Job versus Work

There is a big difference between job and work. Job is the task given to you by an organization. It is specifically outlined in your job description document. It usually focuses on your job title specifications.

However work is something else. It is contributional. It comes from the core of generosity and openness. It not necessarily focuses on job requirements only but it extends to include other contributional tasks for the humanity sake.

Now you maybe wondering: What is the point? I want to focus on the job because I am paid for it. What’s the use of doing extra work in which I don’t see direct monetary benefits? Well that is not the case. I understand the part we come from where the exchange of efforts for money has become a fundamental part of our lives. But there is something else we are forgetting. It is the difference we seek to make and the long lasting impact we long to cause in the community and society.

Sometimes it feels like we are living like zombies, doing what we are being told, following the rules strictly and adhering only to our job requirements. But when you look at the human potential, what work you are willing to share and put your emotional labour in it? How can we expand ourselves, step in the market with our gained knowledge and experience and share and contribute?

When you encourage your mind to think outside the job box, you realize you are missing on a lot. You find you have been hiding and suppressing your humanity genius.

The benefits you get when you switch from job to work are first you get to collaborate with people in your industry and network too.

Second you get to use your transferrable skills in a wider context. For example if you have been teaching only academic courses in your higher education institute, you could also offer teaching and training courses in other private and public sector organizations in your industry.

Third you get to understand the progress and wide perspective of the industry you are in. You find out which institutes are moving faster in the market, what skills shortage there is, what is your competition and how you could position yourself in the industry.

Fourth you would get different ideas of work environments practiced in the different institutes of the industry. You gain the different mindsets and culture adopted and which one fits with your preferred mindset.

Finally work is art in itself. When you move from job to work, you would stop complaining about the lack of recognition and appreciation from the management. Because now you are not only an employee of that organization but you are an emotional labourer for the industry and community as a whole.