Finding the joy in what we do

An end to another week and I am starting to get used to the consulting lifestyle; fly in early Monday mornings, take a cab to the clients site, work long hours, make the most of the few hours after work to eat, workout, interact with friends, take care of errands and relax, and then rush to take one of the last flights out Friday to make it back just in time to head out with friends heading out to the bars and clubs. A short weekend packed with meeting friends, catching up on sleep and errands, doing laundry and then heading to that airport again. So far so good!

            Consulting is a glamorous lifestyle; I am not going to lie but some of the perks are pretty neat but at the end of the day we spend many nights in a month working out of a suitcase and the last thing we need is a hunt for food and board. To all those looking on with zealous eyes, it’s not all jet-set clubs and fine dining, but a true art of striking the right work-life balance.

            Of all my friends, I was one of the last ones to start working after college. I took an extra year in college, chose the last possible date I could, and really took the time to prepare myself for the transition from the dynamic nature of university to the structured nature of a career. Many who had started working before I did, described work as just that, work; something that they did through the week to make money to then use towards living expenditures. Mondays were for the other kind of blues and Sundays were doomed even before they began in the dread that was another week. I wondered how such exciting, talented and bright people could find such little joy in what they did. Were the companies to blame? Was the type of work to blame? Were we as individuals to blame?

            One of the key challenges for me and others like me starting their careers is finding the joy in what we do. Time at the office or working for our companies takes up a considerable chunk of the daylight hours of the week and treating them like hours one is just waiting to get over with, would not be wise. What I mean is that we must find ways to get excited about work; whether it be about the people we interact with, service we deliver, initiatives we take or solutions we come up with. College is a wonderful time, almost too wonderful. But it doesn’t last forever and we must move on and embrace this new chapter in life.

            Though I do understand that some jobs are harder, more rigid and less exciting than others, either finding something else to do now or finding a niche at the present job is important to sustain a healthy career. By choice or by chance, we are working in the modern world, where work hours are high and down time low, finding pleasure in what we do is even more crucial than ever before. Simply put, we spend more hours of our waking time working than we do doing other things that we love and cherish. If we can’t find a reason to wake up on Monday morning, then something needs to be reevaluated. If possible, work should not just be something that pays the bills, but also something that has meaning and significance for some reason or the other.

            I am still very new at this career thing and up until now, I have done fairly well. I do love my personal time to do the umpteen other things I enjoy, but I am also waking up with a smile every morning, glad to be doing what it is that I am doing at work. As young educated adults we have much to contribute and much to be glad about. So the next time you have an absolutely shitty day at work, think of the many many other undesirable jobs that people are doing day in and day out. Let’s not complain, let’s find the joy in what we do!