Paul Nervy Notes
“Jokes, poems, stories, and a lot of philosophy, psychology, and sociology.”


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Work.  ---  .This section is about various other thoughts on work.  Topics include: ( ) Related subjects.  ( ) The big question is.  ( ) The search for meaningful work.  ( ) Types of work.  ( ) What is work.  ---  1/24/2006


Work.  ---  "Be part of the solution, not part of the problem", so the saying goes.  Do work that helps the world.  Don't sell out for a buck.  ---  3/30/2007  ---  *


Work.  ---  (1) Argument to do what you value.  You will be interested in it.  You will work hard at it.  You will enjoy it and be happy.  (2) Arguments to not do what you value.  It will become like work.  You will begin to despise it.  ---  1/28/2005


Work.  ---  (1) Change in person's: needs, desires, and abilities.  (2) Change in businesses.  (3) Change in economy.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  (1) Do not focus on how to make a living.  That is to say, do not focus on simply making money.  (2) Focus on figuring out what are the problems in the world.  Focus on figuring out what you can do to help solve the problems of the world.  Find a worthy cause.  ---  11/22/2005


Work.  ---  (1) Everyone should be doing something useful.  (2) Everyone should be doing something they enjoy.  (3) Two problems:  (A) People doing things they enjoy but that are not useful.  (B) People doing things that are useful but that they do not enjoy.  ---  5/30/2005


Work.  ---  (1) In work, and in life generally, doing what you think is enjoyable versus doing what you think needs to be done.  At some point the latter outweighs the former.  (2) Doing what you think needs to be done, even if no one pays you for it.  At some point you may feel that it is worthwhile to do something even if no one pays you for it.  This is the crux of the matter.  The question is not what would you continue to do if you were rich and had a million dollars.  The question is not what would you do if someone paid you.  The question is what would you continue to do even if you were not getting paid.  The question is what would you continue to do even if you were poor.  ---  2/10/2007  ---  *


Work.  ---  (1) Making a living (making money) versus (2) Enjoying life versus (3) Making a difference (doing some good).  The third is most important.  ---  5/15/2007


Work.  ---  (1) The males who dislike working with women dislike it because (A) They only like hanging out with male co-workers, or (B) Because they resent being ruled over by women.  (2) The males who like working with women like it because  (A) They like hanging out with women co-workers, (i) Because they are effeminate, or (ii) Because they are heterosexual wolves, or (iii) Because they are wimps who want mommies, or (iv) Because they are submissive to women.  (B) Because they like being ruled over by a woman boss, because they are submissive.  ---  01/01/1994


Work.  ---  (1) They do not like you.  (2) You do not do a good job.  (3) If 1 and 2 are the case, then you are fired.  If only 1 is the case, then you are fired.  If only 2 is the case, then you are fired.  That is, you only keep your job if they like you and you do a good job.  Do not make mistakes.  If you do, you set yourself up for periodic sacrifice.  All organizations have scapegoats.  Fu*k up, and you risk losing job, school, career, and life.  ---  06/10/1994


Work.  ---  (1) What is the study of work?  (2) Why do work?  To get goals, solve problems, avoid mistakes, survive better.  (3) Why study work?  (4) How do work?  (5) How study work?  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  (1) Willing to do or not.  (2) Want to do or don't.  (3) Actually do or don't.  (4) Enjoy or don't.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  (1) Work at its best: Choosing to produce useful goods and services to further environmental sustainability and social justice.  (2) Work at its worst: Forced to produce useless junk and toxic poisons.  ---  6/12/2005


Work.  ---  (1) Work is dangerous: we put ourselves on line everyday.  Work is exhausting: giving your all, going all out, is tiring.  (2) Check every detail like it was a knot holding your life.  Your job and life may depend on it.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  (1) Work is sometimes used by a government or a corporation as a form of mind control to prevent people from thinking.  For example, work till exhaustion.  (2) Work is sometimes used by an individual as a form of mind control to prevent themselves from thinking.  For example, avoidance via workaholism.  (3) Do you want to be a mindless, obedient cog in the system, avoiding the responsibility of leading a thoughtful, engaged life?  No.  ---  6/12/2005


Work.  ---  (1) You become what you do.  (2) Do something that you believe in.  (3) Do what you like most and what you believe in most.  ---  8/20/2003  ---  *


Work.  ---  (1) You may not be able to get the job you want.  (2) You may not be able to get the job you deserve based on your abilities.  (3) You may not be able to get the job you are qualified for by academic or occupational credentials.  (4) You may not be able to get any job.  ---  6/15/2001


Work.  ---  (1) Your talents and capabilities vs. (2) your likes and dislikes vs. (3) your wants and needs.  ---  12/27/2003  ---  *


Work.  ---  A common work quandary: prostitution vs. destitution.  ---  5/8/2002  ---  *


Work.  ---  A large part of work in corporate America is pretending to look busy.  Is this how you want to spend your life?  Pretending to look busy?  Another large part of work in corporate America is pretending to look important.  Is this how you want to spend your life?  Pretending to be important?  If not, then maybe corporate non-life is not for you.  ---  11/8/2004  ---  *


Work.  ---  Abuse not to take: bossing, discrimination, unfair competition.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Advancement by luck, nepotism, favors, looks, sex, seniority, merit, discrimination (age sex ethnic race religion), favoritism.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Age.  The young kids, feeling full of energy, optimistic, looking forward to work, happy and glad to work.  The old timers, tired, bitter, hate work.  Who's right?  ---  08/30/1996


Work.  ---  An important question regarding work is, "Who is more annoying, coworkers, managers or customers?"  ---  4/21/2005


Work.  ---  Any work is physically and mentally demanding because you don't want to be there.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Anything more than 40 hours a week enslaves people by denying them the time to educate themselves to get out of the job.  ---  1/2/2005


Work.  ---  At some jobs there are a few people who feel compelled to work longer hours than anyone else.  They also feel the need to know more about the business than anyone else.  They claim to be dedicated.  Yet sometimes people act this way because they are so afraid of losing their job they want to feel irreplaceable.  Another reason can be they have such low self esteem they have a need to feel superior to others. They have low self worth and they have the need to prove their self worth by being better than everyone else.  ---  12/28/2003


Work.  ---  At some point you will be put on a project that is completely useless and a total waste of time and money.  How much this bothers you will depend in part on how valuable you consider your time to be, that is, how valuable you consider yourself to be.  If you cannot tolerate it at all perhaps you are too self-important.  ---  5/26/2001


Work.  ---  At work, should I spend every minute working as hard as I can for the company?  Some say yes.  Some say no.  Some jobs involve waiting.  I.e., sitting around doing nothing, not working.  ---  10/31/1999


Work.  ---  Attitudes towards work.  Rebel, rock and roll (confrontational) vs. cowering fear (obedient, conforming).  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Big question.  In any culture or time, the question is how odious work, and how much work gets you how good a life and how long a life?  Will it pay for the things a person feels they need and want (stuff and experiences)?  Today you need ten dollars an hour at forty hours a week, minimum, in NYC area to survive meagerly and save meagerly.  ---  09/15/1993


Work.  ---  Bitter work rant.  (1) There are no jobs today that require intelligence and creativity.  Almost every job has been specialized and dumbed down to a robotic level.  (2) Therefore, there is no job that will satisfy me, make me happy, or make the most of my talents.  (3) Money is not a lure for me.  Prestige is not a lure for me.  (4) The work world lies when it says that smart, creative, joyful work awaits.  Most people believe this lie and waste all their time and all their lives for a false promise.  Of the rest, many of the few who can see the predicament cannot see any escape, their lack of imagination prevents them from envisioning a better alternative.  Many of the few who can see the predicament are too apathetic to care if they are fodder for the system.  I feel particularly for the bright and sensitive minds lured into becoming doctors, lawyers, mba's, and programmers.  How strongly did you believe?  How completely were you used?  Is there anything left?  ---  10/28/2001


Work.  ---  By rebelling you risk losing livelihood.  By kissing ass you risk losing soul, self.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Can you do it?  For how long?  With what effects: (1) Adverse effects, (2) Stagnate, (3) Grow?  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Change in work through the centuries.  (1) Self sustainability.  Be your own boss.  Set your own hours.  See the results of your labor.  (2) Industrialization.  Factories.  Assembly lines.  Be at work on time.  Work long hours for little pay.  (3) Service economies.  Knowledge economies.  Work products increasingly intangible.  ---  10/30/2005


Work.  ---  Company man vs. union man.  ---  12/30/1992  ---  *


Work.  ---  Computer model: boot up, load up software, run.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Conservative stuffy businesses vs. liberal hip businesses.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Corporate life is an oxymoron.  ---  11/8/2004  ---  *


Work.  ---  Corporate life.  Ninety percent of corporate America is a joke.  Its just a cushy pillow for a few, not particularly impressive, people, who do not particularly impressive work.  Of that ninety percent, those who take corporate life very seriously, making it into a lifestyle or even a religion, we can only pity those self-important true-believers.  ---  6/17/2001


Work.  ---  Corporate types who work more than 8 hours a day are like scabs.  Unions fought hard to get an eight hour workday.  Anything more is being a scab.  ---  6/24/2002


Work.  ---  Could do vs. couldn't.  (1) Innate limits and abilities, psychological and physical, now and future.  Environmental limits, personal and societal.  (2) Interest: things like and don't.  (3) Talent: things good at and not.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Critique of the modern American work system.  Crud jobs in crud companies in a crud system.  People take these jobs because they are up to their eyeballs in debt, the result of a lifetime of consumer spending due to brainwashing by advertisers.  People take these jobs because they cannot think critically about work.  People take these jobs because they can not envision an alternative.  People give up, people give in.  People do what everyone else is doing.  People do what advertisers tell them to do.  Trapped in crud jobs because they want to pay their mortgages and put their kids through college.  Trapped in crud jobs because the cost of housing is so high.     PART TWO.  Do not get a mortgage, and do not have kids.  Do not buy a lot of things, do not get yourself into credit card debt.  Have minimal expenses.  Be a Progressive activist.  Save the world.  ---  5/10/2007


Work.  ---  Critique of work.  Fewer corporations are paying a living wage.  Fewer and fewer corporations are offering a benefits plan or a pension.  Meanwhile CEO's are getting paid higher salaries.  Meanwhile corporations are getting richer and more powerful.  Down with multinationals.  Down with corpratocracy.  ---  5/13/2007


Work.  ---  Critique of work.  Wages are too low compared to the cost of living.  People are forced to work two jobs, giving workers less time for education to improve their life chances, and giving workers less time to raise their children.  Too many workers have no health benefits.  Meanwhile corporations report higher profits than ever, at the expense of workers and consumers.  ---  1/2/2007


Work.  ---  Crunching numbers on the cube farm.  Where is nature?  Where is the sensory overload of a walk down an autumn lane?  ---  1/14/2002


Work.  ---  Customers.  Customers are like bombs ready to go off.  Customers are like spoiled children.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Definition of work: People doing tasks they don't enjoy with people they don't like.  ---  2/24/2003  ---  *


Work.  ---  Do not go for the easiest job.  Do not go for the highest paying job.  Do some good.  ---  5/9/2007  ---  *


Work.  ---  Do something that you can put your entire self into.  All your time and energy.  All your thought and emotion.  Something you believe in.  A big challenge.  Something to obsess about.  Something good, ethical.  Solve a problem.  Don't settle.  Don't sell out.  ---  11/14/2005


Work.  ---  Do what you love.  Because, like Maslow hierarchy of needs, once you have solved all you practical needs, you turn to self-actualization needs.  ---  8/25/2006


Work.  ---  Do what you love.  My work experiences have shown me that Abraham Maslow's theory of a "hierarchy of needs" seems to apply to the world of work, in that once you get a job that satisfies your survival needs, you start itching for a job that satisfies your self-actualization needs.  This is an argument for doing what you love, rather than doing what is practical.  ---  12/16/2006


Work.  ---  Eight hours a day at work is too much time to spend working on anything other than projects that uphold your highest ideals.  ---  12/16/2006


Work.  ---  Elements that affect how well you work.  (1) Environment: natural or manmade environment.  (2) Social: people you encounter.  (3) Individual: psychological factors: high t, brain chemicals; physical factors (like diet, sleep, etc).  (4) How they affect productivity (quantity, speed), quality, efficiency, and effectiveness.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Elements.  (1) Tasks.  (2) Decisions: power, freedom.  (3) Responsibility.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Elements.  Job requirements: mental, emotional, and physical energy.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Elements.  Money, social status, fame.  Do you like the activity?  Can anyone do it or just a few (psychological and physical ability)?  Who likes x activity well enough to do it long and well enough to excel at it and get paid for it?  Others may do it poorly because they don't like it, or have no talent for it (ex. research).  ---  07/30/1996


Work.  ---  Elements.  Power over, power under, independence.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Elements.  Stress vs. peace, caused by task, risk, customers, intra-competition, inter-competition.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Elements.  Talent vs. effort vs. accomplishment.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Employers should cut some slack for employees who quit coffee if they fall asleep at work.  ---  10/27/2003


Work.  ---  Ethics of work.  It matters what you do for a living.  Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.  Working to earn a living occupies a large portion of your life, so make sure that what you are doing is worthy of you.  Money is not the ultimate value.  ---  5/29/2007  ---  *


Work.  ---  Everyone dislikes their jobs and coworkers.  Everyone gets home pissed off at the end of day.  Deal with it.  Make the best of it.  Make the most of the situation.  ---  3/2/2006


Work.  ---  Fears of robots ruling the world in the near future?  Get a clue.  Ass-kissing, workaholic robots already run the earth; they are called "managers".  ---  8/31/2001  ---  *


Work.  ---  Feeling doubly bad about a job.  Sitting at a job feeling bad that you are wasting your life, time and abilities on a lame job, AND feeling bad that you are enabling an unjust system, industry or company.  That is to say, doing work that I do not like for a company that I do not agree with.  ---  3/2/2006


Work.  ---  Few people in the work world really care what college you went to or what grades you earned in college.  What matters is how you perform in the work world.  ---  3/18/2006


Work.  ---  Good job vs. bad job (traits).  Good worker vs. bad worker (traits).  Good boss vs. bad boss (traits).  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Headset headaches.  Some people are forced to wear wireless headsets at work.  For example, employees at Borders Books and Office Depot.  The headsets let the employees speak to each other.  Being required to wear a headset at work is a nuisance.  While wearing a headset, a person is constantly interrupted.  While wearing a headset, a person cannot be alone with their thoughts.  While wearing a headset, a person cannot talk to customers without interruption.  ---  11/10/2006


Work.  ---  High school interns.  I have confidence that, if need be, high school interns can work every job in this country.  Just give them the weekend to cram.  Those kids are smart.  And the jobs out there in the work world have been dumbed way down.  The adults in the workplace who consider themselves to be irreplaceable are woefully self-deceived.  ---  4/29/2001  ---  *


Work.  ---  Hours * effort = results.  Hours is what counts.  Effort is always maximum.  ---  4/22/1999


Work.  ---  How many people are doing jobs they do not like for companies with whom they do not agree?  Many people are in this difficult situation.  ---  2/28/2006


Work.  ---  How many people will say to their employer, "This job is a waste of my time and ability."?  ---  12/6/2005


Work.  ---  How much can you, and should you, relax on the job?  Stay competitive, driven, focused.  Anyone can screw you, including yourself.  Chit chat and sitting around, how much and how far to stray from work subjects?  ---  10/25/1993


Work.  ---  How much shit to take and why?  None, ever.  What can they do to you, and can't?  What can you do back, and can't?   Capable vs. legal.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  How much shit will you put up with for how much money if you are in x situation or lifeshape.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  How to improve the world?  Make it green, environmentally sustainable.  Pursue social justice.  Ensure worker rights and consumer rights against exploitation by corporations.  ---  4/15/2007


Work.  ---  I do not call it my "job".  I call it my "chore", because it is repetitive, mindless and daily.  ---  8/10/2001  ---  *


Work.  ---  I don't have a career; I have a calling.  I like having a calling more than having a career.  ---  1/15/2006


Work.  ---  I want to do something useful, valuable, lasting, enduring, appreciated, respected, valued, admired.  ---  6/23/2006


Work.  ---  I'm becoming more of a serious, dedicated artist philosopher as I get older.  I am also becoming more of a Progressive leftist.  And that is affecting the types of jobs I feel comforatable doing.  I am less business oriented.  I am less computer oriented.  I am taking more "artist's day job" type of work.  ---  6/10/2006


Work.  ---  I'm taking bets on how log I will last at this job.  Will I last a week, a month, a year?  Also, I'm taking bets on how will I leave the job?  Will I be laid off, will I be fired, will I quit, or will I give two weeks notice?  Combine the two bets.  When you guess correctly about the cause of my departure, it will reduce by half the number of days between my actual departure date and your guess at my departure date.  When you guess incorrectly about the cause of my departure, it will double the number of days between my actual departure date and your guess at my departure date.  ---  5/20/2006


Work.  ---  I've combined work and Zen practice so now I can sit eight hours a day doing nothing.  ---  6/24/2002  ---  *


Work.  ---  If you give "nap" and "snack" to kids in school then you should also give "nap" and "snack" to workers on the job.  ---  9/11/2005


Work.  ---  If you work non-stop you are not a workaholic unless you are (A) Hurting yourself, (B) Ignoring, avoiding, or escaping important issues.  In fact, it is an ethical imperative to work non-stop if you are able to produce original and useful work (as opposed to unoriginal and non-useful work), and if you have a goal and it is reachable.  ---  10/10/1994


Work.  ---  Improving working conditions.  The owners and bosses have a tendency or temptation to oppress and exploit the workers.  Its a continual struggle to protect the rights of workers.  Problems include: Excessive control of workers.  Money gained at workers expense.  Dictatorial abuse of workers by bosses.  Safety conditions.  Child labor.  Women getting less pay.  Indentured servitude, sweatshops.  Triangle shirtwaist fire.  Invasion of privacy in work place.  Computers monitored.  Phone monitored.  Microphone monitors.  Camera monitors.  ---  5/12/2005


Work.  ---  In a situation where people are competing for position, some will try to compete unfairly by: (1) Harassing or annoying or provoking you.  Trying to get you to explode.  (2) Putting you down to other people behind your back.  Or unfairly taking credit behind your back.  (3) How to deal with these people?  ---  1/1/2002


Work.  ---  In cold climates work was viewed as good because back then work was physical activity and kept a person warm.  In the tropics work was viewed as bad because it overheated a person.  Thus you get an industrious northern culture and a lazy tropic culture, both acting out of survival instinct.  ---  3/30/1998


Work.  ---  In corporate America, you will be rewarded with money for following orders.  You will be rewarded with money for making money for the corporation.  You will be rewarded with money for throwing your life away.  ---  12/28/2006


Work.  ---  In the future everyone will have a Ph.D. level education and everyone will work fast-food level jobs.  ---  8/2/2001  ---  *


Work.  ---  In today's work world, specialization of labor is used to increase efficiency but it also increases worker boredom.  ---  9/12/2000


Work.  ---  Instead of saying "Do what you love.", one could also say, "Do what has meaning and value to you; so you don't feel like you wasted your life."  ---  3/20/2004  ---  *


Work.  ---  Is holding a job a satisfying end in itself?  Well, it is a good thing to manage to make use of some of your potential.  It requires effort.  So it is ok.  All some people have is their job, with no close relationships, kids, or extra-occupational goals.  ---  11/30/1996


Work.  ---  It boils down to this: when some people go to work they feel like they are making the most of their life and perhaps they are.  However, when other people (myself included) go to work they feel like they are wasting their life.  ---  9/17/2001


Work.  ---  It is a big mistake, and a common mistake, to think that a job is important if someone is paying you a lot of money to do the job.  ---  11/18/2005


Work.  ---  Its a mistake for people to let money decide what they will do with their lives.  People make the mistake of thinking that if they are paid to perform a task then the task must be a worthy pursuit.  People make the mistake of thinking that the more they get paid to do a task, the more worthy a pursuit is the task.  That is a big mistake.  That is a mistake quite often made by free market advocates.  People forget that other people will pay you to waste your life.  ---  10/30/2005


Work.  ---  Its exciting when you are doing what you are interested in, following your interests, following your dreams.  ---  4/3/2005


Work.  ---  Job principles.  (1) Almost all conventional jobs are boring bullshit.  And almost all conventional jobs support a bullshit corporate system that oppresses and exploits workers, customers, public, and the environment.  (2) Get a progressive job.  Make up your own job.  Do useful progressive stuff in your free time.  ---  8/9/2006


Work.  ---  Job.  Is the job (1) In sync vs. out of sync with your personality?  (2) Helping vs. hurting you overall?  (3) A breeze vs. can you barely hold it.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Jobs list.  (1) Shelter:  Electrician.  Plumber.  Carpenter.  Cabinet maker.  Hotel manager.  Hotel worker.  Campsite manager.  (2) Clothing:  Fashion designer.  Clothes factory worker.  Retail clothes sales.  Wholesale clothes sales.  Fiber farmer.  (3) Food:  Chef.  Restaurant owner.  Restaurant manager.  Cook.  Food factory worker.  Animal farmer.  (4) Transportation:  Cars, trucks, buses.  Bus driver.  Car factory worker.  Car mechanic.  Trains.  Train conductor.  Train factory worker.  Train mechanic.  Planes.  Airline pilot.  Airline stewardess.  Airplane factory worker.  Airplane mechanic.  Bicycle factory worker.  Bicycle mechanic.  Bicycle sales.  (5) Finances:  Stock brokers.  Investment bankers.  (6) Legal.  Lawyers.  Judges.  Paralegals.  (7) Medical:  Doctors.  Dentists.  Nurses.  Receptionists.  Orderlies.  (8) Communication:  Movies, television and radio.  Writers.  Directors.  Actors.  Books, magazines, journals, newspapers.  Writers.  Editors.  Printers.  (9) Computers and Internet:  Programmer.  Systems administrator.  Tech support.  ---  8/9/2006


Work.  ---  Jobs that I might have had if I was born years ago.  (1) I might have been a hunter had I been born 10,000 years ago.  (2) I might have been a farmer had I been born 1000 years ago.  (3) I might have been a factory work had I been born 100 years ago.  (4) I might be a computer worker today.  (5) What is next, in 100 years?  ---  5/6/2002


Work.  ---  Labor unions need to be effective.  Uncorrupted by organized crime.  Unsmashed by corporate power.  People need to be aware of arguments for labor unions.  ---  4/15/2005


Work.  ---  Life is priceless.  Therefore, my time is priceless.  Therefore, any wage paid by an employer for my time is underpay.  ---  1/7/2007  ---  *


Work.  ---  Looking for job.  "You have to market yourself.", they say.  "You have to sell yourself.", they say.  "You have to sell your soul", they risk.  I don't want to pimp myself to the highest bidder.  ---  4/24/2004  ---  *


Work.  ---  Management is out to get you fired.  Coworkers are out to get you fired.  Customers are out to get you fired.  ---  4/20/2006


Work.  ---  Management.  Don't let the responsibility (pressure) go to your head.  Don't let the power go to your head.  Don't become paranoid.  Don't underestimate rival threats.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Management.  Have a vision, and be able to enact it (ex. lower costs, improve services).  A vision that jibes with the organization, for the most part.  Overcome problems: yours and others, natural, psychological, and social problems.  Overcome opposition and obstacles.  Steer the ship for years.  ---  10/01/1993


Work.  ---  Management.  Leadership.  I am in charge.  Act like a leader.  Subordinates, customers, and competition must know the leader is (1) Sharp (knows what is going on), (2) Will take action against any bull shit.  You have to reflect these two things in your words and behavior.  Key question to ask, "How is everything going?".  ---  08/31/1993


Work.  ---  Management.  Responsibility for money, stuff, and people.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Management.  The performance appraisal evaluates your knowledge of job, accuracy, attitude, appearance, performance, and leadership skills.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Management.  When you are in charge, you are responsible for any mistakes or problems by anyone under you.  It is your job and career on the line.  We sink or swim together.  ---  08/31/1993


Work.  ---  Management.  Whips: driven to produce vs. chains: freedom on job.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Management's perception of worker vs. worker perception of management.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Me and Audrey are not in danger of losing our souls at work.  Rather the opposite extreme, we got so much soul we have to avoid being fired for it.  ---  09/20/1994  ---  *


Work.  ---  Me and work.  They want me.  The corporate world wants my talent, time, energy and mind.  They are not going to get it.  ---  6/7/2004  ---  *


Work.  ---  Me.  History of practice and attitudes.  Attitudes: (1) Can vs. can't do and why.  (2) Will do vs. won't do and why.  (3) Want to do vs. don't want to do and why.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Me.  If I have a good attitude, and work hard, then I can do well and move up and on.  If I flip out, or take poor attitude, then my career gets hurt.  ---  10/30/1996


Work.  ---  Me.  My attitude towards survival work.  (1) Boring, degrading, destroys spirit.  (2) Waste of time, energy, youth.  (3) Mind limiting, narrowing, and destroying.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Me.  My work history.  How hired, where hired, how long there.  How I liked it, how they liked me.  How I left place (fired, laid off, quit, gave notice).  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Meaning, fun and money.  PART ONE.  Three career choices:  (1) Make money.  (2) Have fun.  (3) Do something meaningful and useful.  (4) The right answer is to do something meaningful and useful.  PART TWO.  Fun hogs make the mistake of thinking that if 1 alone is wrong then 2 alone is right.  That is to say, fun hogs realize that merely making money is wrong.  However, fun hogs do not realize that merely having fun is also wrong.  Fun hogs realize that fun is a crucial element for life.  However, fun hogs do not realize that fun is necessary but not sufficient.  PART THREE.  Money hogs make the mistake of thinking that if 2 alone is wrong then 1 alone is right.  That is to say, money hogs realize that merely having fun is wrong.  However, money hogs do not realize that merely making money is also wrong.  Money hogs realize that money is a crucial element of life.  However, money hogs do not realize that money is necessary but not sufficient.  ---  10/17/2005


Work.  ---  Meaning, fun, and money.  (1) Work and money.  A person needs to make a living.  But it is a mistake when money becomes the overriding concern.    (2) Work and fun.  A person wants to enjoy making a living.  But its is a mistake when unproductive leisure becomes an overriding concern.  (2) Work and purpose.  A person wants to work for a good cause.  A person wants their work to be meaningful.  ---  10/30/2005


Work.  ---  Mind-numbing, mind-deadening work, versus, mind-nourishing, mind-expanding work.  The latter is better.  ---  12/22/2006


Work.  ---  Modern Work World.  Stupid Projects Department.  (1) People protecting their fiefdoms, job, money, or power.  (2) Wasted time doing nothing or doing useless make work.  (3) Feuds, vendettas and sniping.  ---  6/8/2001


Work.  ---  Money is a carrot.  Why spend all day chasing after a carrot?  Why not grow carrots instead?  ---  5/29/2007


Work.  ---  More differences in the nature of work.  (1) Being your own boss vs. working for others.  (2) Making the entire product yourself (craftsman) vs. making only a piece of the product.  (3) Meeting the customer face to face vs. never meeting the customer.  ---  5/20/2004


Work.  ---  Most important idea about work.  Pursue your ethical ideals even if it means low pay or no pay.  Pursue your ethical ideals even if you are unsuccessful in your efforts and do not achieve what you set out to do.  ---  5/27/2007  ---  *


Work.  ---  Most important ideas about work.  Do not sacrifice your principles and ideals for a buck.  Do not compromise.  Do not settle.  Do not sell out.  Learn to live on very little money.  ---  4/30/2007  ---  *


Work.  ---  Most important ideas.  (1) Most work is boring.  Most jobs are retard jobs.  (2) There are some tough jobs that entail big responsibility for others, complicated thinking, high pressure (time), and long work hours.  Examples, criminal lawyers, doctors.  ---  02/28/1998


Work.  ---  Most important ideas.  (1) You can make your job the focus of your life if you want, but it does not have to be, especially if you cannot find satisfying work.  (2) Continuing formal education is a great way to get a good job.  It does not matter how easy the school you go to in order to do it.  ---  10/30/1997


Work.  ---  Most important ideas.  Get a good education.  Get good pay, by finding fields with high demand and high pay.  Get a good boss, in a good company.  Know how to deal with assholes.  ---  10/05/1997


Work.  ---  Most important things I learned (1) About job in general.  (2) About job for me.  (3) In order to answer the interview question "What did you do and learn there?  Why did you leave?"  ---  04/04/1994


Work.  ---  Most people have their jobs by sheer luck.  Many other people can do your job just as well as you.  ---  3/18/2006


Work.  ---  Much white collar stress comes from knowing you are sitting on your butt doing nothing, and holding back the system with a "cover your ass", "status quo" attitude, while many others work long and hard, in poor physical environments, for shit pay, and have crap lives.  I believe in an honest days work for an honest days pay.  This attitude is healthy (psychologically and physically) and it feels good.  Less guilt, less repression, and less stress.  ---  10/30/1996


Work.  ---  No one can express all of their human potential through a job, because the nature of work today is specialization in one area, and you have human potential in many diverse areas.  Even creative workers, such as artists, get locked into professional styles and routines.  You have to work on your own to develop all your human potentials.  You have an obligation to yourself to do so.  This is an argument for a shorter work week.  If you rely on your job to maximize your potential then you will be sorely disappointed with work and with life in general.  ---  4/20/2000


Work.  ---  Occupational structure in a society.  (1) The number of different types of jobs in a society varies with the size of the population.  (2) The percentage of the work force that each occupation employs varies with the level of technology.  For examples, less developed technology necessitated that half the population work as farmers in America in 1900.  (3) This depends on how difficult each job is.  Depends on how much knowledge is required to do each job.  Depends on the knowledge ability of the workers.  Depends on how much time it takes to do each job.  (4) The number of occupations depends on how complex the society is, which depends on how many different problems and needs the society has.  For example, few needs and few problems creates a simple society with few types of jobs.  ---  7/30/2002


Work.  ---  Occupational typecasting is a common problem.  Many people think that your previous job experience determines your future job experience.  ---  8/5/2001


Work.  ---  Of course its boring.  Of course its too easy.  Of course its beneath you.  Its work.  ---  1/1/2002  ---  *


Work.  ---  One of the two is always the case:  Someone wants to get your job.  Or someone wants to eliminate your job.  Some unscrupulous types will try almost any dirty trick to do so.  ---  12/21/2002


Work.  ---  One problem is when a person cannot determine whether what one is doing for eight hours a day is worthwhile, or if it is a useless meaningless waste, or if it is counterproductive and harmful.  ---  4/2/2006


Work.  ---  One stupid slip up or mistake or ignorance or inattention can cost you your job or advancement or someone else's.  ---  08/20/1993


Work.  ---  Other job stresses.  (1) Personal life: health, girlfriend, the world.  (2) The job tasks: difficulty, complexity, amount.  (3) The people at the job: bosses, coworkers, customers.  (4) How to deal with those?  ---  1/1/2002


Work.  ---  Overemployed vs. underemployed.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Paradox.  The stuff I like to do I am not able to do.  The stuff I am able to do I don't like to do.  ---  3/29/2002  ---  *


Work.  ---  Part of work is learning and training.  It is part of the job.  We should all spend a small portion of our time learning, and it deserves to be done on work time, not just after work on your free time, not just a week a year at a training session.  As computers replace human workers and as humans become "knowledge workers", if you don't want to layoff people or have a four day work week then we should spend a day a week or an hour a day teaching, training and developing workers.  ---  5/26/2001


Work.  ---  PART ONE.  A new job title: Organizational philosopher, psychologist, sociologist.  PART TWO.  Organizational philosophy.  What is philosophy?  What is organizational philosophy?  What does an organizational philosopher do?  An organizational philosopher deals with philosophical issues, using philosophical methods, in an organizational environment.  PART THREE.  Organizational psychology.  What is psychology?  What is organizational psychology?  What does an organizational psychologist do?  Talks with individuals.  ( ) Gets to know individuals.  Learns the motivations of individuals.  Helps optimize individuals.  Gets people happier and healthier.  Spots problems.  Gets to know types.  It takes various types of people to make an organization work.     PART FOUR.  Organizational sociology.  (1) What is sociology?  What is organizational sociology?  What does an organizational sociologist do?  Helps optimize the organizational culture.  Spots problems in the organizational culture.  (2) Side questions.  What is sociology?  What is culture?  (3) Culture.  Culture is a social phenomenon.  Culture consists of a set of ideas, actions, values that are transmitted from human to human by the process of communication.  (4) Organizational culture.  Organizational culture is the culture that develops in an organization.  Every organization has a culture.  Some organizations have cultures that are healthier, and more ethical than others.  What determines the culture that emerges in an organization?  The culture that emerges in an organization is a result of many social forces.  Every person has an effect.  Every person has power.  People form into various cliques of various views and powers.  Actively build a organizational culture.  Instead of taking the default.  Instead of accepting the culture that spontaneously occurs, or mutates.  Steer the direction of the organizational culture.  Organizational culture is a result of the mix of people, but it is also a result of the ideas, the values, transmitted to those people.  Building an optimal organizational culture takes work because there are many obstacles.     PART FOUR.  Things an organizatonal philosopher, psychologist, sociologist can do on every job.  (1) Organizational philosopher - help lay a solid foundation for company.  Develop company philosophy.  (2) Organizational psychologist, sociologist, therapist - talk with people,  Help improve people's outlook, attitude and mental health.  Help develop a better organizational culture.  More enlightened.  ---  4/15/2006


Work.  ---  PART ONE.  How does unemployment feel?  (1) You feel devalued.  (2) You are healthy, able and willing to work, yet you are denied the opportunity to work.  (3) When you cannot find work you cannot find money, the means of subsistence, which is like not being able to find water or being deprived oxygen.     PART TWO.  How does employment feel?  (1) There is a tendency for a person to become what they do for a living.  Do any job for long enough and there is a tendency to become just that.  It goes way beyond self-labeling.  (2) There is a tendency for society to label you according to your job.  It is a form of stereotyping and prejudice.  ---  8/2/2001


Work.  ---  Pay rates.  How is it determined who gets paid what in the work system?  Free market vs. command system.  Ball players make millions while teachers make nothing.  Doctors and lawyers get high pay while store clerks get low paid.  ---  9/18/1998


Work.  ---  People mistakenly think that what you do is who you are, and that what you do is all that you are.  ---  7/25/2001


Work.  ---  People who are not particularly smart, nor particularly ethical, are making lots of money.  Riches are no guarantee of intelligence nor refined ethics.  ---  12/28/2006


Work.  ---  Perhaps the big question is how many people feel satisfied with their job.  (1) I suppose "satisfaction" is a relative term, varying with one's expectations of work and life.  (2) There are various kinds of satisfaction.  (A) Intellectual satisfaction: does the job provide tasks that challenge one's thinking abilities.  (B) Emotional satisfaction: does the job leave you feeling good about the tasks you do all day.  Feeling like you made a worthwhile contribution to society.  (C) Financial satisfaction.  Does the job pay you what you think the job is worth or what you think you are worth?  (3) The question becomes: what percentage of American workers feel either intellectually, emotionally or financially satisfied with their job?  That is, what percentage of workers feel satisfied in at least one of the above ways?  (4) Other types of job satisfaction include: (A) Happy just to have a job.  Happy just to be alive, buy food, pay rent.  (B) Happy because they do not feel exploited or oppressed or otherwise taken advantage of or mistreated.  (C) Although they may find the work neither intellectually, emotionally or financially satisfying, they do not find it especially irksome or annoying either.  ---  4/9/2001


Work.  ---  Philosophy.  (1) Metaphysics: what is work?  A behavior of goal getting, need filling.  (2) Ethics: (A) How organize the work system fairly?  (B) What job to pick (personal ethics)?  ---  07/22/1993


Work.  ---  Philosophy.  Epistemology.  Science of work.  Observe, experiment, measure, explain.  Theories and facts.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Possible retirement plan: shoot self in head.  (That's a joke.  Seriously, do not kill yourself)  ---  8/31/2001


Work.  ---  Power and endurance, physical and mental.  Effort: duration, intensity vs. accomplishments, results.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Problem.  People pursue career paths but only 1 in 10 get promoted from worker to the first level of management and only 1 in 100 get promoted to the second level of management.  Thus, approximately ninety percent of people have their career hopes dashed.  ---  4/1/2005


Work.  ---  Problems with work systems.  Criticisms of work systems.  (1) Exploitation of workers.  Wages too low.  No health care.  Need for labor unions.  (2) Exploitation of the natural environment.  (3) Unsatisfying work.  Meaningless work.  ---  4/15/2005


Work.  ---  Problems with work today.  (1) Corporations are reneging on pensions.  (2) Corporations are reneging on health benefits.  (3) Many jobs today are part time, not full time, so that corporations can avoid paying health benefits and other benefits.  (4) Corporations are trying to stifle labor unions.  Less unions means lower wages and fewer benefits.  (5) Psychological testing on job applications.  (6) Drug testing, even for ordinary jobs.  (7) Job applications make you sign forms that give them the employer the right to hire private investigators who gather information about the employee, including credit reports, criminal reports, etc.  (8) Computerized job applications take 30 minutes to an hour or more to fill out.  (9) Job applications make you take reading and math tests.  (10) To summarize, job applications, even for the most basic jobs, make you take a barrage of tests, including reading tests, psychological tests.  Also, they make you sign waivers to gather data on you.  Its wrong.  ---  2/15/2006


Work.  ---  Progressivism and work.  The struggle for higher wages for low paid workers.  The struggle for more benefits.  Wrest resources from rich employers.  ---  5/29/2007


Work.  ---  Progressivism and work.  Worker's rights.  Consumer rights.  Save the environment.  Less corporate power.  ---  5/5/2007


Work.  ---  Psychologically healthy workplaces vs. psychologically unhealthy workplaces or pathological workplaces.  Some workplaces are rife with suspicion, duplicity, envy, etc.  Some workplaces allow or even encourage a type of socio-pathology.  ---  11/17/2004


Work.  ---  Quick and easy jobs are called tasks.  Multiple tasks are given to workers and called occupations.  ---  7/30/2002


Work.  ---  Related subjects: effects of and on politics/law, science/technology, economic/business.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Related subjects.  (1) Philosophy of work.  (2) Psychology of work.  (3) Sociology of work.  (4) Politics of work.  (5) History of work.  (6) Arts and work.  ---  11/12/2004


Work.  ---  Related subjects.  (1) Sociology of work.  Work is usually not a solitary activity.  (2) Technology of work.  We usually use tools, materials and techniques to do work.  (3) Economics of work.  Most people work to earn money.  ---  11/12/2004


Work.  ---  Related subjects.  Economics and work.  (1) Labor economics.  Is the worker paid a fair wage or is the corportion exploiting the worker?  Are working conditions fair?  Is the corporation exploiting the public and the environment?  What is the unemployment rate?    (2) Development economics.  (See: Economics, development).  ---  6/12/2005


Work.  ---  Related subjects.  History.  History of work in human race.  History of specific work systems (in any economic system).  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Related subjects.  Information technology.  Stay aware of (1) What the visions are.  (2) What the set plans and timetables for them are.  Example: government or business switching to another standard or platform.  (3) What is available now.  (4) When to buy technology for your organization.  ---  10/01/1993


Work.  ---  Related subjects.  Law: Anti-trust laws (protect consumer).  Labor laws (protect employee).  Employee work history inquiry laws (protect employer).  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Related subjects.  Political aspects of work, jobs, and organizations.  People have power, position, egos, and interests.  You have to balance their interests without offending or bruising egos.  You have to sell people stuff.  Campaigning and marketing.  ---  07/03/1994


Work.  ---  Related subjects.  Politics and work.  (1) Laws to protect workers.  Minimum wage for workers.  Maximum wage for CEO's.  Worker safety laws.  (2) Laws to limit the power of corporations.  Laws to prevent corporate fraud.  ---  6/12/2005


Work.  ---  Related subjects.  Technology and work.  (1) Technology increases production capacity.  (2) Luddites feared technology would put people out of work.  (3) Technology was suppossed to decrease the amount of hours worked.  (4) Technology, in the form of the assembly line, can make work very boring.  ---  6/12/2005


Work.  ---  Rewards for work.  Pay systems and status systems.  High pay and high status (ex. doctor or lawyer).  High pay and low status (ex. garbage collector).  Low pay and high status (ex. college professor).  Low pay and low status (ex. fast food worker).  ---  10/6/1999


Work.  ---  She skips from job to job.  Is she shiftless and aimless, or is she growing and evolving?  Does she get bored easily because she burns out easily, or because she outgrows jobs easily?  Some people never change jobs (whether they like the job or not).  They know right away, or early on, what they want to do.  Others do not.  What she used to settle for, and what used to satisfy her, does not anymore.  ---  12/01/1993


Work.  ---  Should I spend my days doing boring, stupid work for a ruthless corporation merely to have social status and a big fancy house?  No, I should not.  What should I do?  I should help the oppressed and exploited.  How should I do that?  There are many ethical ways how.  ---  9/11/2005


Work.  ---  Society has created a work system of job titles and corresponding pay rates.  This work system can be critiqued in many ways.  Economically.  Politically.  Psychologically.  Problems, actual and potential, exist in the work system.  Problems relating to the exploitation of the worker, consumer, public, and environment.  ---  12/22/2006


Work.  ---  Some people should work a series of varied jobs, just for the experience.  Because, frankly, most jobs are simple, dull, monotonous, boring, and most people sacrifice their lives for a buck, power, status, or their families, or for the illusionary prizes of a bogus competition.  ---  6/13/2004  ---  *


Work.  ---  Some people, a few people, are making a living in an authentic, meaningful, purposeful, ethical way.  More people need to find meaningful work.  ---  12/22/2006


Work.  ---  Sometimes the more important an occupation is, the less society recognizes and rewards the worker by providing the values of wealth and status to that person.  For example, (1) A nanny is a very important occupation because nannies care for infants who are very impressionable and in the most formative years of their lives.  But many nannies earn only minimum wage.  (2) College professors are given slightly more wealth and status than nannies, yet they are often not considered to be well paid despite the fact that they teach the young.  (3) Occupations that are not in any way related to the raising, caring or educating of children are often rewarded with the highest levels of wealth and status.  (4) Why is this so?  (A) One reason may be that children have no voice in the political process.  And to have no voice means to not be able to speak up for yourself, and to be taken advantage of by others.  (B) Another example of this phenomena is animals and the natural environment in general.  The earth has no voice and so people end up trashing the earth.  (C) Yet another example of this phenomena is disenfranchised minorities.  In the past (and even continuing today), many minorities had no voice.  They had no political power.  They were not participants in the political process.  Consequently they received poor treatment at the hands of the power holders.  ---  7/13/2000


Work.  ---  Surrendering your self to the company, in body and mind, in time and energy, is the loss of self and the death of self.  ---  6/20/1999  ---  *


Work.  ---  Tech support.  The big problem of tech support, the real problem, is "A person is having a problem with their machine, which also has a problem."  You have to treat the person and you have to treat the machine.  ---  9/21/1999


Work.  ---  The big question is, how easy or difficult is it to make a decent, comfortable living by doing what you most enjoy doing?  ---  12/27/2003


Work.  ---  The big question is: Choosing work. (1) What do I like to do? There are things I like to do that might not be useful or needed by society.  (2) What am I best at doing?  There are things I do well that I might not like doing for a job.  (3) What is needed most by society?  There may be things that anyone can do.  (4) What is most needed by society but has the least people able to do it, and thus the highest demand and highest pay?.  ---  1/1/2002  ---  *


Work.  ---  The big question is: Sum up of some of the ways people pick their job or career. (1)  "What do I like to do?"  Doing what you like even if it does not pay well.  (2) "What am I good at?"  Doing what you are good at even if you do not like it. (3) "What needs to be done?"  What are the most pressing problems?  What are the pressing yet underfunded problems?  Sometimes people put up with burdensome work and low pay because they think it is the ethical thing to do.  (4) "What can I do that is in high demand and thus will pay well?"  These are the people who become doctors or lawyers just to make a dollar.  (5) "What can I do that no one else can do?"  An artist takes this point of view, even for low pay.  (6) "How can I make the most of my life?  How can I avoid wasting my life?" You might be interested in what it takes to develop a complete person, and you thus might work a series of unrelated jobs to get a variety of experiences, even though employers often look for an orderly, logical resume.  ---  1/17/2002  ---  *


Work.  ---  The big question is: Whether to work at (1) What pays most.  (2) What you enjoy most.  (3) What you are good at.  (4) What is hot.  Quickest advancing, most potential for change.  (5) What you think you should do.  What the world really needs.  World's worst problems.  ---  02/24/1994  ---  *


Work.  ---  The question is not whether you like/hate job, the question is whether and how much a job drives you nuts least or grows you most.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  The question is, what do you want your resume to look like in ten years?  What do you want to be able to put on your resume?   What do you want do with your life?  Why do you want to do what you want to do?  What are your reasons?  ---  11/12/2006


Work.  ---  The question, "What should I do?", is a question that concerns ethics.  Work is an ethics issue.  Therefore, work is a philosophical issue.  ---  1/28/2005


Work.  ---  The search for meaningful work, ethical work, useful work, constructive work.  The opposite being meaningless work, unethical work, useless work, empty, junk, poison, destructive.  Its part of the search for a meaningful life.  "No money without meaning.", I say.  ---  5/14/2004  ---  *


Work.  ---  The search for meaningful work.  Find jobs that work toward ecological sustainability and social justice.  Find jobs that help people and help the earth.  Instead of blindly pursuing money for personal security or hedonistic pleasure.  ---  6/20/2004  ---  *


Work.  ---  The search for meaningful work.  Its difficult to find meaningful work.  Many people today work jobs that are either meaningless or that actually are counterproductive (ex. pollute the earth).  Often one has to find meaning outside of work.  ---  9/14/2004  ---  *


Work.  ---  The search for meaningful work.  What percentage of people are making a living by doing work that they actually enjoy, care about, and think is useful and meaningful?  Five percent?  One percent?  ---  6/24/2004  ---  *


Work.  ---  The search for meaningful, purposeful, useful work continues.  ---  1/15/2004  ---  *


Work.  ---  The way to get a job and keep a job is to just keep smiling.  People like a friendly, happy people.  It puts you in a good mood.  It puts them in a good mood.  ---  1/1/2002


Work.  ---  The work system of a society depends on the economic system, the technology system and the social system of a society.  ---  1/16/2003


Work.  ---  The work world is a joke.  First of all, there are no jobs.  Second, living to please your boss or the public is death.  ---  8/8/2001  ---  *


Work.  ---  The world of work turned out to be nothing I thought it would be, and less.  ---  6/5/2006


Work.  ---  The worst attitude is brass balls, swelled head, affront to my dignity, socially uncooperative, lazy, complaining, bitching, moaning, feeling exploited by others, feeling cheated by life.  People want someone who is friendly, social and hardworking.  ---  3/20/2001


Work.  ---  There are more qualified people available than there are jobs.  That means jobs will necessarily be dispersed based on values other than merit.  Jobs will be dispersed to friends, relatives, based on whim, political affiliation, as favors, etc.  ---  9/9/2001


Work.  ---  There is good, useful work that no one will pay you to do.  There is bad, useless and hurtful work that people will pay you to do.  Few people will explain the difference to you.  You need to figure it out.  ---  6/1/2007  ---  *


Work.  ---  These days you have to look hard to find moron, monkey, robot work for low pay.  ---  07/30/1996


Work.  ---  They are all competing.  Competing within departments to advance.  Competing between departments to look good and gain power.  The competition often gets fierce and nasty.  Unethical dirty tricks.  Ruthless.  ---  9/19/1998


Work.  ---  They dumb down work into simple, repetitive, methodical, routine algorithms.  They do this for several reasons.  For efficiency.  For accuracy.  For low wages.  They purposefully take creativity, fun and challenge out of work.  ---  6/17/2001


Work.  ---  Three questions.  (1) What if you can't get a job doing what you love?  (2) What if you don't know what you love to do?  (3) What if you don't know (realize) that you would like another job better?  ---  4/13/2001


Work.  ---  Time.  Four day week.  4 days of work, 3 days off.  One more day a week to work on (1) Physical health, at gym.  (2) Psychological health, with shrink.  (3) Social health.  Help others.  Be with your loved ones.  (4) Environmental health.  Help earth.  ---  04/24/1997


Work.  ---  Time.  We used to work 6 days a week.  Now we work five days a week.  Hopefully soon we will work only 4 days a week.  (1) If you want a life long educated workforce, you have to give them time to go to class.  (2) If you want a mentally healthy workforce, especially in today's high-stress thinking jobs, you have to give them time to meditate, see their shrinks, and work on their Notes, etc.  (3) Thus, employers should give anyone who is in a growth program (shrink, Notes, etc.) a day off.  Or everyone should just get an extra day, with the understanding that it is to be used for growth.  Or just give them the day and let them decide how to use or waste it.  ---  01/23/1997


Work.  ---  To what should I give my life?  To what should I devote my life?  Do what you value.  Do what you believe in.  Instead of doing what you like, do what you think is most just.  ---  3/7/2004  ---  *


Work.  ---  Tom Peters says people get promoted to their level of incompetence.  I say no one gets jobs that makes full use of their abilities.  ---  4/28/2001


Work.  ---  Tradeoffs.  (1) Doing it for the money vs. doing what you love.  (2) Doing it for the stability (can never get fired) vs. doing what you love.  (3) Doing it for the demand (can always get hired) vs. doing what you love.  ---  4/13/2001


Work.  ---  Two phenomena of work today.  (1) Home offices: filled with computers, faxes, copiers, and printers.  (2) Office homes: filled with kitchens, cots, exercise equipment and showers.  ---  8/18/2000


Work.  ---  Two phenomena.  (1) Cannot find any job.  (2) Cannot find a job you like.  ---  8/30/2001


Work.  ---  Two phenomena.  (1) Home as work.  The home as office.  The home-based piece-work system.  (2) Work as home.  Workers dormitories at the factory.  (3) Piece-work and worker dormitories are examples how it can be a problem when a person cannot get away from work.  It is a problem when a person is always at work.  ---  4/24/2005


Work.  ---  Two types of people: (1) Those who like work (i.e., job, occupation) most of the time.  They like the structure, order, routine and ritual.  They like well defined goals and tasks.  They like people.  They have a generally positive frame of mind anywhere and everywhere.  (2) Those who dislike work (i.e., job, occupation) most of the time.  They feel constrained, bored, unsettled, unchallenged.  They may have a generally negative frame of mind anywhere and everywhere.  ---  9/12/2000


Work.  ---  Two work phenomena.  (1) At work (the place) but not working (the activity).  (2) Working (the activity) but not at work (the place).  ---  11/15/2001


Work.  ---  Types of jobs.  (1) High pay vs. low pay (money).  (2) Slaves vs. free (control, power).  (3) Do shit vs. do much (contribution).  (4) Get much vs. get shit (rewards).  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Types of work: classified by object, function, qualities.  (1) Mental.  (A) Creative vs. noncreative droneing.  (B) Numbers vs. words vs. images.  (C) Solitary vs. in a group or around people.  (2) Physical: back breaking.  (3) Difficult vs. easy.  (4) Simple vs. complex.  (5) Variety vs. repetitive.  (6) Boring vs. interesting.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Types of work.  (1) Fast track vs. slow track.  (2) Far track vs. short track.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Types of work.  (1) Indoor vs. outdoor.  (2) White vs. blue.  (3) Pencil pushing vs. making things with hands.  (4) Attention to details vs. broad scope work.  (5) Generalizing vs. specializing.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Types of work.  (1) Interesting vs. boring.  (2) Moral vs. immoral.  (3) Money vs. no money.  (4) Varied vs. repetitive.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Types of work.  (1) Quick vs. long.  (2) Easy vs. arduous.  (3) Worth it vs. not worth it.  (4) No problems vs. problems.  (5) No drawbacks vs. drawbacks.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Types of work.  (1) Task freedom (what do, how do, when do).  (2) People freedom (% own boss).  (3) Time freedom (choose hours, and amount of free time).  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Types of work.  (1) Working primarily with physical objects (ex. carpentry).  (2) Working primarily with people (ex. sales).  (3) Working primarily with ideas (ex. words, images, numbers).  ---  5/1/2006


Work.  ---  Types of work.  Creating vs. thinking vs. unthinking.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Types of work.  Enjoyable (fun vs. no fun) is different from productive (work vs. play).  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Types of work.  Four different types of work.  (1) Doing what you must do (have to, forced to).  (2) Doing what you should do (ethics).  (3) Doing what you like to do (desire).  (4) Doing what you are good at (talent).  ---  6/15/1999  ---  *


Work.  ---  Types of work.  Four types of job pressure.  (1) Pace pressures (how busy).  (2) Time deadline pressures.  (3) Competitive pressures.  (4) Standards pressures (for speed, quality, consistency, and endurance).  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Types of work.  Four types of jobs.  (1) Lotta work, lotta pay vs. (2) Lotta work, little pay vs. (3) Little work, lotta pay vs. (4) Little work, little pay.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Types of work.  Most thought vs. least thought.  Most structured vs. least structured.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Types of work.  Survival work vs. leisure work.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Types of work.  Working alone vs. working with others.  Work is perhaps the premier social activity of humanity.  Let's face it, if none of us had to work our social interaction experience would be much less in quantity.  Very few people work completely alone.  For most of us, we work together, to get things done that need to be done, and to solve problems and to improve our lot.  We work together to accomplish what we alone cannot.  ---  11/13/1999


Work.  ---  Wages.  A living wage is a wage that lets you pay for housing, food, health care, education, and transportation.  Fewer and fewer jobs today pay a living wage, and that is a bad thing.  ---  1/7/2007


Work.  ---  We can't all be doctors and lawyers, simply because, firstly, there is not a need for more than a certain number of doctors and lawyers, and secondly, many people are needed to do all the other tasks in society.  If doctor and lawyer are the only high paying jobs then we cannot all be rich.  ---  9/9/2001


Work.  ---  What do you want to do with your life?  What do you want to do with your day?  What do you want to do with your time?  What should you do?  Discussions of work boil down to discussions of ethics.  Do not get suckered into mediocrity and idiocy just to make a buck.  Do not waste your life.  Do something useful.  Solve the world's problems.  Save the world.  ---  4/25/2007  ---  *


Work.  ---  What do you want to give yourself to?  Because working 40 hours a week is giving a lot of yourself to something.  ---  7/1/2003  ---  *


Work.  ---  What if they started a for-profit corporation and no one would work for it?  What if everyone worked for non-profit organizations?  ---  3/12/2005


Work.  ---  What is work?  (1) Narrow definition: your job to earn a buck.  (2) Wide definition: your life's purpose.  ---  3/13/2005


Work.  ---  What is work?  (1) Work as a place.  (2) Work as a time period.  (3) Work as a task, activity or behavior.  (4) Work as people.  ---  4/24/2005


Work.  ---  What is work?  Jobs are a learning experience.  One learns that one does not want to do a particular job.  ---  4/1/2005


Work.  ---  What is work?  Two definitions of work.  (1) Work defined as what you do to make money to live.  Your job.  (2) Work defined as what you do to give your life meaning.  Your life's work.  (3) Try to pick for your job something that's related to your life's work.  ---  4/3/2005


Work.  ---  What is work?  Work is an activity that is productive, meaningful, worthwhile, useful, valuable.  ---  4/16/2006


Work.  ---  What is work.  (1) Positive views of work.  (A) Work is an opportunity to grow and excel.  (B) You get to meet your friends.  (2) Negative views of work.  (A) Work = hell.  (B) Work is an unreedemming waste of time.  (C) Work = slavery 8 hrs/day, 1/3 life.  (D) Work = one half our conscious life spent in slave labor.  (E) Stuck with your enemies.  (F) Work is inescapable, you have to do it.  (G) Work is struggle and pain.  (H) Work is a rough, nasty, tough, drag.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  What is work.  (1) Survival work: your job.  (2) Leisure time.  (A) Leisure work: productive.  (i) Need to do (ex. chores).  (ii) Free to do or not (ex. charity work).  (B) Leisure non-work: non-productive, play, loafing.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  What is work.  90% of jobs out there, even the high paying ones, are moron jobs that use standard operating procedures and require no creativity.  ---  12/12/1993


Work.  ---  What is work.  99% of the work world is either shit work (truly mindless and loathsome) or monkey work (repetitive, boring, yet not as hideous as shit work, with better pay and position)  Even the "good" jobs are mostly monkey work.  The work world consists of people fighting to gain power to avoid the shit work and grab the monkey work.  ---  07/30/1996


Work.  ---  What is work.  All that schooling for jobs that require no thinking.  It pisses me off.  What a waste.  ---  06/30/1993


Work.  ---  What is work.  At work you are always selling yourself to the boss, and selling your company to the customers.  And the other person is always buying.  This even if you are both unconscious of it, or even if you both consciously think you are not.  Creating impressions to send out, and forming impressions of what you have seen.  ---  06/17/1994


Work.  ---  What is work.  At work, most people use about 50% of the power of their brain, in one narrow area of work.  They almost never use all of their brain power, in all areas.  This is a tremendous waste of human mind power.  And when they get home, they want to relax and use 0% of their brain power.  ---  7/30/1996


Work.  ---  What is work.  I thought the work world would be more interesting, and more harmonious, not so boring and conflict ridden.  Everyday takes all my physical and psychological effort.  Even when I am in top physical and psychological shape.  ---  04/30/1993


Work.  ---  What is work.  It is not how much you work, it is how much you get done.  ---  06/30/1993


Work.  ---  What is work.  Just as school destroys the desire to learn, job destroys the desire to work.  Especially in me.  ---  04/30/1993  ---  *


Work.  ---  What is work.  Most jobs are deadly repetition, boring, robot, monkey work.  ---  08/30/1996


Work.  ---  What is work.  Survival work means you have to show up.  If you don't have to show up, it is not really survival work.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  What is work.  Work = behavior that creates or does something useful.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  What is work.  Work and leisure vs. fun, satisfaction, enjoyment, pleasure.  (1) You can be working (productive) and be having fun.  (2) You can be playing (unproductive) and not be having fun.  ---  08/20/1994


Work.  ---  What is work.  Work definitions: (1) Paid for.  (2) Productive.  (3) Not fun.  (4) Effort filled (not easy).  ---  09/10/1994


Work.  ---  What is work.  Work is rarely friendship, respect, and cooperation.  Work is often war.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  What is work.  Work socializes people.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  What is work.  Work vs. leisure.  Work vs. play.  Work vs. rest.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  When work monopolizes your mind constantly.  When you think about your job 24x7.  There is no escape.  Your life is over.  ---  8/4/2001  ---  *


Work.  ---  When you are forced to spend the majority of your waking hours doing something that is (1) Useless: not contributing to humanity.  (2) Stupid: wasting your brain power.  (3) Something you dislike intensely.  (4) That is, when you are forced to waste your life just to stay alive, then you know the system has you by the balls.  ---  6/17/2001  ---  *


Work.  ---  When you take a job that requires that you shut up in order to receive a paycheck, you have taken an informal payoff or bribe.  When you work against your principles to get a paycheck, you have prostituted yourself.  ---  1/26/2004  ---  *


Work.  ---  When, on the one hand, the tasks of your job are slowly killing you, and on the other hand, the money you earn on the job is barely keeping you alive, then you have entered the interesting territory of existential irony.  ---  6/17/2001  ---  *


Work.  ---  Which is worse?  (1) Years ago, most people worked at tasks that involved mindless, repetitive physical labor while at work.  Yet their minds were free to contemplate their lives or to mull over their experiences or to integrate their lives.  This is psychologically healthy.  However, the actual circumstances of their lives had limiting and unhealthy aspects such as a lack of freedom and mobility.  (2) Today we work jobs that require constant mental effort and little physical effort.  Today, after work, there is very little time to ponder one's life.  This is psychologically unhealthy.  However, there are other aspects of today's work that are psychologically healthy, such as increased freedom to choose your job and increased educational opportunities.  ---  6/15/2002


Work.  ---  Why do people hire their friends?  Its to collect a favor later on.  Nepotism (i.e., the hiring of one's relatives) may be illegal in some places, but the hiring of friends is rampant everywhere.  What a better way to collect coup.  Its almost as good as saving someone's life.  The phrase "How can I ever repay you.", is not funny.  You owe and owe and owe and owe and owe...  ---  8/26/2001


Work.  ---  Why do we work?  We work so that we can go home, eat, sleep and wake up the next day and go to work again.  That is, we work to work.  ---  4/29/2001


Work.  ---  Why work?  (1) Work to have a life's purpose.  (2) Work to make a living.  ---  4/16/2006


Work.  ---  Work (survival and leisure) depends on time, effort, and ability to produce a given quantity and quality of accomplishment or result.  Ability depends on psychological and physical preparation (study and practice) as well as tools and techniques, and strategy and tactics used.  ---  02/28/1998


Work.  ---  Work complex.  How long, how hard, on what, for who (self, others)?  Why, how (tech), strategies and tactics.  Mental vs. physical.  Forced vs. chosen.  Gains, stagnation, losses.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Work defined as what we do all day.  The nature of work has changed over the millenia.  (1) Hunter - gatherers.  (2) Agrarian farmers.  (3) Industrial workers.  Time clocks.  Shift work.  Mass production.  Assembly lines.  (4) Service economies.  Office cubicles.  (5) Information workers.  Computers.  ---  5/20/2004


Work.  ---  Work environment types.  Exploitive, abusive, oppressive, unsafe vs. growthful, challenging, caring.  ---  5/30/1998


Work.  ---  Work is repressive because: (1) No one talks about anything except work.  People are discouraged from talking about subjects other than work.  (2) People are discouraged from expressing how they really feel.  Everyone is supposed to act happy even if they feel angry, sad, anxious, etc.  ---  2/1/2002


Work.  ---  Work system structure:  Number of industries.  Number of companies.  Number of jobs.  Number of tasks.  ---  9/18/1998


Work.  ---  Work today in the United States.  (1) There is too much corporatism today in the United States.  Corporation have to much political influence.  Corporations pay to little tax and have too few regulations.  (2) Unions are in decline.  There should be a more unions.  There should be less corruption in Unions.  (3) Worker ennui and alienation.  Workers often do not see the final product.  Workers often do not see the customer.  Workers often do not see the product in use.  ---  10/30/2005


Work.  ---  Work vs. freedom.  Money vs. poverty.  Work vs. spirit, soul, and mind.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Work vs. other areas of life: like/lust, kids, society, leisure.  ---  12/30/1992


Work.  ---  Your wants vs. society's wants.  ---  12/30/1992




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Paul Nervy Notes. Copyright 1988-2007 by Paul Nervy.