I wrote about my career goal—to enjoy Mondays as much as Fridays—in my essay on the nature of the job. I am photocopying that idea here as a standalone note, with a bit more backstory and some edits.
Enjoying Mondays as much as Fridays
- Planted:
I want to enjoy Mondays as much as I enjoy Fridays. That was my career goal when I was deciding what I wanted to do with my life in college: to look forward to Mondays and Fridays alike. It’s still my career goal, in the abstract. I think of it as feeling engaged and energized by my work.
I got this concept from Jaffray Woodriff, who guest spoke in one of my classes senior year in college. As I remember it, Jaffrey explained that when he first entered the working world he noticed that people seemed to really like Fridays and kinda hate Mondays. And that it wasn’t just because the weekend was so great, that Friday was full of anticipation and Monday of loss. It was that people didn’t like their day jobs, or even dreaded them. I don’t remember what job Jaffrey was doing at the time when he observed this, or whether he’d composited the observation from multiple jobs, friends, or family.
It sounds reasonable when people say that their job is “just a job,” that it’s fine, good enough, or practical, or necessary. I think it’s natural that everyone form their own philosphy from their circumstances and temperament, and I don’t think my philosophy is any better or worse in some objective sense. But I still feel good that it’s the right one for me. I like to like my work, maybe even love to love it, and to look forward to the forty hours or whatever I’ll spend on it each week.