# Searching By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2022-10-22 Much of [[life]] is spent in pursuit of things one hopes will improve the quality of one’s life. In early school, one might engage in a sport thinking that skill on the field will result in higher status. Later in school, one might join clubs or participate in various activities with the hope of making connections. One might go to college or learn a trade in an attempt to not only obtain a career but to establish one’s identity. Within one’s profession, one might seek increasingly higher positions. And so it goes throughout most of one’s life. Eventually one is out of that way of being in the world. Things suddenly appear different. One has learned that many avenues taken in search of improvement did not fundamentally alter the balance of quality in one’s life. Sometimes, it made one’s life worse not better. One might see opportunities lost or things one wished one would have taken more time to develop or to have done better. Searching seems to be inherent in the human condition. A healthy dissatisfaction with the current reality can be a wonderful [[motivation]] for engagement with the world. As was previously discussed the very concept of quality is challenging to measure. It is inherently abstract and potentially idiosyncratic. For those engaged in business, much of the search seems focused on making more [[money]]. Nearly always is money a means to an end. It can be pursued for status, for the enjoyment that comes with it, or for security. None of these will deliver. Status is fleeting and relative. Enjoyment comes from within. We all will eventually die. Most discover that searching for money, or the things we think come with it, is a waste. Some find that out earlier; others find it out later. So, what tends to be rewarding? Using one’s abilities meaningfully. Transforming work and life from drudgery to fulfillment isn’t accomplished in any lasting sense through searching for status and money. These things can be fine, but they don’t sustain. What is rewarding is using one’s unique talents in a way that contributes to something important. If organizations want to attract the best workers, don’t pay them more as this will simply attract mercenaries. Rather, create situations of work in which people can invest everything they have to uniquely give, and help them see how their contribution was significant to [[success]] in something of merit. Once such a situation is found, people tend to stop searching. #### Related Items [[Purpose]] [[Work]] [[Business]] [[The Human Condition]] [[Status]]