#19 – What do you do?

What do you answer when someone asks you?

It’s a social night. Beer in one hand, shrimp in the other, meeting new people and someone asks: “what do you do?“

I’ll reply: “I’m a lawyer.”

I never say: “I read books, learn the flute, promote better work culture and I love my partner.” It’s a loaded question asking me what do I do, not what do I love or value.

If anything shows us how important work is in our lives, I think that’s it. For better or for worse, our work is how we contribute to wider society and how we use our industriousness every day.

Whether you’re teaching kids, farming cotton, closing business deals, designing homes – whatever your craft is, you’re doing it for your own livelihood and to help others do something.

Of course some of us are jaded. When a technician came to fix our Foxtel box, I asked him how many boxes he had to fix today. He said he had too much today and: “if he enjoyed what we did, it wouldn’t be work.”

Basically he said work has to be a chore, something you do to make ends meet – although I saw his eyes light up a little when he found the problem and was able to fix it. He also seemed to enjoy meeting people and chatting to me.

Work conditions and culture make a difference. Jobs can be stressful and some days are hard, but everyone has a reason for what they do. For me, Law is all about problem-solving and providing clients with clarity.

It’s not a romantic or abstract concept. It’s what we do every day for the best years of our lives. It pulls us out of bed in the morning and in the words of Studs Terkel, it’s as much a search for daily meaning as it is our daily bread.

9 out of 10 workers would take a pay-cut to do more meaningful work according to Harvard Business Review.

So maybe when someone asks what do you do, don’t state your job title.

With beer in one hand and shrimp in the other, I’ll reply: “I help my clients to identify and solve their problems so they can live better lives.

Next week: A Bigger Pie