Ben has sensed for some time that his career is on a fast track to nowhere.  Each new workday is fraught with anxiety and stress.  His boss is a tyrant, flaunting his authority in Ben's face, blaming him for his mistakes, taking credit for his great ideas.  In his bleakest moments, Ben invents evil plots to deep-six the boss, but the prospect of his mug shot plastered at post offices across the country is not likely to enhance his career options.  What to do?

Meanwhile, down the hall, Lisa's heart aches with desire for the new IT guy.  Each time she sees him, she fights the urge to shove him into the office supply closet and unleash her soul with wild abandon.  Her exceeding long work hours preclude any shot at a meaningful relationship.  Ever the consummate professional, Lisa upholds her professional image, conceals her lust and yearns in silence.  Still, one brief moment of unbridled joy in an otherwise life-draining job can't be wrong, can it?

One floor down, George fantasizes about what it would be like to wake up every day to a job that doesn't suck the life out of him.  He's one of the many "chronically unhappily employed," who've survived months, even years, toiling at a job that provides little personal pleasure beyond a paycheck.  Although he occasionally flirts with the idea of a career move, he seldom gets past first base.  So for now, George bides his time, suppresses his desires, and trudges toward retirement, looking forward to the day when he can be free to finally do what he wants to do. 

Ben, Lisa and George are all leading desperate worklives -- they've settled for work that sacrifices the opportunity to exercise their talents, nurture their souls, or even have fun.  They're making a living, but not living fully.  Each has the option to quit anytime, but they're not willing to jump.  They're stuck "out on a ledge," paralyzed by the fear that there is no place to go but down.

And they may be right -- you don't make good decisions by getting away from something - you make them by moving toward something.  Until Ben, Lisa and George know what they want to move toward, they will remain in limbo, trapped between fear and desire, in the clutches of a worklife without passion.

We expend roughly 80,000 hours of our lives at work.  That's a lot of time to put into something that drains the life out of you.  Over 30 years ago, in his groundbreaking book, "Working," Studs Terkel described work as a "search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying."  Has anything changed since then?

The very word, "work," has a checkered history.  It's derived from the Indo-European root werg-on, meaning "to do or act." The Germans called it werk, signifying "action and performance."  The French used the word, travail, from the Old Latin tripalium, an instrument of torture composed of three stakes.  Travail is defined as both "exceedingly hard work" and "intense pain and agony."

Intense pain and agony? An instrument of torture?  No wonder so many people hate their jobs. If work is the price we pay for "the good life," God help us.

Certainly, Ben's "pain and agony" at work is far from "the good life."  He's not alone.  A recent Gallup poll showed that 77% of US workers hate their jobs -- and "the lion's share of that misery is due to bad boss," says Russ Sabia, Principal of Boston-based Sheerline Associates.  "Boss watching is the #1 spectator sport in the workplace - like the cafeteria food, it's one of the easiest things to complain about."  Sabia admits "a good boss doesn't necessarily make you love what you do, but a bad boss can make you miserable - and loving your job, or even making more money, can't compensate for that misery." 

Poor Lisa's tortured soul, awakened by the arrival of the new IT guy, revealed that her "exceedingly hard work" is depriving her of "the good life."  If she's going to work for a living, she needs to have a life worth working for.  Career Coach, Jane McHale warns, "Despite what you may have been led to believe, you can't have it all.  If you overemphasize your professional life, you'll do so at the expense of your personal life."  You have to choose what matters most to you in the long run, and then balance the various demands on your time selectively."  If Lisa's employer is going to recognize that she has a life outside of work, Lisa has to start by recognizing that fact herself.  What you do and the amount of time you spend doing it are choices you make.

George has chosen to postpone "the good life," put in his time now and delay gratification until a time when he won't need to work anymore.  Living "the good life" shouldn't be some distant dream.  It needs to be a day-by-day commitment to achieving the quality of life you want now.  Longevity is a gift, one we often don't acknowledge until it's almost over.  To appreciate it and use it, we need to live our lives like there's no tomorrow. 

Six months later:

Ben didn't polish off his boss, but he did turn the tables and showered the boss with the same kind of behavior he wanted for himself:  acknowledgement and recognition.  By improving his response to his boss's oppressive management style, he actually strengthened the relationship - and was eventually able to come right out and say "you know, if you took the time to learn more about what I need from you, we could get a lot more done." 

Lisa obsessed over whether to ask the new IT guy if he'd like to have lunch with her sometime.  She took a bold step - and he welcomed the gesture.  However, one hour with him had the effect of a cold shower.  Not only was he boring, he devoured food like it was "The Last Supper."  But this little courageous step encouraged Lisa to put limits on her workday and engage in more social activities outside of work.

And George?  Well, he's not out on the ledge anymore.  His miserable worklife led to an unhappy home life, which led to a sedentary lifestyle, which led to cardiac arrest.  He's on a leave-of-absence, but the good news is that he's fine, working with a career coach to identify the next chapter in his life.  He's not planning to return to his old job.  Sometimes, desperate worklives call for desperate measures.