This summer we had a socially distanced visit of another family to our backyard. They are old friends that have known me since my DJ days.
One of them asked, “Chris are you working now?”
I paused. Robin, my wife, answered for me, “That’s a complicated answer.”
I’m continually challenging myself over what “work” is and how I go about it.
If work is getting up every day and doing something I’m paid to do, then the answer is I’m not working.
The reality is I’ve been living like I’m on a permanent vacation for decades. A friend of mine decades ago joked that I was “successfully underemployed”.
Money, having it, or not having it, never changed my situation. I’m not living much different now than when I had next to no income.
Sometimes I think about “Star Trek”, how they live post-money. They have everything they need, replicators and holodecks are available, but something more gets them up every day to do their “work”. In their case it’s to be explorers, learn and grow, be helpful to others, and most of all to be the best at what they do.
These days I strive to explore, learn and grow, be helpful to others and be the best at being me. Money is not the reason I do any of it. Am I working or not?
What gets me to write these articles every week for you when I’m not trying to sell you something?
What motivates me to show up powerfully and make an impact within any group I’m in?
I value my time extremely highly. When I do charge for my time I use it as a tool to screen for impact.
This is all very complicated, and I continually fall into the trap that I “should” be doing “more”, whatever that is, but usually tied to the pursuit of making more money. Once I realize I’m in that habit I let it go.
Further complicating things, I don’t measure “work” by time, but by what I accomplish. I can accomplish a tremendous amount in a short amount of time. I’m just not going to do it any other way.
Am I working? I have just as much difficulty answering this as I did before.
