Work as Play
A reflection on the cusp of my career
As I gear up to officially begin my first job, I thought it would be helpful to reflect on my views about career and the relationship I want with it. I’m sharing this to capture this moment in my journey, and I think it will be interesting to revisit this essay from time to time, to see how my thoughts change and evolve, and whether I’m on the path I hoped I’d be on.
When I entered college, I was an ambitious kid with large, abstract career goals: I wanted to build and rule an economic empire, akin to what John D. Rockefeller accomplished. It sounds crazy and delusional but I vividly remember telling my older brother that this was my goal. Looking back, I am struck by how little I understood about what drove this ambition. It wasn’t grounded in any particular passion or purpose - it was merely a desire drawn up in the imagination of a naive 18-year-old kid. Not to mention that the whole “rule an economic empire” is literally not possible with anti-trust regulations and a myriad of other reasons. Still, my career aspirations were lofty, driven by a desire for wealth, power, and influence.
As I reflect on these early ambitions, perhaps part of the reason can be attributed to being around my Dad and seeing the fruits of his success while I was growing up - living in a wealthy area and in nice houses, going on lavish vacations around the world to places like Costa Rica, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, France, etc, eating at nice restaurants, seeing him help and give generously to numerous people from all walks of life, hosting events at his hotel, seeing him lead and speak at events. He was the man. And I wanted to be that too. I believed that having a successful career, by the traditional definition, was expected of me. It felt like a natural lineation. My late grandfather was a successful businessman, my Dad and his brothers were too, and my older brother and myself were next in line. Speaking of my older brother, I observed how focused, driven, and serious he was about his career, and over time it rubbed off on me and I adopted his attitude.
I’ve always viewed a “career” as one of, if not the primary thing that defined a person’s identity. I believed you were what you did for work, and that people were essentially their job titles. Through this lens, I saw one’s status and worth as determined by their occupation, income, and perceived success. Perception was everything. The prestige of your job, the amount of money you made (or appeared to make), and the visible impact you had on others and the world only mattered insofar as they earned you wealth, influence, respect, and admiration. It wasn’t just a job or a means to make a living - it was who you were. In hindsight, this was an unhealthy, limiting, and toxic perspective on a career.
In reality, for most people, jobs and careers are nothing more than a means to an end. They work because they have to, not because they want to. Those who seek a good “work-life balance”, which is the majority, fall into this category. For them, work is just work; it’s not their entire life or identity, only an aspect of it. Their real lives begin after 5 p.m. or whenever they clock out. They find meaning and fulfillment outside of their jobs and work solely to earn money. It’s what they do to have a living, not what they do for a living. They may like their jobs, but if given the choice, they wouldn’t keep them. Once they have “enough” or can no longer work, they will retire, and for many, this is the ultimate goal: to have enough to stop working and finally spend their time how they truly want, or at least how they think they want. People often look forward to the day they won’t have to work, dreaming of retirement as the point when they’ll finally have the freedom to live the way they’ve always imagined.
But for a few, who I would consider fortunate, their career becomes their life’s work. It’s where they find fulfillment, meaning, and joy. The desire for work-life balance seems to disappear when you love what you do and when work feels like play. Even better is when the thing that you love to do, the mission you feel called to, is something that the world needs and is also financially rewarding. The Japanese have a term for this: ikigai. The people who have found their ikigai have struck gold. They not only view their work as inherently meaningful but they often excel at it. It’s hard to outcompete someone who genuinely enjoys their work, and these are the people who often rise to the top of their field. If something feels like work to others but feels like play to you, you can easily outwork them. Even after achieving material success or dominance in a field, the joy of the craft remains the most sustainable motivation. Warren Buffet is 94 years old, and he still “tap dances to work” at Berkshire Hathaway, leading one of the largest conglomerates in the world. Elon Musk is the richest person in the world. He could live the most luxurious lifestyle that you could possibly dream of. Yet, he still chooses to work as many hours as just about humanly possible and often still sleeps in his companies headquarters. Eminem is over 50. He’s cemented himself as one of the greatest rappers who’s ever lived, and he’s still releasing full-length albums. Why do they keep going? Simple. It’s not work to them. It’s their life, their obsession, their reason for being. This is my goal as well.
Life is finite, and I believe it's my responsibility to spend my time on earth with intention, orienting my life towards something deeply purposeful and enjoyable. I’ve come to the realization that chasing status - the prestigious job titles, accolades, etc - is trivial, and it’s not a game I want to play. Neither is getting rich just for the sake of it or becoming the most powerful and influential person in the room. What I’m truly after now is meaningful work that excites and energizes me - something I find inherently interesting and that ultimately feels like play. If I achieve money, influence, and status along the way as a byproduct, great, but I won’t be optimizing for it and it won’t be the end goal.
I don’t see my career and life as separate entities. I want my career to be integrated into my life, not balanced against it. I want it to be my life’s work: a craft and lifelong quest where I can positively impact others, and maybe even the world. Too often, I see people trapped in jobs they hate, so focused on making a living that they forget to actually live. That won’t be my path.
The future is uncertain, and I'm still young. I know that desires evolve and change. But for now, with what I know and who I am today, I find myself gravitating towards venture capital (or entrepreneurship), but that’s a story for another time. Next week, I begin my first job. This isn't just the beginning of my professional journey; I view it as the first step in creating a life's work that resonates with who I am, and one that feels like play.
Thank you for reading!
Great read, and happy for you as you start your first job overseas! Excited for what else is in store for you Carter! Keep going and don't forget the important things!