Reinventing Work -- From Blah to Bliss
Deidre Combs
I think we named it wrong…in English anyway. "Work" - my, it has become so much, well, work! Drudgery, boredom and frustration mark many people's jobs, which must be offset daily by lots of good coffee, a decent paycheck and significant T.V. down time to make it bearable. For too many of us, our work is not an experience of delicious creative expression; it is a ball and chain. Perhaps if we had called it "play" or "fun," our vision of what our work might be better realized.
Matt Fox in his book Reinvention of Work challenges us to see our work as our opportunity to fully express ourselves creatively and for the greater good. He advises that we see our "work" as our ministry, whether we are running an organization or feeding toddlers. Matt is clear that our work is our legacy and asks how we might reinvent it so that it is invigorating and life affirming.
While teaching and coaching others in reinventing work, I have found that finding great work is not only completely possible, but is also fostered by having creative role models, an expansive vision and the understanding of the journey to the solution.
Role Models: In retrospect, I guess I was lucky in that my father had a miserable experience in the corporate world, although at the time it was pretty miserable for all of us. Yet, despite the financial hardship and stress this experience caused, my father modeled how one must find their right work and how it can be done. Over the years, he lost multiple jobs. Yet with this experience, a psychology degree and a consistent desire to help others, my father eventually found himself creating "job loss support groups" at a local church. Before long he was very happily running a successful outplacement counseling business and serving hundreds of clients as they moved through a turbulent experience my father understood with great compassion. Interesting, as my father reinvented his career, my mother joyously entered the job market and became one of the first female corporate vice presidents in the Midwest. As much as that environment didn't work for my dad, it became a playground for my mom.
So in our family, the overriding belief became: "Find the work that makes your heart sing. This is what you are to do. Never settle for a job, ("It will only get you fired," my inner voices would add). Find what you are here to do."
However, not everyone was "lucky" enough to be raised with this belief system. We may have been handed stories about work as a necessary misery to make ends meet. This and other limiting beliefs, can make it especially hard to find a means of income that that is fulfilling. If you find yourself in this situation, I suggest beginning by searching out friends or mentors who have created fulfilling, well-compensated and life-affirming work. It can be done, so who can you admire your way to creating own true work?
Expansive Vision - yes, Virginia, you can have it all. Tell me, in the best of all possible worlds, what would a perfect week contain? What do you love to learn about; what fascinates you? What comes naturally to you? With whom do you like to surround yourself? Where are you happily drawn to help? Start in the space that these questions create and feel what might be possible. This is exactly what Matthew Fox did as he allowed himself to reinvent his work and college education by creating an innovative graduate program in Creation Spirituality some thirty years ago. Focus on your heart's desire first - it's there that your true work resides.
The Journey - The world's spiritual traditions, including Creation Spirituality, offer a road map to right work. The path you undertake is a journey through four distinct phases. Like a hero of a good myth or legend, as you venture to reinvent your work first there will be excitement along with a sense of disruption and loss as strike you leave the familiar. Here, we are counseled to gather as much information as you can on your heart's desires, and what the community needs to gird you for your journey. Then, you will inevitably face some hopelessness and confusion as you wait awash between the end of your old life and the creation of the new. Cross culturally, in this phase, we are counseled to relax and be as flexible as possible. Next, if you stick with this journey, creative new ideas will emerge almost magically if we just listen. Once the right ideas are implemented, the task of the fourth phase, you will find yourself standing in a new life. Recognizing where you are in your travels and how to address the challenges each phase brings can keep the path straight to your ultimate goal. (If you would like more information on these four phases, see The Way of Conflict by the author).
I venture to say that right work, is a birth right. But, like the mythological heroes, we must be courageous and strike out on a path whose end we can not fathom to find it. I have found the prize more than worth the trip and wish you well as you strive bring all you are to all of us.
Deidre Combs, D.Min is the author of The Way of Conflict and Worst Enemy, Best Teacher published by New World Library. Once a corporate project manager and marketing director, Combs now serves as a consultant, coach and speaker to a variety of organizations and individuals specializing in cross-cultural approaches to resolving conflict. She is a 2002 graduate of the University of Creation Spirituality. www.combsandcompany.com
