Working for Work’s Sake
Money might be how we value productive labour, but there’s a lot to be said for working for little or nothing and merely for the love of what you’re doing
How many times have you heard the saying “I work to live, not live to work”?
Like from every person ever in the history of the world, right?
Well, sure, we do need to work to make some money so we can feed ourselves, put a roof over our heads and do the fun life stuff.
And as if anyone is going to say no to a massive wage so they can live a comfy life with extra fun stuff and not feel like they must live from paycheck to paycheck.
Duh. No brainer.
Well, maybe not. Maybe there is something to be said for working for work’s sake.
*cue howls of “Is this dude out of his head?”
As someone who’s lived a less-than-ordinary professional life that has seen me working for little or nothing at times, as well as volunteering when I had the capacity, there’s much to be said for working and not having the amount you’re getting paid front and foremost in your mind.
Take recent work I completed on a political campaign. I took on the role as comms manager, press secretary and quasi campaign manager. As with a lot of local political campaigns, the candidate is often either self-funding or relying on donations, or a combination of both, so when I took on the role, I did so in good faith knowing the candidate would pay me something by way of an honorarium.
Sure, I would have LOVED to have been paid for all the work I did but I always knew that wouldn’t be possible. And when you know this from the start, it’s kind of liberating.
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”
Think about it. Imagine just doing something because you love it. A lot of creatives who work on the fringes of their creative industries understand this. I have actor friends (I was one of them before I moved into writing and content) who have worked on a predominantly profit-share basis for years. Many of them ply their craft while working other jobs that are just the functional “put food in the fridge and pay the rent” money-making roles.
Most would love to be paid a more standard notion of a wage for their acting BUT they keep doing it anyway because it is their passion. It satisifies them in the most soul-refreshing way, nourishing and nurturing them physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.
It’s what gets them out of bed in the morning and has them lying super excited and unable to sleep in bed at night.
When I’ve had discussions along these lines with friends, one of the arguments I’ve often found myself in is pushing for the theoretical communist notion of a basic wage and that wonderful Marxian underpinning principle — “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”.
Imagine a world where everyone got paid the same amount of money NO MATTER what they chose to do. Where each person worked a job without the motivation of wanting to make a crapload of cash. Where the role of every person in society was valued as much as the next, as it should be. It’s the very reason why I’ve always argued that the world would be over not if all the doctors disappeared tomorrow, but if all the garbage collectors did.
But I digress. This isn’t a piece about the just society that pure Marxian political philosophy tries to paint, which anyway will never work in a world when it’s applied to impure actors (in the same way pure capitalism can’t work either).
No. This is a call out to people who find themselves working in jobs they can’t stand where the main or only lure is money.
To those who are passionate or driven by something but who have shied away from that path because they’ve been caught up in the hype of only seeing $$ as the main signifier of worth, both literally and figuratively.
I know I’ve oversimplified this argument. I know that I’m privileged in that I live in the developed world in the semi-socialist-market-economy “lucky” country of Australia. That I’ve received a great education, have access to pretty solid health care, clean water, fresh foodm, don’t have dependents etc etc
And I’m definitely NOT arguing that EVERY person currently in a role where they earn a $hitload of money isn’t doing it for the right reasons or because they are not passionate about it.
“Who would want to be a garbage collector? A rodent exterminator? A cab driver? A politician?”
But I do wonder at the kind of world we would be if more people were able to make choices about their working lives that did not have the imperative of earning a wage as the key reason behind why they would do it.
I can hear the naysayers — “Who would want to be a garbage collector? A rodent exterminator? A cab driver? A politician?” — or any other number of jobs that some people turn their noses down at, and wrongfully so.
I don’t buy that argument. I honestly believe that if we lived in a world where money wasn’t a key driver to choose what you do for work , we would still see people gravitate to jobs right across the industrial spectrum.
Who’s not to say that the lawyer who loves the performance aspect of their craft wouldn’t be an actor instead?
That the talk-show host who loves to chew your ear off wouldn’t be a cab driver?
The basketballer who just loves to keep fit wouldn’t be a garbage collector?
That many people would realise their interests and skillset can be applied to a whole range of things?
So, the moral to this tale is not to go out and work in a job you love that doesn’t pay much and end up terribly unhappy because you can’t put food on the table.
But by the same token, don’t underestimate that doing something merely or mostly because it excites or stimulates you, rather than the pay-packet, might have untold rewards, the key ones being happiness and satisfaction.
