# Fundamental Alignment - Proposition By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2025-12-27 For the unemployed seeking a job, one is likely willing to take any available job within the general parameters one sets for wage, location, and occupation. These parameters are subject to change depending on one’s level of desperation. Such a situation is not ideal for finding a job one wants to do. After a period of employment, one can examine if one’s employment is aligned with one’s vocation. Too many find that it isn’t. One is simply working at a place that is reasonably close to where one wants to live, and one that pays enough that one is willing to do it for an indefinite period. As for a sense of purpose, one is left to pursue what one can through alternative channels. Hard asses frequently assert something to the effect that if work were fun, it would be called play and they wouldn’t pay you to do it. This reflects a great deal more about the person saying it than it does about any inherent constraints of work. Work divorced from fundamental alignment with one’s purpose is a distraction and a source of drudgery. Work fundamentally aligned with one’s purpose is a source of energy and fulfillment. Too few experience this form of work. Employers and workers share the blame for this. Many workers have not reflected enough to know their vocation or the type of work that might be fulfilling to them as a career. There is a limited amount of trial and error one can execute practically as well. Many employers do not consider workers’ personal fulfillment part of the transaction. Ignorance on the part of workers and indifference on the part of employers do not tend to produce positive outcomes when combined professionally. Work dominates one’s conscious life. This is a significant investment if it is simply a means to an end. Most humans exist at the brink of desperation, desiring only stability. There can be more. Societies and organizations can focus on ensuring that individuals have both stability and opportunities for fulfillment through work. The profit motive does not provide them with any incentive to do so. If one is dissatisfied at work, one might focus on understanding whether the root of the dissatisfaction lies in a fundamental misalignment between what one is doing and what one is called to do. It is frequently said that no one on their deathbed ever says they wish they had spent more time at work. This is true for those who waste their lives in work misaligned with their calling. Those with fundamental alignment do wish they had more time to work. Time will advance; we can try to ensure it isn’t wasted.  #### Related Items [[Work]] [[Purpose]] [[Meaning]] [[Reflection]] [[Fulfillment]] [[Time]]