Workview

by Sherman Leung

I've been taking a d.school course called "Designing your Life" taught by Dave Evans. As part of this course, we were asked to write about our "workview" as a general statement about what is and what it means to us.

Given that this is a question with some long-lasting implications, I wanted to post it here to give myself a reference to look back on when I actually started working.

My view of work, specifically the reasons behind working, can be comprised as three interlocking circles:

  1. Supporting one's livelihood and family
  2. Personal passion/interest for the role
  3. Impact on one's community and the world, in general

The sweetspot of work for me falls somewhere in the intersection of these three circles. I don't believe there's a fomulaic balance that should be ideal. Instead, I think a person that is satisfied with his/her work is meeting a minimum bar for each of these circles.

A more interesting conversation is perhaps what should be prioritized if these bars cannot be met. To that question, I believe the order should naturally follow the order of the reasons above.

Furthermore, one's career doesn't stay stagnant over time. I'm a strong proponent of the idea that there's more to life than just one career. If 7 years is a good measure of how long it takes to master something, than I intend on making the most of the opportunities I have to be truly great at something. We have lifetimes to live within the one we're given, and I think we can make the most out of it by allowing one lifetime to pass before starting a brand new one.

Finally, I wanted to apply some of the teachings I had this summer from a program called Marketplace SV. In this program, we delved deep into a Christian perspective of the theology of work. Specifically, how we as humans have been commissioned to do good work on the earth since Genesis. In one of the talks we heard through the program (by Dave Evans himself actually), we explored how faith when applied to work can lead to an open-ended exploration of what exactly our calling is. Instead of chasing after the "correct" calling at each fork in our lives, as Christians, we need only be concerned about seeking the Kingdom of God first.