One Big, Sexy Question for Instant Clarification On: What the Hell Do I Want to Do With My Life?

I was reading something on the Internet yesterday that was praising this woman’s work, and I thought to myself: there’s such a difference between doing work and having work. (And yes, I italicized “such” in my mind.)

To do work is to take on a task, whoever’s task it might be. To have work, though—work that belongs to you, that you have taken upon yourself to explore, that you call your work—that’s something entirely different.

You don’t hear much praise for the people doing other people's work. For the order takers, the resume peddlers, the ones matching their skillsets with what is required. Everybody’s working. It’s the folks who are pursing what’s not required; who have taken it upon themselves to spearhead a mission, a quest, an undertaking, who are the ones we revere. Why?

Because they aren’t doing work. They’re working in order to do. To accomplish. To change things. They become their work, in the best of ways. And we all can’t help but stare as they pass by, thinking to ourselves how sexy it is when a human has conviction.

Perhaps, then, if you are stuck wondering what your next move is going to be, “What do you want to change?” is a much better question than, “What do you want to do?”