I recently read a piece saying no one likes making spreadsheets or frameworks for a presentation, but I actually love doing both of those tasks!

If this is true, what if the problem isn't that a bunch of us humans hate working or don't ever want to work. It's that we have a mismatch problem.

People aren't finding their specific ‘thing’. (I much prefer using the word ‘thing' over ‘passion’ because that word holds too much expectation).

Maybe it's that people weren't exposed to their god-given talented ‘thing’. Instead, they are finding jobs that entail tasks they aren’t inherently good at or in subject matter they don't actually care about.

I'm not a focusing on the capitalist, consumerist, profit-driven economy we have, which makes our productivity quotas, pace and work hours inhumane leading to us hating our jobs. This is a well known reason for why we hate work in general. I feel wholeheartedly that the structures, regulations, values, cultures, pace and work hours we have in economies need to change. But in this post, I’m focusing on is a different potential reason on why so many of us ‘don't want to work.’

Most people I have met who don't want to work, including me, just didn't remember the times when they actually worked their butts off with vigor and passion because it was a task or subject they were being fueled by, satisfied by and fed by. Or maybe the work culture you work in is the real culprit, maybe the subject and tasks are up your alley but the people are ruining it for you. For me, a lot of it has to do with the subject matter, tasks, pace and culture.

So, it’s not just about a mismatch of the skill, task or the subject area of your work from your personal interests or talents. On the aspect of pace, one thing Human Design has taught me is that each of us have different rhythms and paces. It's not only that we have different gifts and interests… it's that we have different experiences with time and energy availability too.

Our Root centres work in pulses, whether you have it defined or not. When the pulse is ‘on’ you will have lots of energy to act, do, get things done. When the pulse is ‘off’, not so much - it’s time to rest. When the Sacral light is ‘on’ it is our time to shine and make progress on tasks because our fire is lit. When our Sacral light is ‘off’ it is our time to rest. This applies whether you have it defined or not because we all experience the Sacral lighting up or and not being lit up.

Two people who have different ‘things’, may not work at the same pace or vigor or rhythms just because they are both ‘in’ their ‘things’.

So, what do we do about this?

The first obvious answer is addressing the profit-driven, 40-90hr work weeks and consumerism that is pillaging the planet, yes. But for ourselves, it's finding the safe spaces to experiment in a new arena that's always called to us, but we were hesitant to try out. It's looking at your browsing history and noticing what topics you spend your free time learning about. It's about finding things you could lose yourself in, and lose track of time in. Then to carry yourself with compassion to walk through the beginners mindset. To let yourself be a novice; vulnerable yet curious. If we have to work for the next several decades to put food on the table because of the realities of the capitalist world we live in, the very least we can do is let ourselves do work that is at least semi-fulfilling since we have to work anyway until the system changes or you find a unicorn job where it matches your skills, interests and your rhythms.

One thing I’m doing to fulfil this is to write more on my Substack because I want to improve my writing skills. I write tiny snippets in my mind but I am not practiced in writing it outside of me. I am also committing to finding free courses on topics I actually like and have a knack for. Organizational development, evaluating social impact, change management, Human Design, interior design, futures thinking. Letting myself refine my natural gifts so I can do more of what I like, is important for my overall mental health. (2-line profile here).

The other thing is, get really in tune with your energetic rhythms. Becoming increasingly self-aware of when you have energy and what you have energy for is not only super beneficial for you, especially to set boundaries and funnel your energies to what really matters to you, but it is also a revolutionary act of resistance to the system.

In the meantime, let's work to change this capitalist, consumerist world so we don't have to buy everything, learn how to fix broken items, share items in neighbourhoods, and advocate for 4-day work weeks. Change starts small.

I hope this inspires you to lean into finding your ‘thing’. Not only does doing so have the potential to help you with your life-fulfilment and happiness, but it also brings you closer to helping to make the world a better place. Changing the world is a lot easier and more fun when you are doing it in your gifted skillsets but you have to find those gifts and cultivate those skills in order to do so. ♡

Signed,

Emi, an open G centre lady, perpetually asking what her life purpose and ‘thing’ is.