Years ago, I remember I would have said I wanted to own a tall ship, run it as a school. It would be the perfect balance of work and leisure. Sail the world in a majestic ship, introduce others to the world, education and the art of sailing. Hard work, but with meaning. Of course, tall ships aren’t cheap, so that’s a dream job I won’t see anytime soon!
Work is a complicated thing. Some people dream of never working again. Others dream of a certain kind of work.
Listen in on the GO train conversations, you’ll hear lots of complaining. But when asked in a scientific survey, 76% of all Canadian workers are either ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ at work. We seem to have this love hate relationship with work. We’re not quite sure what to make of it.
Here’s a test: If you suddenly inherited enough money to retire, would you? Or would you take on your dream job? A lot of us would – lottery winners are often saying they’ll keep working, they’ll just change their attitude about work.
That’s our question to discuss today: If you suddenly inherited enough money to retire, would you stop working, or work differently?
Acknowledgements: Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavour and Work & Rest
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In 2009, Pew Research studied needs of American consumers from 1996 to 2006.
In 10 years, percentage who said these things were necessities changed this way:
• Microwave doubled to 68%
• Dishwasher rose from 13% to 35%
• Cell phone from zero to 49% in 10 years
• hi speed internet from zero to 29%
• iPod was brand new, from zero to 3%
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/Luxury.pdf
I wish we had newer numbers. Many would still be far higher since, and include brand new “needs” like a data plan, iPad and more. Canadian numbers probably wouldn’t include as many air conditioners.
It’s hard to identify a need vs. a want – the constant march of modern life toward new technology tricks us into thinking old wants are now needs. We forget that we ever got by!
Question: What is the difference between a want and a need?