Introduction
The 21st-century world is fast and dynamic. Technology has advanced and every aspect of the traditional human life is almost diminished. Historically, inhabitants of this planet have had to perform some activities that center on self-fulfillment and satisfaction. One of the oldest activities that human beings have come to accept as part of life is work. Work defines the basic meaning of life.
Without work, it is almost impossible to move the world forward and the pursuit of dreams, economic development, and a better life will grind to a halt. Additionally, the demands of the 21st-century world have led to a situation where people have to decide if they work to live or live to work. The former presents a situation where people have no choice and they have to work to be assured of a good life.
The latter on the other hand presents a situation where people work but they do it as part of life and not necessarily to survive. The above situations bring to the fore one critical element of work ethic which is unique to every human being. To better explore and understand the “work to live and live to work” debate, it is important to understand each concept involved.
Concepts
Work can be defined as the simple drive behind the undertaking of a task and completing it. However, completion does not necessarily define work. One can undertake a task and fail to complete it but the fact that some initiative and energy were injected into it, it qualifies as work. Life, on the other hand, is a complicated concept that can be defined through different prisms including biology, religion and general theory.
Life comprises of a living organism’s ability to maintain crucial life processes and the subsequent existence within a defined continuum. It is prudent to point out that if a biological organism has life, then it is subject to mortality which in this case is the continuum that will define life.
Work to live & live to work
The current world population is slightly over six billion people. All these people belong to one of these classes: work to live and live to work.
Working to live is a description that is given to people who work purposely to earn a living. This group of people has their interests elsewhere and they only work because it is a means to an end. People who work to live don’t consider work as the most important thing in their lives and sometimes they try to gain the maximum they can from their work with less effort.
Living to work, on the other hand, describes people whose lives center around their jobs and careers. Success in these people’s careers is a major satisfaction and gives meaning to their lives.
Some of these people are in it for the money while some are not. However, climbing up the corporate ladder is a common aspiration that these people share. People who live to work consider corporate success important and a benchmark to judge the success of other people.
As mentioned earlier, “working to live or living to work” represents two classes where most people in the world belong. Also, it brings to the fore the important aspect of work ethic from an individual perspective. It is difficult to determine which of the two is appropriate or beneficial to the individuals that adopt them.
Belonging to any of the groups mainly depends on one’s perception of work and ambitions in life. Precisely, it depends on the innate desire by a person to be defined in a particular way.
One of the most important perspectives in determining work ethic and choosing between working to live and living to work is striking balance as far as working is concerned. Self-knowledge on one’s work attitudes is crucial in developing realistic work expectations and in the choosing of career paths and employers.
Several scholars have asserted that there is no particular part of the two that is more beneficial than the other. It all depends on an individual and how much input he/she is prepared to put into it. Some observers allude that in most Scandinavian countries, people work to live while in the United States, people live to work. The above observation is not proven yet but it is a general pointer of the attitudes of two different demographic groups.
Despite the differences, the two societies, however, display the highest levels of both social and economic development. In a way, therefore, if the two societies were to represent the two views about working to live and living to work, we can correctly assert that it doesn’t matter which side one is on. Focus and smartness are the primary determinants to success.
Conclusion
It is important to note that work is an important part of a human being’s lives and regardless of where one belongs in the work and life debate desire to excel is paramount to success. Human beings are dynamic and every individual is unique and therefore some people will always work to live while others will live to work