Labour vs work

We’ve confused the dynamic about our labour and work. For avoidance of doubt, I consider labour the input and the work an output of the labour. What happens in-between of course is a matter of all the experience, expertise, intellectual, emotional management that goes into translating the labour into work.

So would you rather be paid for your labour, or for your work? Will they be the same? Think about whether you’re really hoping to exchange your labour or your work for a salary. Because if it’s your labour, quite likely, there’s a lot more people competing with you to get paid for that labour. But if you’re hoping to get paid for the work, then you need to make sure you’re producing the work for someone, not just everyone. Because not everyone will pay you for it. And you don’t need everyone to pay you for it.

So yes you can be paid for your labour: showing up, following orders and getting outcomes which you probably don’t care about. But if you do care about the future, about outcomes, then you quite likely would not care that much about the orders from your bosses. Unless they are genuinely best practices. And yes if you’re going to prefer getting paid for your work, then you’d have to find an employer that wants that work; or you are better off working for yourself and serving the client instead, the one who can see what you see, and care about what you care about.