My North Star: Work Can Be Satisfying, Life Enhancing & Change the World
A long time ago, on a social media platform that no longer exists (RIP Twitter), I posted my belief that good businesses can make good money and change the world. This caused confusion and distress among many influential coaches and consultants of the day. I got back, “Businesses can’t change the world!” “We don’t have that kind of power!” “That’s too much pressure!”
So I stopped talking about it. Which was my mistake.
Because, business has absolutely changed the world in 2026. But not for the better. We have tech bros telling us AI will destroy humanity. That changes the world, I think.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Work can be whatever we decide it will be. All the structures in place now are decisions made by humans. There is no edict from the heavens or the laws of physics that require the work week be 40 hours and one must be sitting in an office, and we all must feel like we are having a panic attack because Q4 numbers aren’t logged in the system by 5pm on Friday. Actually all arbitrary.
But that’s the secret the owners and billionaires and tech bros don’t want you to understand.
The truth is–you have choices.
And work can be satisfying, life affirming and yes, world changing.
But no one is going to offer that reality to you. It’s a vision you need to believe and work towards.
Some people can’t see it. They don’t want to think about how work could be better and settle for the grind, the discomfort, the complaints muttering things like, “It is what it is,” “I don’t get paid to be happy,” “At least the paycheck is good.”
And that is ok for some people. If you’ve read this far, I’m going to assume you aren’t that kind of person.
Humans want to work, just not in extractive systems
Humans are biologically designed to learn, create and expand. You don’t need a degree in neuropsychology to see that in thousands of years of art, architecture, science advances, traditions and celebrations. We are born creative, open to new experiences, compelled to grow. Just look at children learning to walk, talk, how they play. All wired in to the human brain.
But then we get into these depressing manufactured systems. School. No one likes the structure of school. Not kids, teachers, administrators, no one. The early start, the rushed days, the lunch on the go, the deadlines for grades, the measurement of what(?). No one likes this. Yet. We persist. And what school does is wear down kids’ joy, creativity, innate drive to explore. Just shuts that shit down fast.
And then the grind just goes on for the rest of our lives until we’re miraculously supposed to have the energy and money to have a lovely last 10-20 years of our lives in retirement. Then it’s ok to play again–travel, do water aerobics, plant gardens, play with grandkids. Of course, this assumes you are healthy enough to engage in these activities.
That. Is. Depressing.
And the truth is–it doesn’t have to be this way. Work can be satisfying. It can bring forth growth and creativity and feelings of competence. How? By stepping outside the soul crushing system. Traditional workplaces are never going to feel good. There’s no amount of pizza in the break room or Calm app subscriptions that are going to make you feel fulfilled at a job in “the system.” The goal is to extract your labor. Extraction hurts. No fun.
But outside the system you can create, expand, take a walk, a day off, sing a song when you feel like it. And you can do all of this while making excellent money and making the world a better place. Just like children will play and learn, they produce–draw a picture, build with blocks, make a PB&J. There are tangible outputs. If we just let our humanity expand naturally, we will also be adults who produce outputs.
Which brings us to my guiding philosophy–We can choose our outputs. We do have the power to create our income. But we have to get out of the system. (I can already hear your challenges to this idea, please hang in there with me).
What’s getting out of the system? Self employment, building your work to fit your life. We do have the power to do this.
Work can be Life Enhancing? Yes.
Imagine you do work you like. It’s still work. You have to focus, show up, produce. But also imagine you work in such a way that you can put in a good 5 hours and then go for a walk, meet a friend for lunch, pick your kids up from school, cook a meal for yourself and family.
Again, the “rules” of 9-5 are arbitrary. This is what works for an employer, not for real human people with lives. Research shows that in an 8 hour work day, the average employee gets about 4 hours of work accomplished. The rest is meetings, chatting with colleagues, avoiding work, wandering the halls. You know because we all do these things at work. If we take away the distractions, getting 4 solid hours of work done in a day is enough. If you worked in that kind of structure, how would your life be different?
More than that, we can do work that makes the world better. This is where people get twitchy. Making the world better feels like a responsibility no one wants to take on (which is the problem, but that is a conversation for another day).
I’m not suggesting our work or business eliminate homelessness or feed all those who are food insecure. What I know is that every person has the power to bring good into their world. That is how we make the world a better place. The bodega with the cat on the counter makes the world a better place. The woman who cleans out the trash room at my apartment complex makes the world a better place. The guy selling mangoes out of the back of his truck down the street in my neighborhood makes the world a better place.
Your work can do that, too. No matter what your profession, if you do it with good faith, help others in your way, see people, acknowledge their humanity, the world is better. Your work helps someone else do their work, or feel better, or solve a problem. And when they feel supported, they support others and we pass it on.
Now before you say this is unrealistic, I’m going to show you how this is happening now. Now the world is a dark place because dark people lead it. They make others feel badly, sad, scared, angry. And that gets passed on. Someone unemployed is anxious and scared and takes that out on the grocery store cashier who then feels hurt and also angry and they take that out on the next customer and so on and so on and so on.
You know this is real. You see it every day.
So if the anger and darkness can spread, so too can the good.
The system is toxic
Our work systems are toxic and that is why work always feels awful. And the excuse is that this is how it has to be to make money.
That is also a lie.
I make good money as a therapist. I help people. Nothing in my business harms, abuses, extracts. And I live in a great place, pay my bills, take vacations, got a kid through college, save for retirement. No humans are hurt by how I make my money.
No work has to hurt. It doesn’t have to hurt employees and it doesn’t have to hurt customers and clients.
It’s the system we are sold into starting at age 5. That system hurts.
Well, now what?
My hope is this post gives you some things to consider. Leaving a system that hurts is still scary and unnerving. We all have bills, we all have family to support. The system provides for that but also leaves us exhausted.
I’m asking you to consider alternatives. What would stepping out of the system look like for you? How could doing your work, your way feel life enhancing and make your corner of the world better?
We can’t change until we can see the next step. Can you see a different way?
If you’re interested in learning more about how to do work that is satisfying, sustaining and can make the world better, sign up for my newsletter for weekly updates, articles, ideas and upcoming programs.
