Why AWAKE AT WORK?
Is your work healthy for you?
most PEOPLE HATE THEIR jobs.
Worldwide, 85% of people hate their jobs, according to a worldwide Gallup poll in 2017.
60% of employees report being stressed all or most of the time at work (Udemy).
65% of professionals are more stressed out at work than they were 5 years ago (Korn Ferry).
So what does that mean for our future and the future of work itself?
Especially when many jobs have been outsourced overseas, while others are being replaced by robots?
Why isn’t there more meaning at work? AND How do you find it?
Our collective choices impact our world.
the wAY WE WORK ISN’T WORKING.
Daily headlines report on climate change, human rights violations, war, refugees, destructive consumerism and animal extinction, all intertwined with our work in the world.
Human influences are the #1 cause of global warming, per The National Climate Assessment (NRDC.org).
Climate disasters are increasing each year, with an average cost of over $10 Billion USD. (NRDC.org).
Species extinction is happening 1,000 times faster due to human-caused habit destruction and climate change (National Geographic).
The are over 68 million forcibly displaced people, including over 25 million refugees, according the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR report of 2017).
In 2019, women earn 79 cents for every dollar earned by men (Payscale.com).
Sexual harassment and assault at work is costly to both employee and employer (Institute for Women’s Policy Research).
It’s possible to change our choices for the better.
radical changes are needed
… Economically, socially, culturally - we need to act from an uplifted view of humanity and our world, including our work.
For too long we have allowed a degraded view of human beings and nature to rule. This degraded view has shaped exploitation of humanity and the environment. It has conditioned us to accommodate degradation and shrink our lives into defending ourselves against further degradation rather than changing the game and uplifting the entire world.
The good news is that a robot cannot solve these issues. We can and must solve them.
WE CAN CREATE HEALTHY solutions fOR FUTURE GENERATIONS AND OURSELVES BY MAKING NEW, UPLIFTED CHOICES.
How?
By seeing with new eyes. You’ve heard the phrase “sea change” which refers to ocean currents when they meet and create a new direction. We need a “SEE change”. It is a radical choice to recognize we humans are interconnected rather than disconnected. It is a healthy personal choice when we understand and value our own bodies as interdependent systems - heart, lungs, blood, bones, muscles and all amazing functions - rather than a bag of disconnected parts. We uplift our own personal health by valuing our bodies as intelligent systems, and listening to what our bodies tell us they need - healthy food, restful sleep, movement, exercise, and more.
Just so, we uplift ourselves, our work and others in society by valuing and “SEEing” us all as interconnected - as having a profound impact on each other in countless ways each day.
We know this is true at work. The statistics stated above prove it.
Our current ways of working are designed from the Industrial Revolution’s model of mechanized parts. It is outdated and degraded. It doesn’t matter that technology’s wonders may appear to have taken us beyond the Industrial Revolution - - we are still captured by mechanization of ourselves and nature, and this degraded view of ourselves has caused most of us to use technology to further mechanize and compartmentalize our lives.
Some people have chosen to “unplug” from this. Maybe because they wanted to reconnect with life.
When we pause and tell ourselves the truth, most of us know life is much more than work. More than hectic schedules. More than economic uncertainty and worry about how to pay the bills. More than constant pressure to keep up at work, or pressure to find meaningful work, or to find any job at all that pays a decent living to survive. Whether you barely make a buck, or you’re a workaholic earning a bundle - both ends of the work spectrum are broken.
The work systems we have collectively created are degraded, fragmented and destructive - and need a total, holistic change to the heart of our interconnectedness to each other and nature.
Scientific research has found a fundamental characteristic about all phenomena = “entanglement”.
Science and other disciplines offer us new ways to design and uplift our work. See: Our “Perceptions” of the World are Going through a “Sea/See Change”
How do we open our minds & hearts to change?
A way forward
Because we can change our choices, we can change our lives. And as we change our lives, we can change the ways we work, such as -
Working in ways that improve our health and quality of life
Working in greater harmony with family and community needs
Redesigning industry supply chains for green products and zero waste
Reducing our wasteful consumer footprint in order to restore clear air, clean water, and animal habitat
Having an Uplifted vs. Degraded View of Humanity makes life meaningful, and is what it means to be Awake at Work
The world depends on our unique transformation.
AWAKE AT WORK
Awake at Work offers educational information about bringing conscious choice to work, with practices you can start doing right NOW.
TO BE AWAKE AT WORK IS TO:
Make conscious, more effective choices that lift others up
Take 100% responsibility for the social and environmental consequences of our choices
THE INDIVIDUAL COURAGE TO BE CONSCIOUS CAN:
Accelerate your own development as a uplifting, responsible leader
Transform either/or conflicts into both/and collaboration with others
Strengthen the ethical foundations of your organization to uplift society