As a doctor, I’m in the camp with the psychologists mentioned of feeling a little ambivalent about how much this actually applies to us. (“What’s the worst that can happen if I do a shitty job today?” “Oh, well, several people could die….”).

I’ll keep mulling it over, though, because I agree it’s got a lot of useful thoughts in it… I was certainly excited when I started reading, and a bit disappointed when I didn’t see it fitting as well with me! Perhaps there’s room for a follow up piece or two?

Luckily, after years of teaching, I realize that the real importance of my job lies not only in how many verbs my kids can conjugate (especially since most of them will forget that a few years out of high school anyway), but at least as much in teaching them about multiculturalism, tolerance, responsibility, and respect. I rarely raise my voice to my students now because there are few things that are important enough for me to resort to that. (I will admit to sending “I’m watching you, and I don’t really like what you’re doing” looks, when necessary.) I smile a lot more. My students are happier, and they learn just as much, because they are comfortable asking questions and telling me when they don’t understand. Interestingly, I take a lot more days off now – although still not excessive, by any means. I’m not trying to complain, because I love my job, but teaching does take emotional energy. Sometimes I know that I am going to be a cruddy teacher if I try to push myself to go to school when I’m on the sick side, even if I’m not bed-ridden, so I stay home, rest a lot, and go back at 100% instead of trying to tough it out at 60% capacity.

In other words, my job is *so very important* that it deserves 100%, not 60%, not 70%, not 80%, and I now try to make sure that I am capable of giving 100% to my students, which means that I have no choice but to take care of myself and stay home when I’m sick.

In my experience there are researchers developing vaccines, working with stem cells, engaged in struggles against viruses and nature – etc. – who as individuals would be a loss to the world should they disappear. Some people carry special skills in the way their mind processes information and are very rare. The world would still turn, but we would feel the loss globally whether we knew them personally or not.

I’m certainly not of that caliber, but I wonder what it would be like to be one of them. Would you be happy each day that you are one of the few who make an impact on human life as a whole, or would the weight of knowing that each vacation day you took set some kind of ‘pause’ button just undo you?

I can understand that, and it sounds like you have a good, healthy mindset. I found this post valuable personally because my superiors at work often try to magnify the importance of what we do as a department to the point where few people are willing to take vacation days, since we’re constantly told how important it is that we provide good service (and we can’t do that if we’re not there). It gets ridiculous sometimes, so I appreciated the reminder that life will go on and most people would be just fine if, for whatever reason, I failed in some capacity at work. I find that when I push the envelope a bit at work (which only happens when I feel a little “devil may care” about the weight of my influence at work), I often find better solutions and am able to go above and beyond what is expected. You’re right, though, that knowing people are counting on you is a good source of inspiration to do your best.

I take my distaste for this culture further though.
I find it very silly that so many people (you included, based on your statement) hear the question ‘What do you do?’ as ‘What do you do for wages?’ I find it interesting that people consider all the things you do as inferior to the one thing you do which pays money.

I reject this. When people ask me ‘What do you do?’ I answer with the things that I do believe define me as a person. I say that I hike, and I climb, and I live for the mountains. If I were someone else, I might answer that I raise two children, or that I study soil issues in the hopes of working someday to restore its fertility. Or that I travel and try to broaden my understanding of as many cultures as I can.

I get some strange looks from this practice, but I also generate some interesting discussions – often far deeper than if I had simply answered ‘I’m a lifeguard’ or ‘I’m a student’. If people really want to know what I do *for money*, they’ll have to ask me that directly.

I encourage you to give this a try. Next time someone asks you what you do, tell them the things you do that define you. See where it goes. :)

I believe it every teacher’s duty to KNOW how important his job is. And as soon as it is your child in school, you will be glad most teachers feel this way about their job. It’s a calling.

The school administration also has a duty to respect the values of family when it comes to staff, and remember that the children of the staff are just as important as the children we teach. That is the case where I teach, but not in most schools- teachers are harried and stressed out, trying to keep a balance. That’s fine for most professions, but you don’t want YOUR child’s teacher being stressed out and worried, as your child is stuck in a room with them!

Sometimes I think you and I are walking some sort of parallel path in the universe;-). I’m in the process of starting a company and have to CONSTANTLY remind myself I’m doing this for the joy of it and the challenge and the journey, not just for the end product and I want to avoid the stress aspect. Your article could not come at a more timely juncture.

I wrote on my blog not long ago how helpful your book review of Never Eat Alone has been. I met the CEO of Posi-Pair for coffee to start building a network and she herself said the most helpful thing she’s done is setting a goal of three meetings a day. She had a lot of other advice too, but having just read the book, that perked up my ears. And her comment might not have had the impact if I hadn’t read it, and I never would have found it if you hadn’t reviewed it. So Muchas Gracias!

Eileen
P.S. I also forwarded your article to my husband, an A type corporate lawyer who I do sometimes have to remind should he stay home a day sick (he has not done this in our 10 years of marriage) somehow the firm would struggle on;-).

Incidentally, after he left, it took 5 people to cover the work they had heaped on my husband.

No job is ever worth your family or your sanity, no matter how important and irreplaceable you consider yourself to be.

In one way Trent was showing his creativity by solving others problems and helping the team. In another he lost out because he didn’t eventually demand compensation or recognition for those efforts, especially as they became more expected. Doing this right has the potential to move you up in an organization, doing it wrong causes you to feel the entire organization will go down in flames if you’re not there to watch everything. Being a team player is fine, trying to do every job on the team is not.

Having a child and getting married changed everything.

It is definitely in perspective now.

A day at home playing with my son beats any kind of day at work any day of the week.

Apologies, but I have difficulty with the basis for the article. For most people their work is important because they rely on it to support themselves and (often) their families and cannot be assured of being able to easily find a replacement job for similar pay should the need arise. Given that this is the norm for most of us, stating that work is not important is dangerous. If I turned up to the office each day with the belief that my work is not important, my productivity would slip and my career prospects would quickly follow.

That said, for most of us, recognising that work is not the central purpose of our lives, dodging the stress bullet and keeping ourselves mentally and physically occupied outside of the work force is very necessary to make life enjoyable.