Lessons from a lifetime
This beautiful life moment is brought to you by Jason Leung from Unsplash
Some seniors “un-retire” or hang around in the workforce longer for reasons other than a warm, satisfied feeling that comes from believing the work contributes to the economy, the family, or well-being.
They simply hate looking in an empty refrigerator. Anything will do. They’re there for the cake.
Passion and Ambition
Some people work for passion–the excitement of being in a fulfilling position or a location that just happens to make money too. Cool. Passion is wonderful when a worker is in the springtime of life when youth and strength are on your side. Passion causes more people to come into the world. Ambition plus passion is a fire. Ambition and fire are good as long as they are well-managed. Again, much like a fire dies without constant fueling, passion also dies without attention. Age, habit, and boredom, chills passion. Maintaining such voracious energy over decades is not humanly possible or sustainable.
Stability
Some people work for stability–a reliable paycheck that pays the mortgage and builds the”ladder” that allows the “higher and better” trajectory at work. Sometimes stability fails. shutdowns, layoffs, and closings play havoc on careers clinging to stability. Everything depends upon what rung of the proverbial “career ladder” a worker occupies whether the top, the middle, or the bottom. Stability held up by fear of loss might become a golden cage where there is neither ambition, passion nor satisfaction. It’s just a job. It could be worse. It could also be a dead-end job; a terminal point in a career where there is nowhere else to expand or develop. “The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh…” In this case, is “the car knows the way to get to the place” where that dependable, expected, predictable outcome is. It is how we sometimes treat the company holiday event: we just show up for the cake–and it had better be good cake.
Purpose
Last of all, some people work for a purpose. Many seniors discover themselves here on the map of a career. It is not only the money. It is doing work that will change things and people for the better. Some workers get that good fortune earlier in their work lives, but far too many do not. Seeking purposeful work may be enough wind to re-ignite the fire of ambition and passion. These are a few lessons I have learned over a lifetime in the workforce: Success takes more than talent: a Michelin level chef may not be the best restauranteur. Success takes more than passion: passion ebbs and flows like water–sometimes Niagra Falls; sometimes like a trickle going down the drain. Fellow career traveler, may it not be that you’re working for the money alone–showing up at the party for the cake. There is also a spiritual spin. Check this Greg Ayers take on the subject
Purpose becomes cloudy without clarity, but when allowed to return to the road it can make heat enough to bake even better cakes.
Victoree's INDUSTRIAL MYTHOLOGY 