Finding Meaning in the Daily Grind - Alain de Botton

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/04/23/Alain_de_Botton_on_the_Pleasures_and_Sorrows_of_Work

Author Alain de Botton says routine work allows us to impose order, provides us a distraction from thoughts of deaths and permits us to be something "slightly better than we manage to be in our day-to-day life."

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For most people the word work is synonymous with jobs, labor and occupations. The things we do to pay the rent. The mundane routine can often overshadow the nuances of the work that we do.

In this talk at RMIT in Melbourne, philosopher Alain de Botton reminds us of the importance of appreciating the details of work and workplaces. In this way we can have a greater understanding of the impact our daily tasks have on culture and society, or perhaps decide that it's time for a new career. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Alain de Botton is a British writer and television producer who employs a philosophical and accessible approach to examining a variety of subjects from the abstract--love and happiness--to the material--architecture. In August 2008, he founded an unconventional new educational establishment in central London called The School of Life, which offers intelligent instruction on how to lead a fulfilled life. De Botton is a frequent contributor to numerous newspapers, journals and magazines and is a member of the Arts Council of England's literature panel. De Botton owns and helps run his own production company, Seneca Productions, which regularly broadcasts television documentaries based on his work. His most recent book, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, is an examination of the modern workplace and the role work has played in our lives throughout history.

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[EuroInvicta]

Well, escaping into one's work is great for people lucky enough to have INTERESTING work. However most people's work is so mindless and menial that it ends up making them feel like a rat on the wheel. With dead end jobs there's few benefits to work, and most people I know have dead end jobs.

[milfrie]

I hate to say this, but all of this obvious. Everyone is happier when they are busy.. It is amazing how research and theory just proves words of wisdom laid out for hundreds of years. We just discovered this?

[cuteEvil87]

@SuperSantom you then need to get a new job

[TheKevtrevable]

@milfrie I guess he is just articulating the thoughts of the deadpan coughing city subway commuters we see everyday

[SuperSantom]

What if you work in McDonald's?

[alyshooting]

Very good ! I agree and I'm glad someone else thinks of this stuff as I often do.

[dfjpr]

@massiveants

lol, maybe also, because of the pain of having lived, you will be able to look back on your death bed and think happily how you are about to experience the biggest possible distraction, far better than all those coffee breaks, which is that of finally being dead.

[massiveants]

Wow.. i can't wait to get to work tomorrow and forget about my shitty life now. Thanks Alain! Maybe on my death bed i'll be able to look back and say "thank god i had all those coffee breaks, they really did distract me from my existence. Now i can die happy!"

[dappadub]

I think this viewpoint is a double edged sword.

On one hand, there is a strong argument to suggest that disciplined work, in any kind of a field, begets happiness through the simple but instructive process of completing a task to course. See Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi -- Flow

The distraction component, however, also fits squarely with Christian teaching and capitalism as outlined by Max Weber, and has allowed religion to stand in the place of self determination for many people.

[coupet14]

i can where hes coming from, sometimes in life we plead ignorance to the obliviousness of body,mind and atmosphere, but we shudnt shy away from things bigger things, sadly, most people do, live their happy lives, i am for one who cant do that :d

[Ginlah]

Work is only good when its creative.  De Botton is too nice.