The Neothink Society · Psychology and Self-Leadership · June 2009
A life of prosperity rarely begins on the main road. It begins the day a person turns off it. The Society watches this turn happen in members across 140+ countries: the moment work stops being something endured and becomes something chosen, the moment a passion is allowed to do real labor in a life.
This installment of the serial follows Emy Burns onto her own side road, into a small-town diner and a conversation about loved work. What the scene carries is the Society's plainest principle. Work that is loved stops being work. It becomes the form a life takes.
Loved work. Work a person would choose without being paid becomes the engine of a prosperous life.
"Well you're a little early; most of the shops don't open up here until 9:00. You can stay here if you like. It beats being out in the cold."
She poured me a cup of coffee and left a menu. The hospitality of the diner was enhanced by the smell of fresh baked bread wafting through the ventilation system. I took a deep breath and sighed. Breakfast for me on a weekday usually consisted of a raisin bagel and black coffee from the kiosk in the lobby of the firm's headquarters.
"My husband Fred runs the bakery next door," Elvira explained when she returned with a small pitcher of cream. "He provides the Lady Bug and the whole town with fresh rolls, muffins, bread and the rest every morning. It's more of a hobby than a job; he loves to do it. Fred says there is no point in spending your life doing something you don't love. You've got a choice, so why not have fun."
"I wish my job felt like fun. Lately it has been nothing but work, work, and more work."
"Well, maybe you need a new line of work, or a new line of play."
A person who builds a life around loved work stops dividing the week into labor and escape, because the labor becomes the thing worth showing up for.
Just then the front door banged open and a tall, thin, copper haired man, wearing a red flannel shirt and ragged blue jeans, blew in.
"Shut the door, Paul! You're letting out all the heat."
"Sorry." He came over to the counter and sat down next to me. Bright blue eyes met mine. He stuck out a large calloused hand and grinned. "Paul Dumont, glass blower."
"Emy Burns, visitor." I grasped his hand firmly. "It's nice to meet you. I've wanted to visit here for some time, and today I am playing hooky."
"Good for you. Everyone needs a mental health day now and again."
"Hmm. I like that idea. I told the office that I was sick. This helps me justify that story to myself."
"Whatever helps you through the day," said Elvira. "You want the usual, Paul?"
"Elvira makes the best Eggs Benedict in three states."
"Sounds good. Why not splurge on a day like this. That's what I'm getting," I replied as I handed her the menu. Elvira took the orders and disappeared through the swinging doors into the kitchen. I sipped my coffee and tried not to stare at Paul.
"So Emy, why did you decide to come here on your mental health day? You could have goofed off anywhere."
"Oh, I thought I might get some ideas for my own pieces. I do pottery, mostly vases."
"Really. I'd like to see your work sometime."
"Well, you're in luck. I have some of my things out in the trunk of my car. I was taking them over to the Creativity and Crafts store in town. I have a booth there."
He smiled.
Every character at that counter has already made the choice Emy is circling. Fred bakes because he loves it. Paul blows glass. Emy throws pottery on a day she was supposed to spend behind a desk. The town runs on people who turned off the main road and built a life out of what they create.
The side road. Turning off the prescribed track is a deliberate act of self-leadership, not an escape from work.
This is the practice the Society lives by. Loved work is the work. A person who builds a life around creation no longer waits to earn time for what they love, and stops dividing the week into labor and escape, because the labor became the thing worth showing up for. Self-leadership is the decision to live on the side road on purpose.
Common Questions
What is loved work? Loved work is work a person would choose to do even without being paid for it. Fred bakes for the town every morning because he loves it, and that affection is what makes the work sustainable rather than draining. In the Society's sense, loved work is labor that a person owns by desire rather than endures by obligation.
How is loved work different from a hobby? A hobby sits beside a life as recreation, fitted into the hours left over after the real work is done. Loved work moves to the center and becomes the real work itself. Fred calls his bakery more of a hobby than a job, but it feeds a whole town every day, which is what separates loved work from a pastime: it carries weight and produces value while still being chosen for love.
Why does loved work dissolve the divide between labor and escape? Most people split the week into time they sell and time they reclaim, treating a job as the cost of buying back their own hours. When the labor is loved, there is nothing to escape from, so the divide collapses. The work becomes the thing worth showing up for, and the day no longer needs a mental health break from itself.
What does the side road mean here? The side road is the path a person takes when they turn off the prescribed track that everyone is told to follow. Emy steps onto hers by skipping the office to visit a town of makers. The side road is not an exit from effort; it is the deliberate choice to spend effort on what a person actually values.
How does work that is loved turn into play? The mechanism is choice. When work is chosen freely rather than imposed, the same physical activity that felt like a burden begins to feel like play, because the pressure of obligation is gone. Elvira names it exactly when she tells Emy she may need a new line of work, or a new line of play, treating the two as interchangeable once love is involved.
What does loved work connect to in a person's life? Loved work connects directly to creation and the building of real value. Every maker in the diner produces something: bread, blown glass, pottery. Loved work is the channel through which a person creates value in the world, which is why the Society treats it as the foundation of a self-led, prosperous life rather than a luxury reserved for the lucky.
Further Reading
- Loved work: why labor chosen by desire outlasts labor endured by obligation.
- Self-leadership: the practice of directing a life on purpose rather than by default.
- The side road: stepping off the prescribed track as a deliberate choice.
- Creation: building real value as the center of a meaningful life.
- Value creation: turning loved work into things the world can use.
Membership is by application.