MANAGING Job satisfaction

“A great deal of talent is lost in the world for want of a little courage. Everyday sends to their graves obscure men whom timidity had prevented from making a first effort; who, if they had been induced to begin, would, in all probability , have gone great lengths in the career of fame.” Author unknown This past May, a young paraplegic named Rick Hansen completed a 24,900-mile jour ney around the world by wheelchair. His message to handicapped people was to str ive to be the best you can and not to let a handicap be an excuse for quitting or for not trying. His remarkable journey taught all of us, whether handicapped or not, to reach out for goals and not be stopped by the fear of failure. Many people are not living life to its greatest potential because they lack the will to change or because they equate success solely with money, possessions, status and power. They work harder and harder to make more and more money in order to buy more possessions they really don’t need. Som etimes they feel as though they’re on a treadmill.

Prof James Duesenberry, a theorist of consumer behavior, has said: “Ours is a society in which one of the principal social goals is a higher standard of livin g … This has great significance for the theory of consumption … The desire t o get superior goods takes on a life of its own. It provides a drive to higher e xpenditures which may even be stronger than that arising out of the needs which are supposed to be satisfied by the expenditure.”

The Joneses just bought a new car so the Smiths must have one too. They can’t wait to save the money, so they go further into debt. To pay off their debts, th ey must work harder and longer. She gets a part-time job and puts the children i n day-care. They cancel their vacation abroad. After the loans have finally been paid, they trade up to things that are bigger and better — a Jaguar instead of a Honda, or a larger house, this one with a swimming pool. They forget that the ocean or a lake is free. They’re both under a lot of stress and complain that they never seem to get ahead.

We sacrifice so much of our time and effort for our possessions. Yet when we look back on our lives, it is often the simple pleasures that are remembered as t he best. Maybe it’s the first time we paddled that new canoe, or the time we mad e a wooden chair for the kitchen. It’s an old saying, but a true one, that money can’t buy happiness. Often people who are very successful, by society’s standards, feel as though they’re missing some thing that all their money and status has not been able to give them.

It is personal challenge and achievement of potential that bring true satisfaction. It’s also helping others to achieve their potential. Unfortunately our society does not measure success by how content and meaningful people’s lives ar e. Instead we wait anxiously for up-to-date reports on how our material wealth i s growing — figures on consumer spending, interest rates, new home construction , car purchases and other statistics. Our present-day moral and spiritual leader s have largely failed us. But perhaps it is our own fault because we listen to t hose who say the things we want to hear. If we examined how much money we would need to provide the basic necessities and compared this figure with what we actu ally spend, we would have our eyes opened.

Medical research tells us that the greatest indicator of health and longevity is job satisfaction; yet findings show that more than 60% of the working populat ion are unhappy with their jobs. Recently Statistics Canada published findings w hich showed that 600,000 workers, or 6% of the total Canadian workforce, took ti me off work during part of any given week. Many of them are dissatisfied with th eir jobs. Being in the same job for 40 years, if one hasn’t enjoyed it, is nothi ng to be proud of.

What you want to do in life should dictate what you work at, not the other way around. The percentage of one’s life spent at work is very small. If one assumes a 35-year working career over an 80-year lifespan, the total time spent in a ” nine-to-five” job amounts to only 8%.

The important thing is to evaluate where you are, determine where you want to be, and set goals to achieve this. If you don’t set goals for yourself, you will drift like a ship without a rudder. Remember this passage from Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass?:

Would you tell me please which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where — ,” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

” — so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if only you walk long enough.” Most of us are afraid of challenging ourselves and upsetting the security we have built up. Movies and television have taken the place of real-life adventure. W e’d rather watch world events go by than participate in them. It is safer and re quires less effort. However, since what we view and read is often slanted to sen sationalism, we are left with a false, artificial idea of reality. William Stanley is director of national mine services at Coopers & Lybrand Consulting Group.