Curious about Work: Do You Love and Welcome What You Do? What Is Your Definition and Feeling about Work?

Definition of Work: Exertion of strength or faculties; physical or intellectual effort directed to an end; industrial activity; toil; employment. That which is produced as the result of labor; anything accomplished by exertion or toil; product; performance; fabric; manufacture; in a more general sense, act, deed, service, effect, result, achievement, feat. To exert one's self for a purpose; to put forth effort for the attainment of an object; to labor; to be engaged in the performance of a task, a duty, or the like.

“The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price.” - Vince Lombardi, American coach

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” - Confucius, Chinese philosopher

WOW! I hit the jackpot with this week’s theme of “work.” There were 28 definitions and 14 pages of quotations.

The main theme that flowed through the quotations is the importance of loving and enjoying what you do for work. Unfortunately, I know that a lot of people hate their “jobs” but stay in them for the stability.

For many years I worked in a restaurant – which, by the way, I did love and enjoy. I found, however, that the one night I didn’t enjoy was Sunday night, because the guests were usually in bad moods. My theory was that they were reacting to the fact that the next day they would be back at work, doing something they hated.

Another theme running through the quotations was the importance of working with people you like and get along well with. It reminded me of how many complain about their bosses and managers.

Many of the experts also stressed the value of “hard” work. So, let’s get to some of those enlightening quotations:

• “Every person born into this world their work is born with them.” - James Russell Lowell, American poet
• “I have worked all my life, wanted to work all my life, needed to work all my life.” - Liz Carpenter, American musician
• “I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come.” - Michael Jordan, American athlete
• “It's great to work with people that you like, any job, no matter what you do.” - Judd Nelson, American actor
• “Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.” - Martin Luther King, Jr., American leader
• “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” – Buddha, Indian leader

And a few more:

• “I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” - Thomas Jefferson, American President
• “Anybody can do bad work, but not everybody does good work.” - Paul Simon, American musician
• “A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” - Colin Powell, American statesman
• “When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all.” - Theodore Roosevelt, American President
• “I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun.” - Thomas A. Edison, American inventor“
• If the work is going well and it's something that has value with some meaning to it, it gives back a lot.” - Richard Gere, American actor

And two to take with you – I know that I am:

“Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” - Jim Rohn, American businessman

“A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn't feel like it.” - Alistair Cooke, American journalist

I hope that you love your work. And, I do worry for those of you who are presently out of work. If I can just encourage you by letting you know that whatever direction you go, you will find work that you will love and enjoy more that what you were doing in the past. That’s how I got into the restaurant business, which turned out to be one of my careers that I loved the most and worked the longest at.