Workview 2026-01-24

This is my Workview (Designing Your Life ) as of 24 January 2026.

Work is what we do productively with our lives. It can incorporate activities from other areas of life like play or worship or social interaction, but it doesn’t have to. We work to produce and to provide service. Ideally (and ostensibly) it’s done for the preservation and betterment of our communities. Those communities can exist at any scale from hyper-local to worldwide.

Why work though? I work out of practicality and need, but I also work as a means of self-fulfillment.

Practically, my job (though work encompasses more than just our jobs) provides money (though work doesn’t have to come with monetary benefit) to support myself and my family. My current job also produces something very practical, as opposed to something fun or aesthetic.

I also attach a self-fulfilling value to work. I expect — and to some degree need — my work to provide a sense of personal fulfillment. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, but it means that work which is in some way at odds with my sense of self (ethically, aesthetically, politically, socially, spiritually, etc.) is likely to be a source of stress even if the work itself is going well.

I believe that part of our purpose of purpose is to join in creation, to be co-creators with God. This is a topic that probably deserves to be dug down into and expanded upon. For now, suffice it to say that good work that aligns with your true identity and your vocation (calling, not profession) is a spiritual act. Work that is not aligned in this way can be a source of spiritual stress.

Work can be your job, your career, your profession, but it’s also doing laundry, practicing a musical instrument, many forms of caring for others, planting a garden, cooking a meal, etc…

Good work builds up, supports, develops, assists, enlightens. Bad work extorts, coerces, manipulates, harms, tears down, belittles, disadvantages.