistic to assume that work should always be only enjoyable and easy. But the knowl- edge of these important basic factors can help in beginning properly to change certain things for the better or to make necessary decisions to experience more joy at work.
Moreover, the issue of job satisfac- tion reaches a deeper connection that touches man’s spiritual core of being: In all education and age levels, the need is deeply rooted to be useful and to carry out certain duties faithfully in the course of life. Abd-ru-shin writes in his work “In the Light of Truth – The Grail Message”: “The fulfilment of duty has always been considered man’s greatest virtue. Among all peoples it ranked higher than everything else, higher even than life itself.” But that, to which we commit ourselves (occupationally) must be in harmony with our inner conviction. A person should do what he does as a labour of love. “Thereby the duty he thus fulfils comes to life and is so uplifted that he places its fulfilment before everything else.”
If we experience this harmony between duty and inner conviction, then our work will also at the same time be carried out from a meaning- ful basis and we do not even need to think about the value and effective- ness of an activity.
The lack of inner conviction is often the source of a crisis or a burnout illness: A person who works without inner conviction will end up functioning merely on a rational, pragmatic level – a state that takes its bitter toll sooner or later and forms the cause of all sorts of work-related disorders and mental illnesses.
