The Inner Game of Work: Who Are You Working For?

I just finished Tim Gallwey's The Inner Game of Work, and although it included a number of useful concepts, what really hit me was its conclusion, particularly in light of my post earlier this week on who and what we're working for.  Gallwey ends the book with a chapter titled "The Inherent Ambition," in which he discusses the nature of our desire to work and conducts a dialogue between his inner voice and his conscious self on his own attitudes toward work:

I am not a slave to anything.  I do not work under pressure.  I am someone who has something to reveal and who wants to reveal it.  I am free and only work freely.

Brave and confident words from this voice that seems so faint and gentle.  It appears so much smaller than the voices demanding that I must get my work done.  It is distinctly different from the voice of obligation and duty that counsels me to meet my responsibilities to others.  That voice comes through loud and clear.  The one I am listening to now has another tone and another message...

I work for myself.  I love what I do.  I consider work one of the most wonderful opportunities of being alive.  Work is my play.  But it is play with a purpose.  The purpose is mine...

What is also surprising to me about this voice is that it is speaking in the present tense.  It is not saying, "I want to be free."  It is saying, "I am already free."  I continue to listen to what it has to say to me...

You have a choice about who you are working for, the outer demands or for me--the me that is you, the me that is already free.  There is one other choice--to ignore that you have a choice.  But then you will be the force of that other river of demands--or rebellion against them, which is just a tributary of that same muddy water.

As I noted in the comments on my earlier post, choosing to work for yourself "doesn't mean simply making yourself happy and telling everyone else to stuff it."  I wholly agree with Glen Sartain that "in meeting other's needs we find true happiness."  But there's a paradox here that we each must confront and resolve in our own way: We need to listen to our inner voice and work freely for ourselves without simply giving in to indulgent whims.  And we need to be of service and to create value for others without simply responding to external demands and obligations. 

Comments

[Sage]

Amen, Ed. Thanks for directing me here. My belief--which has been reinforced by my experience being self employed for a decade--is that the more freedom I unlock in myself, the truer an expression I can create in the world, which unfolds effortlessly to service and value for those around me.

[Ed Batista]

That's a nice progression, Sage:

Personal freedom --> Self-expression --> Service to others

And that's The Inner Game of Work" in 7 words ;-)

Ed

[Phil]

Ya know, I enjoy working for myself more than others, but...well, I have yet to find something that I actually enjoy doing. Working for self is just less...bad, than working for others. Wish I could find something I love doing as so many other seem to.