When does a job feel meaningful?
You.
You’re interested in fulfilment and suggestions about how to lead a better life, right? If that’s the case, I just finished reading a book you might enjoy: The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, by the writer and one of the most gifted contemporary observers Alain De Bottom. Here’s a couple of nuggets:
“When does a job feel meaningful?
Whenever it allows us to generate delight or reduce suffering in others.”
_ _ _
(From Alain’s conversation with an employee of a large manufacturer of biscuits.)
“I wondered out loud to Renae why in our society the greatest sums of money so often tended to accrue from the sale of the least meaningful things, and why the dramatic improvements in efficiency and productivity at the heart of the Industrial Revolution so seldom extended beyond the provision of common place material goods like shampoo or condoms, oven-gloves or lingerie. I told Renae that our robots and engines were delivering the lion’s share of their benefits at the base of our pyramid of needs, that we were evident experts at swiftly assembling confectionary and yet we were still searching for reliable means of generating emotional stability and martial harmony. Renae had little to add to this analysis. A terrified expression spread across her features and she asked if I might excuse her.”
My 2¢:
To write well, you only need one thing.
The words are a given, so we should not really count them.
It makes no difference whether you’re writing a blog post, a book, or business correspondence.
To write well, you only need one thing—an interesting perspective. It’s easy to forget that.
P.S.
In case you were wondering:
What makes a person a gifted observer?
The ability to notice and meaningfully comment on facets of life that often go by unappreciated.
(Think: Jerry Seinfeld.)