Working Wounded Blog: Best Job vs. Worst Job

ByABC News
July 18, 2006, 3:32 PM

July 19, 2006 — -- The problem with trying to sort out best jobs and worst jobs goes all the way back to the Declaration of Independence. Yes, those guys with the wooden teeth, aka. the Founding Fathers, are at the root of all that is bad, and good, about work today.

Don't believe me? Then please repeat after me a few of the words of that famous Declaration from July 4, 1776: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. "

Life? That works for me. Ditto for liberty. But the whole pursuit of happiness thing is a bit troubling when it comes to our livelihoods.

I'm not adopting a position of anti-happiness. I'm not nearly that much of a Scrooge. But I do think it's a really tough standard to achieve in today's challenging workplace.

So we shouldn't be happy? Or we shouldn't expect to be happy? How can I say this? It's simple. Think about anything that you like to do. Fly fishing, sex, working in your yard, photography, cooking [fill in the blank with one of your favorite ways to pass the time].

Now I'd like you to take that favorite activity and do it for eight hours starting on Monday. Then do it for another eight hours on Tuesday. And for good measure, do it 40 hours a week, 50 or so weeks a year. And do it from now until you're somewhere in your 60s.

Talk about draining the happiness right out of you. And these, of course, are things that you enjoy doing. Now, imagine that you've got to pass all this time with things that aren't exactly lovable -- things like meetings, jousting with co-workers and writing memos and reports that no one will ever read. Is it any wonder that they call it a job?

That's why I point my fingers at the founding fathers. They might have set our expectations a bit too high. Happiness is great. I'm just not sure that it's an unalienable right. I like to think of it as more of a perk.