How to Be Awake at Work

When we think of work, we often think of drudgery, frustration and stress.  For too many of us, work is the last place we think of if today is our last day on this earth.  Few people expect work to be happy, full of joy and satisfaction.  In fact many people said that it's because of family and life that they have to work.

We spend 2/3 of our lives at work, and all our studies in schools are for preparation of work.  If work is really such a pain, aren't we become 'miserable' beings instead of human beings?

Rather than consider work as difficult, can we instead acknowledge work, with all its difficulties, as an invitation to wake up and live our lives honestly and fully?

I believe that if we all can awake to the fact that work is actually a means to make us more human, we will consider work as something good to have.

There are 5 things that Work is Good for Us:

1. It is the best training ground for life skills.  A person cannot be street-smart until he has working experience.  In fact even the universities are not as good as work experience, that's why people without degree do even better than those with degree. 
2. Work extends our life.  You may find this funny, with all the stress, how can work extend our lives?  The truth is that stress can be positive or negative.  Scientists said that positive stress will propel us to be better not just mentally but also physically.  In fact many people report being less energetic and healthy once they retire. Isn't this obvious that work extends our life?
3. It brings in good money. Without work, where on earth can we find the money to buy house, get married and have kids?
4. We learn many things from work. In fact work spurs us to have continuous education, training and development.  Among all things I learnt this most important skill from work: how to deal with difficult people.
5. Work gives us the opportunity to be awake. When we make mistakes, we get punished, scolded or even sacked.  Such consequences actually keep us on our toes, and we end up being a better person.

In short, work is good and we need to be awaken to this fact. Once we realize this, we will be awaken at work.

By Andy Ng of Asia Trainers, details here.