Why Do We Work?

Recently I have been thinking about the question of “Why do we work?”

When I say working in this case it is specifically “actions done in exchange for a paycheck”. I am not focussing on unpaid but equally valuable work such as home care, child rearing etc.

I have been thinking about the purpose behind work, especially more since my daughter has arrived and it has made me realize how valuable our time is? I feel torn when my daughter is crying or wants to read a picture book and I need to return to a weekly status sharing meeting. At the same time, I know that work is important because I am doing something that I am then compensated for. Such compensation allows me to support my family, possibly send my daughter to the school we want to or go on a holiday.

However, how much compensation is worth not being able to change my daughter’s diapers in the middle of the day (which since I work from home I do but it still begs the question)?

Personal Experience

When I first started working, it was a Scuba Diving Instructor in Ishigakijima at the age of 19, and it was incredible. I got to wake up every day to the sight of an emerald ocean, meet people from all around the world and take them to see Manta Rays just 20 minutes from the white sand beaches of the island. I would say that at that time, even though I was making 80,000円 a month in cash, I was satisfied. I was living in staff accommodation, a little hut near the dive shop and all food was covered for and so it didn’t feel like I was working for money, but to get to enjoy what I do. However I knew that if I wanted to achieve more economic opportunities being a scuba diving instructor would only last so long.

We spend four years of our life to go to University with the ultimate hope that we are able to then get a job that pays us a decent amount. How much is considered decent is relative but we’re surrounded with the idea that more is better. After graduating from university, I managed to land a job in Tokyo that the day to day was okay, but the joy came from using my compensation on other activies or purchases. During this time, it felt like the point of work was to make money to be able to have options such as going on a weekend trip or eating at a nice restaurant and to still have some left over. If I did not necessarily enjoy the 9-5 it didn’t matter because I had the options to go spend my time and money doing things I like on the weekends such as scuba diving.

However, when I found out that we were expecting a daughter, I could tell that where I was did not feel like I could provide enough for what was to come. [This will be another newsletter coming up]. Thinking that I wanted to give my daughter the childhood that I had growing up, I did not forsee myself being able to accomplish that where I was and so I changed companies. I am happy with where I work now, as I feel that I am able to provide for my family in the life stage that we’re at.

That being said, going back to the original question, I contemplate the purpose of “work” when while we are “compensated” for our contribution of productivity to a company, it almost feels like getting to read a picture book to my daughter is priceless and so it is a weird thing to try juggle.

Reasons for Working?

I have narrowed it down to three main themes, and they apply with different emphasis at different stages,

1. Survival

2. Freedom

3. Generating Value

To an extent, if we want to be more than subsistance farmers spending our day making the food that we eat, we need to work so that we have the means to procure a roof over our head, food and water. That being said, many work for more than just survival.

When it comes to freedom, we work so that we are compensated for the work that we do, and that amount becomes the value of our time and how we choose to spend it. Whether thats to rent a movie and have a movie night or spend a weekend trip skiing, we generate the means to have options as a result of exchanging some of our time and effort to create output for a company.

However I think the core of why we work or atleast want to work is to generate value. This can be in terms of the joy of teaching someone scuba diving so that they have an incredible experience to then share with family, or what I work on now where the tools I am responsible for enable our customer service operators to improve the experience of our users.

I am grateful to work remotely to have the flexibility to generate value and be present with my family but there is still a nagging feeling when I’m creating a quaterly roadmap when I could be playing with my dog and daughter on a sunny afternoon.

As a result, I do not have a good answer particularly as to why we work and it’s something to mull over, but I would say as food for thought, think about how your work generates value and if it does not, to reconsider how you are spending your time?

I would love to hear your thoughts or take aways about why do we work?

Please look forward to our next issue where we will be covering the 50/30/20 budgeting rule of thumb devised by Elizabeth Warren when she was a university professor.

Jason from Money Daruma

​See you the week after next!