[at-l] What you do.....

["James Bullard" <bullard@northnet.org>]

<cgroesch@bellsouth.net> said:
>Good for you!  I wonder if this is an American thing.  A friend
from
Manchester (UK, not NH) said that over there it's considered
somewhat rude to
ask people what they do for a living.<

>He also said, "What you do has got nothing to do with who you
are."  Now that
I'm not so sure about.  Ideally work would be a "direct expression
of one's
character and talents" [Elgin], but I think for a lot of people it
just pays
the bills.<

I don't know about other countries but in the US work is based
upon making money, not on self actualization. In studies of
personality it has been shown that only 30% of the population have
personalities that match 70% of the available jobs. 70% of the
population have personality types that match the remaining 30% of
available jobs. That means, I suppose, that even if the maximum
number of workers were well matched to their jobs 40% of us would
be mis-matched. I strongly suspect that the actual mis-match rate
is *much* higher. Some folks in this country do manage to make a
good living doing what they love but it is either by good fortune
or shear stubbornness and not by the design of our economic
system.

Saunterer
Lurking resolve rapidly going to H..L


* From the AT-L |  Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html  *

==============================================================================