Working For Your (Inner) Self

Now, money is very useful. Everything in "modern life" is geared to it. You need as much of this fine stuff as possible. If you already have a regular private income or have enough stashed away to keep you going for the rest of your days, then you don't really need to carry on reading this stuff. Just do as you please.

Otherwise, "money should be made first and last." It's nice to be generous. There are stories of Bedu in Arabia literally giving away all they possessed to strangers! Noble perhaps, but not very wise (what happened after the stranger had moved on, one wonders). It's probably best to be generous only with your time. Or better still, overcome the need to be generous at all! Do you really owe anything to anybody else? And contrary to popular myth (but as Huey Lewis correctly sang), "time ain't money". If you disagree, try buying your groceries with it!

Although the "alternative economy" advocates a barter-based system of exchange, the rest of the world might not agree just yet. Anyway, be stingy with your hard-earned cash. Weigh the spending of each and every penny!

"Work", in the commonly understood sense, may be defined as activity to generate income. Work as little as possible, then, and as much as necessary to cover your needs. What work can an enlightened person do to earn his living? Unfortunately, generating income usually involves interaction with others.

In general, when you are in need of funds, you should always "follow the money". Whenever there is a man prepared to pay (ie, when the work is there, and the guy is calling for you, which means that you don't have to go through the ordeal of "selling yourself") - take it on and do it! As long as by so doing you are not compromising your principles too much.

But work honestly and clear the work you are paid to do. There will be time enough for leisure when there is no work available.

When you boil it all down, any kind of work is little better than any other. Working for someone else always involves the tension of the "master-servant" relationship. Even in a service environment like being "self-employed" through an agent. The true test is whether you have to follow hours set by someone else! The only way to be free of this tension is to be self-employed and selling something that you produce or offer yourself. No need for a CV when you reach that happy state of affairs.

On the other hand, your real work is what is sometimes referred to as your "life's work". This is what you were born to do. Your true vocation. And nothing to do with "career" and "on-target earnings" and all the rest of that 1980's nonsense. If you have organized things properly, or are just very lucky, your life's work and work to earn your living should be one and the same. This should definitely be one of your main aims. Otherwise, your life's work may have to be continued on an as-and-when basis, or wait until you are in a position to retire from earning altogether.

That great sage Henry David Thoreau wisely stated: "If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy – that is your success." No need, then, for "careers" and such to follow. No need to be in the rat race, or a hamster in the wheel!

Freelance self-employed is the preferred mode. Suitable vocations for the solitary worker include, for example the computer programmer, the painter (as in artist, not decorator), or the writer. These all traditionally evoke an image of impoverishment for the majority and financial success but for the few. For instance, poets of yore typically took a vow of poverty and lived in their garrets. Yes, they were just like us! Would they have made more of a contribution beavering away on someone's payroll? Doubtful. Can you name even one labourer or assembly-line worker that history has remembered?

Self-employed tradesmen (such as the electrician, the mechanic, the plumber etc.) can probably earn more than poets, but on the other hand are more exposed to the stress of the so-called "real world". No, you're better off living simply (cheaply) and "working" only when absolutely necessary, in my humble opinion.