“it is just a job….”  This is the phrase that we often hear during our gathering with friends or colleagues. Sometimes we just smile at them and walk away.

            But truly, do we really know what is a job? Is there a difference between job and work?

My hospital experience….

            Not too long ago, I was visiting hospital T with my mum for her breast cancer operation. After having done all the procedures, we finally got to sit down with the staff to sign the admission contract. Just before I sign the contract, I observed that my mum was assigned to B2 ward after the surgery. I asked why it was the B2 ward instead of C ward. I explained to the nurse that we wanted maximum government subsidy for my mum’s operation and her follow-up treatment. Since she was not working, she should be entitled to maximum subsidy by the government based on the Mean testing result (Ward C is where government subsidized maximum on).

            The staff was shocked and looked as if she was hearing it for the first time.  She tried to accommodate me by changing it to Ward C, but alas… She got herself a second shock; Ward C became more expensive than Ward B2. After consulting her supervisor, they finally admitted that they needed more times to sort this out, and would call me the next day.

            How could I make a decision if the people in hospital, who are dealing it on the daily basis, could not even make sense out of it?

            Eventually they called me the next day, and the answer was very simple, there are no Classes of ward for day surgery, only ‘Private’ or ‘Subsidized’ rate. Ward B2 is referring to subsidized rate. They would highlight this to their relevant authority to make it clearer in the admission contract.

            Couple of days later, I went for my closure procedures on ‘Ileostomy’ (the intestines) in Hospital S. I was impressed by the attitude of their serving staff there. One of the staff in the admission office explained to me that one of the check cost approximately $100 and could be included in my admission package. It would be free if I get it certified by the staff there. Having understood that, I was motivated to get it done and do not mind waiting for another 30 minutes for it.

            It just took that person a minute or so with the right attitude to make me feel that they are on my side to maximize my dollar. And I don’t mind to spend another 30 minutes to do that extra procedure without having any ill feeling.

            Hence, same type of admission procedures, but the feelings I walked out of both hospital with were different. Why was that so…?

            The different is that the Staff in hospital T was just doing her job – that was to make sure I signed the admission contract, whereas the staff in hospital S worked for me, and made sure that I got what I was looking for – that was to get the maximum values out of my money.

Important to understand the differences…

            It is very important for us to internalize and understand the differences between discharging our responsibity as a job or as work. The success of our career is very much dependant upon our perception of the two, and it has a great influence on our actions. Our thoughts influence our attitudes; our attitudes shape our behaviors; our behaviors dictate our actions of success or failure.

 

Understanding the fundamental governing laws is the key to success…

            As I mentioned in my other articles, the secret to living our life successfully is very much dependant upon how we understand and comply with the two fundamental governing laws, that is the Law of Nature and the Law of Social Living.

            Law of Nature is about self, and the Law of Social Living is about managing relationships. A very large part of our career and daily living are associated with managing relationships.

 

Job and work..

           A Job is something we do simply to earn money or for our bosses to pay us. A job can easily be measured by work hours, number of sales or number of products we produced. As an executive, we usually get pay according to the complexity, qualification and responsibility of our job scope.

            A work is something more than just a job. A good piece of work requires good deals of our skills, our passions, our commitments and good knowledge of the work purpose and intent.

            A job is for our bosses, whereas a work is for our friends, colleagues or people who need our help with our skills and knowledge.

            A job is to provide services to our clients or to sell our products to our customers. Work is to find out what our customers’ need and serve them accordingly, or be the buyer for our customers, or to help them make decision by providing them with adequate information and options.

            Hence, work is very subjective and it is usually very difficult to measure, but we can tell and feel the differences if we see someone is having the mentality of “got to work” or “get to work”. If someone says he got to work everyday, that is the job mentality, and if someone says that he gets to work everyday, that is the work mentality.

Keys to sustaining our successful efforts…

            As we can see, be it a job or work, it is always about others or dealing with others, either for our bosses, our customers or our colleagues (subordinates). How successful in our work dependant upon how many people we have helped to get what they want and how long can we sustain our efforts in helping people.

            The secret to sustaining such action lies in how much we master the art of balancing between Ying and Yang. Ying is about self, life, rest, nurturing and inward looking. Yang is about others, work, activities, contributions and outward looking.

            A chat friend once told me that she is a super self-centered person, and she is not ashamed of it. 

            My take to that is that we do not have to be ashamed of who we are because that is uniquely what we are.  Each one of us is unique and has a different purpose in life. We can be introvert or extrovert, selfish or selfless, self-centered or people-centered, it does not really matter, it is part of a balancing equation of man-kind (the big picture), and it is the job of Nature, we can’t do much to alter that balancing scale.

            We are all born imperfect and imbalanced. However, more importantly in our life journey is to find out who we are and balance it within ourselves. If we are an introvert, we must learn to love social activities. If we love our work to the extreme, then we need to learn to find meaning in life and relationship. Balancing is about being humble without being submissive; being confident without being arrogant; being kind without being weak. That is the secret to happiness in life.

Summary…

            In summary, A job is an empty entity where bosses used to justify our pay, a work is an art, which varies according to the level of passion, commitment, relevant knowledge and skills that mould into a piece of art work. A good piece of work always embedded with pride.