Who gets the dividends of your work?

"Win small, win early, and always learn."

One of my ex-managers at #ntel Corporation

Don't get confused, I'm not using the above quote as an inspirational one, for me, it is a generic, senseless phrase that can be used for any kind of task, especially those soul-crushing tasks that you are asked to do in your everyday job.

Check this example of how this "inspirational phrase" is used to motivate helpless workers, but it has a complete empty meaning

• I'm winning small, I'm winning early, I'm always learning. I work as an executor in a concentration camp.
• I'm winning small, I'm winning early, I'm always learning. I work as a process engineer in a weapons factory, whose weapons are used to kill people.
• I'm winning small, I'm winning early, I'm always learning. I work as an astronaut.

You get the point, that phrase can be used for anything. Here comes my second point: if you describe your work by the tasks you perform, instead of explaining who gets the dividends of your work, you are making the same mistake, because you are giving an empty, generic and senseless description of your activity.

Here comes another example: the typical average guy talks about the tasks he does at work without putting the care of who gets the dividends of his work. Let's say that he is a financial manager and he is responsible for the financial health of the company by controlling the money balances of all operations:

• I'm a financial manager, I'm responsible for the financial health of the company by controlling the money balances of all operations. The company is Al Qaeda.
• I'm a financial manager, I'm responsible for the financial health of the company by controlling the money balances of all operations. The company is a Human Traffic organization.
• I'm a financial manager, I'm responsible for the financial health of the company by controlling the money balances of all operations. The company is NASA.

As you see, describing the task you perform at work is a generic way of you feeling important, but trust me, you are not, the same task can be applied for a terrorist organization or the NASA. Both organizations are very different and the ones that get the dividends of your work are also very different, it seems that is important to identify who do you work for.

So a very different way to describe your work is by telling who is getting the dividends of your hard work and sweat (by dividends I mean benefit or money). So basically your work can be divided into the following categories.

• You are an entrepreneur: by every single minute that you work, the person that is going to obtain the dividends of your work is you, so you are working for yourself and for your direct benefit.
• You are a teacher or work in a non-profit organization: every single minute that you work, you are giving and helping some else's life. 
• You work in a private company (especially transnational): every minute, every single unpaid extra hour, every unpaid weekend that you worked to deliver that project on time, the ones that are getting the dividends of your work are stockholders that you don't even know, and you are making them millionaires. They don't know you or care about you, and they will not know if you get fired. Whoa, you must feel amazing.

So, the next time that you are about to describe your work, don't tell the tasks you do, tell who gets the benefit. Instead of telling I'm a financial manager, I'm responsible for the financial health of the company by controlling the money balances of all operations, tell: Hi, I'm Jon Doe and I work in order to make incredibly rich people that don't even know me.  They won't notice if I got fired nor they care. I'm very fulfilled by dedicating my life to make these persons rich.

Ok, you don't like that description about your work, you feel that is pathetic and makes feel unworthy. Well, you cannot always like the truth, but you can change it by moving your career to a fulfilling activity or start your own business. In my personal case, I got tired of making stockholders rich by giving my life to a corporation.

I hope that you got the point of this whole reading.

Bye.