I haven't needed to toil for money for more than twenty years, but I think I've done some of my best work in that interval. My hope is that my efforts helped people, mainly lawyers, clients, judges, support staff and law students. Without the freedom to treat financial gain as secondary, I don't know if I'd have been able to give away more than half my professional time to education and what is optimistically termed "thought leadership." No longer husband or father, work remains the centerpiece of my identity; so, yes, the money has almost nothing to do with it. Work's the biggest reason to get out of bed in the morning. Someday, it may be a garden or a glee club or a grandchild; until then it's my law practice. But then again, I don't work for anyone else. Maybe that's the difference.
Craig, thanks for the insight. I do believe there is a difference when it's not, as you describe, toiling for someone else. You're also not crossing a picket line to do the work you're doing now. ;-)
Blogging is similar for me. I've done it for years, for free, because I enjoy learning and sharing what I learn. It might look like "work" and certainly some effort is required, but it's not a job. On the other hand, if I were to suddenly become independently wealthy, I don't see what I do for a living as something I'd continue doing, though I do generally enjoy it. I am more curious about people who claim that even if they didn't need the money they'd still go into the same office, cubicle, etc. every day and do the same job working for someone else that they do now. I wonder if that isn't identifying a bit too much with a job and not something outside of the job, even if the interest is similar, not necessarily gardening or traveling.
I haven't needed to toil for money for more than twenty years, but I think I've done some of my best work in that interval. My hope is that my efforts helped people, mainly lawyers, clients, judges, support staff and law students. Without the freedom to treat financial gain as secondary, I don't know if I'd have been able to give away more than half my professional time to education and what is optimistically termed "thought leadership." No longer husband or father, work remains the centerpiece of my identity; so, yes, the money has almost nothing to do with it. Work's the biggest reason to get out of bed in the morning. Someday, it may be a garden or a glee club or a grandchild; until then it's my law practice. But then again, I don't work for anyone else. Maybe that's the difference.
Craig, thanks for the insight. I do believe there is a difference when it's not, as you describe, toiling for someone else. You're also not crossing a picket line to do the work you're doing now. ;-)
Blogging is similar for me. I've done it for years, for free, because I enjoy learning and sharing what I learn. It might look like "work" and certainly some effort is required, but it's not a job. On the other hand, if I were to suddenly become independently wealthy, I don't see what I do for a living as something I'd continue doing, though I do generally enjoy it. I am more curious about people who claim that even if they didn't need the money they'd still go into the same office, cubicle, etc. every day and do the same job working for someone else that they do now. I wonder if that isn't identifying a bit too much with a job and not something outside of the job, even if the interest is similar, not necessarily gardening or traveling.