Jonas Altman - Shapers

By knowing what you value and how you are valued, you can blend yourself into your work. That feeling that you're making a real difference is unmistakable. And when you're a part of something larger than yourself, meaning is bound to come.

We glorify love and work and indeed the two are forever enmeshed in an intricate dance. ‘They are also locked in mortal combat,’ claims philosopher Alain de Botton. Like love, work is a practice–a daily operation that, over time, shapes the fabric of our lives.

This business of finding fulfilling work is no easy feat. With less replication, stability, and certainty, we've gained more choice in work, but we've also encountered a sweeping sense of self‐doubt. Never has the burden on the self been so damn heavy. Amidst more uncertainty, we yearn for a sense of control often found by succumbing to that taunting voice in our heads to do more. But we don't need to control everything to get a good outcome.

We have to take time for ourselves to quieten the inner critic, manage our anxiety, and minimise our stress. I'm exhausted just thinking about it, let alone writing about it. This approach all adds up to a thick layer of emotional labour that's rarely talked about or valued, much less quantified or even seen.

Meaning, if and when it shows up, can be beautifully random and randomly beautiful. And work, whether or not we like it, is a popular laboratory for making meaning. Like love, we throw ourselves into it. We encounter it. We fall into it. Sometimes we do so as a diversion from other facets of our lives. Other times we do so to move just that bit closer to our dreams. And in some instances, we do both.

Is it any wonder, then, that we feel stifled when we can't see ourselves making progress in work? That we feel disillusioned when the career ladder has collapsed and our attempts to impact our communities and leave a mark on the world has become more challenging? Work progression now resembles a labyrinth, and we're left feeling stunted as the result. This topsy‐turvy trajectory gets frustrating, even infuriating. But shapers find that it's precisely this psychologically uncomfortable feeling that leads to meaningful change.

These times where things don't quite go as well as expected, can, if we're open to it, lead to the most interesting of new horizons. We have an opportunity to nurture our talent, fuel our interest, and make an even bigger impact in the world. The only question is whether we're ready to do so.

Throughout history, work was mostly miserable with little if any room for self‐expression. As punishment for the Original sin, drudgery was a potential stairway to heaven. Modern management commands productivity and progress while our attitudes towards work becomes bound to time on the clock. With the advent of the Internet, we are untethered from our desk and provided with endless opportunities to express ourselves. We're now set on giving life to the multitude of selves within us.

The port of Athens, with its colourful walks of life, was the perfect backdrop to waxing lyrical on the best way to live. Plato and his gang (Socrates, Glaucon, and co.) would cruise the buzzing streets of Piraeus intoxicated by the sights and sea. It was in this serene setting that Plato began shaping the world's most important philosophical work.

Platonic idealism (alongside the ancient Greek philosophies) was instrumental in giving rise to democracy and laying the bedrock of modern Western civilisation. ‘There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers,’ is one of his finer lines.

In Plato's Republic, the ideal state is divided into three distinct classes: the Producers, who provide material and functional needs; the Auxiliaries, who defend the state; and the Guardians, who govern it. Justice is maintained when every person within a respective class performs his or her proper function in society.

For a long time, I was hung up on a philosopher who lived some 2400 years ago proclaiming the best way for everyone to live, and in particular how I should live. Oh, the gall to speak of the desires of my soul and then exclude them from expression! Admittedly those were different times and I've grossly oversimplified things.

Still, it would be fun to see the expression on Plato's face were he dropped into a present‐day Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo. Gobsmacked! He rubs his eyes repeatedly, not from the neon lights (although those nearly blind him) but from how technology and mankind move in unison together. With his jaw dropped well below his chiton, we could explain that the world is connected through a vast wired network, that large containers whisk us through the sky high above oceans, and from time to time we travel to other bodies in the galaxy.

Or better yet, if we could travel back in time to Piraeus circa 380 BC and demonstrate our progress as a civilisation. As writer Tom Streithorst hints, ‘With an AK‐47, a home brewing kit, or a battery‐powered vibrator, startled [onlookers] would worship at our feet.’ Imagine still yet, if we were to explain that we've designed machines that actually learn. They can play, paint, sing, write, dance, see, drive, fly and so much more—abiding by whatever program we set. Dearest Plato, the cherished functions of the soul are now augmented by mechanical minds that we've designed in our image.

And technological advancements have shaped and continue to transform work in unimaginable ways. We've even come up with a snazzy name for this era: the Fourth Industrial Revolution. These super‐intelligent instruments are integral to our lives and when used, not abused, can make our work culture oh so colourful.

This is by no means a detailed summation of the history of work. It's purposefully brief so that we may get quicker to the heart of the matter. You will notice the terms work and job used liberally. While a conception of both can be housed under the efforts to procure the means of survival, I use work much more expansively. The discerning qualities of each are as follows:

Job: compensated or waged activities formally provided to an employer. The market determines financial compensation. Features a psychological contract and a veil of security.

Work: deliberate activities engaged to achieve a goal of subjective significance. May or may not be compensated. A contract is not necessary, only the requisite motivation and resilience to accomplish something for the self and the greater good.

The concept of work continues to mutate and our attitudes are still playing catch up. Sometimes we can't see the bigger picture. The issue is not what role the individual should play in society. But it's to do with approaches to, and beliefs about, work. What constitutes work? What do we value? And why are so many of us dissatisfied in the work we do?

The word for work in Greek is Ponos. It originates from the Latin poena, meaning sorrow. The ancient Greeks, as well as the Hebrews and medieval Christians, viewed work as a curse. At its base, work was pain and drudgery. It was the divine punishment for man's original sin and my God were we meant to atone for it.

As a religious responsibility, work allowed little room for self‐expression. The ‘do what you love’ mantra touted by life hackers and career advice columnists today would be extremely suspect. The value that was found in work came irrespective of the extrinsic reward. You worked in exchange for a non‐stop first‐class ticket to heaven. Without the benefit of contemplation or control, acceptance of one's duty was pretty palatable.