Work view

Write a short reflection about your work view. This should take about thirty minutes, and about 250 words. It is your definition for what good work deserves to be.

Example of questions

• Why work?
• What’s work for?
• What does work mean?
• How does it relate to the individual, others, society?
• What defines good or worthwhile work?
• What does money have to do with it?
• What do experience, growth and fulfilment have to do with it?

Please note: it is not a job description. It is not about what work you want to do, but why you work.

Life view

What kind of values and perspectives provide the basis for your understanding of life? What matters to you? Take thirty minutes to reflect and write about 250 words.

• Why are we here?
• What is the meaning or purpose of life?
• What is the relationship between the individual and others?
• Where do family, country and the rest of the world fit in?
• What is good and what is evil?
• Is there a higher power, God, or something transcendent, and if so, what impact does this have on your life?
• What is the role of joy, sorrow, justice, injustice, love, peace and strife in life?

The questions are to provoke your thinking, not about religious or political debates. Ask the questions that work for you, make up your own and see what you discover.

Coherence and work view/life view integration

Read over your work view and life view and write down a few thoughts about the following questions:

• Where do your views on work and life complement one another?
• Where do they clash?
• Does one drive the other? How?

(Based on Designing your life, Burnett & Evans, 2016)