Why we work

This is the week of Employee Reviews and subsequent pay raises. As most experts will tell you with good management this process should not be a surprising one and it wasn't for me. I knew where we were going next year, what I accomplished this year, and where some of my "areas to work on" were. This process does always come with some reflection however. The question that seems to be hardest to answer (or answer honestly) "How do you see your professional development". Essentially, what would you like to do and accomplish. It's a simple enough question and for some probably an easy one to answer.

For me it's awkward. I don't live to work here, only work here to live. That is not to say I don't really love my job (I do!), but choosing a position for me is more dependent on schedules that meet my needs and skills I already have, than massive professional development.Maybe it's where I am in life, maybe it's a lesson learned about priorities, maybe it's just that there is always another possible opportunity, around each bend.

I can't say that I do not get a great amount of fulfillment from work. I love feeling accomplished and being appreciated. I love bringing people and wine together. I love checking things off and accomplishing team goals and learning about companies, about this industry and about the people in this valley. These things are what feed me.

I feel like those things, those emotionally fulfilling things could happen in many places and many ways. That maybe someday the office 9-5 and possibility of climbing the figurative ladder won't be how I find those fulfilling things. But I can't (or maybe just shouldn't) say those things to my boss.Until the lack of office better suits my economic needs I am happy to remain here, at my window, gazing upon our great grassy knoll. Letting what literally feeds my family be what figuratively feeds me for now.

What do you for a paycheck now? 

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Are you fully "fed" by the same thing that pays your bills?