# Who is Steering the Ship By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-06-06 If you are like me, you get caught up in your work. It consumes many of your thoughts and can unintentionally define your identity if you are not careful. When your work gets tangled with your identity, letting it control you is effortless. Letting work control you means allowing the flaws of the modern work system to direct aspects of your life. Do these systems or your employer have your best interest in mind? In no way and under any circumstance is the answer yes. Only you can decide what is best for you. Others will have many opinions, and you should carefully listen to their advice, but you will decide through action or inaction. The modern work system or your employer will have some good advice now and then, but their incentives and motives do not, will not, and can not reflect what is best for you. They haven't lived your life and understand all of the hidden contexts. Work is a powerful way to make one's life have meaning and purpose, so it needs to be clarified whether you are steering the ship or the ship is steering you. It may be impossible to say, but reflection and thinking are critical in assessing whether the path you are walking is coherent and meaningful. For example, are you working 80 hours a week and not taking care of yourself because your work is worth it? It's your choice - even if you feel compelled to do so to survive, even if you are just very unlucky, even if you only considered alternatives right now. Knowing that it is a choice frees one's mind to something greater. #### Related Items [[Work]] [[Identity]] [[Existential]] [[Philosophy]] [[Thinking]] [[Progress]]