introduction

• there is an old Italian saying: "Il lavaro nobilita l'uoma, e lo rende simile alle bestie"; or "work gives a man nobility, and turns him into an animal". this ironic trope may be a comment on the nature of all work, but it can also be interpreted to mean that work requiring great skills and that is done freely refined the complexity of the self; and, on the other hand, that there are few things as entropic as unskilled work done under compulsion

autotelic workers

• but the more psychic energy we invest in material goals, and the more improbable the goals grow to be, the more difficult it becomes to make them come true. then we need increasingly high inputs of labor, mental and physical, as well as inputs of natural resources, to satisfy escalating expectations
• none of them drew a sharp distinction between work and free time, all mentioned work as the major source of optimal experiences, and none would want to work less if given a chance
  
• joe is a rare example of what it means to have an "autotelic personality" or the ability to create flow expereinces even in the most barren environment - an almost inhumane workplace, a weed-infested urban neighborhood
• chuang tze believed that to Yu was the proper way to live - without concern for external rewards, spontaneously, with total commitment - in short, as a total autotelic experience
• the performances of a great violinist or a great methematician seem equally uncanny, even though they can be explained by the incremental honing of challenges and skills. if my interpretation is true, in the flow expereince (or Yu),east and wet meet: in both cultures ecstasy arise from the same sources

autotelic jobs

• so work can be either brutal and boring, or enjoyable and exciting
• even the most favorable external conditions do not guarantee that a person will be in flow. because optimal experience depends on a subjective evaluation of what the possibilities for action are, and of one's own capacities, it happens quite often that an individual will be discontented even with a potentially great job
• surgeons are lucky, not only are they paid well, not only do they bask in respect and asmiration, but they also have a job built according to the blueprint of flow activities
• satisfaction in a job will also depend on whether or not a worker has an autotelic personality
• to improve the quality of life through work, two complementary strategies are necessary. on the one hand jobs should be redesigned so that they resemble as closely as possible to flow activies. but it will also be necessary to help people develop autotelic personalities, buy training them to recognize opportunities for action, to have their skills, to set reachable goals. neither one of these strategies is likely to make work much more enjoyable by itself; in combination, they should contribute enormously to optimal experience

the paradox of work

• in our studies we have often encountered a strange inner conflict in the way peolpe relate to the way they make their living. on the one hand, our subjects usually report that they have had some of their most positive experiences while on the job. from this response it would follow that they would wish to be working, that their motivation on the job would be high. instead, even when they feel good, people generally say that they would prefer not to be working, that their motivation on the job is low. the converse is also true: when supposedly enjoying thei hard earned leisure, people report surprisingly low moods: yet they keep on wishing for more leisure
• thus we have the paradoxical situation: on the job people feel skillful and chappenged, and therefore feel more happy, strong, creative, and satisfied. in their freetime people feel that there is generally not much to do and their skills are not being used, and therefore they tend to feel more sae, weak, dull, and dissatisfied. yet they would like to work less and spend more time in leisure
• as these findings suggest, the apathy of many of the people around us is not due to their being physically or metnally exhausted. the problem seems to lie more in the modern worker's relation to his job, with the way he perceives his goals in relation to it
• in our studies we find that american workers tend to mention three main reasons for their dissatisfaction with their jobs, all of which are related to the quality of experience typically available to them at work - even though, as we have just seen, their expereince at work tends to be better than it is at home (contrary to popular opinion, salary and other material concerns are generally not among their mos pressing concerns) the first and perhapsmost important complaint concerns the lack of variety and challenge. this can be a problem for everyone, but especially for those in lower-level occupations in which routine plays a major role. the second has to do with conflicts with other people on the job especially bosses. the third reason involves burnout: too much pressure, too much stress, too little time to think for oneself, too little time to spend with the family. this is a factor that particularly troubles the higher echelons - executives and managers
  • whether a jb has variety or not ultimately depends more on a person's approach to it than on actual working conditions
  • perhaps the best way to avoid this impasse is to set the challenge of reaching one's goals while helping the boss and colleagues reach theirs: it is less direct and more time-consuming than forging ahead to satisfy one's interests regardless of what happens to others, but in the long run it seldom fails
  • there are hundres of ways to relieve stress, some based on better organization, delegation of responsibility, better communication with co-workers and supervisors; others are based on factors external to the job, such as improved home life, leisure patterns, or inner disciplines like transcendental meditation
• these peicemeal solutions may help, but the only real answer to coping with work stress is to consider it part of a general strategy to improve the overall quality of experience

the waste of free time

• ironically, jobs are actually easier to enjoy than free time, because like flow activities, they have built-in goals. feedback, rules, and challenges, all of which encourage one to become involved in one's work, to concentrate and lose oneself in it
• free time, on the other hand is unstructured, and requires much greater effort to be shaped into something that can be enjoyed
• the flow experience that results from the use of skills leads to growth; passive entertainment leads nowhere
• unless a person takes charge of them, both work and free time are likely to be disappointing
• most jobs and many leisure activities - especially those involving the passive consumption of mass media - are not designed to make us happy and strong. their purpose is to make money for someone else
• "the future will belong not only to the educated man, butto the man who is educated to use his leisure time wisely" - CK Brightbill