Transcription
[Applause]
Hello viewers and friends of the YouTube channel, speaker Phan Dang. Today, I want to discuss a topic: Are we our work? And is work us? No.
Why talk about such a topic? Because our mind works, and in that working, our mind can lead us into many traps. I think one of the traps of the mind, one of the biggest tricks of our minds, is that we are our work; our work is us. We identify our whole being with our work. We identify our work with ourselves. If we identify like that, we will forget a lot of other things besides work. In fact, I'm sure you will easily agree with me. Identifying each other through work and name is the easiest way to identify. For example, in the past, when people met me, they would say, "Oh, this is Phan Dang. He's a journalist," or "Oh, this is journalist Phan Dang." So, people identify themselves first by their name and second, by the thing I did at that time.
Now, I don't work as a journalist anymore; I write books. When I go to share, people can say, "Oh, this is speaker Phan Dang." So, my name and the job I'm doing is a way of identifying you too. When we meet a stranger, we are always introduced by name and job. This person's name is Nam; he is a doctor. This person's name is Linh; she is a teacher. This person's name is Hoang; he is a worker. Hey, my name is Mi; I work in a bank.
It's true that we differentiate ourselves by name and job, but that's exactly why we use jobs to differentiate ourselves, to identify each other, to understand each other. It's natural; it's inevitable. So, at some point, our mind has a misunderstanding. It misunderstands us that this Mr. Dang's job is a journalist; a journalist is this guy. But I have experience; I have experience, and I am a journalist, but I am not that profession. When I quit journalism, I experienced another profession. I am an author, but I am not that profession. The book has a life of its own, even though I wrote it, but I am not it.
Just like we can give birth to children, but we are certainly not those children. That child has its own destiny, its own life, and so does work. However, because we keep identifying each other by work, which is inevitable, there are times when we think that either from consciousness or unconsciously, our whole life is only work, and work is us. So, we lose sleep and appetite because of work. We put all our mind, soul, and energy into work to the point that we forget about others. We forget our parents, we forget our children, we forget our siblings and friends, and we forget that we need entertainment.
During the most crazy times of development in Europe, there were times when people in Europe, or some people in Japan, or some Koreans, worked and forgot about everything else. That's the truth. In European society, people have to warn about this. In Japanese society and Korean society, they have to warn about this. My friend, it's true that you need a job; it's true that a job gives you at least two things. First, it is a definition in life. We cannot say we are a jobless person because jobless is very close to useless. So, we certainly need a job to live meaningfully.
The second is that work creates the meaning of life. I also agree with the point of view that at a certain stage of life, the fact that we only live for work also has reasoning. An experience of adolescence or the stages of starting a business or the stages that require special investment and focus on work, forgetting to eat and sleep because of work, also makes sense. It is understandable, but it should only be at a certain stage. If we maintain that state from day to day, month to month, year to year, then surely we will lose ourselves in work. Losing ourselves in work is a risk of stress, anxiety, and even depression if we unfortunately encounter a significant incident.
That's very big, not to mention that even if we don't have such mental health problems, we are still very healthy. But if we only have work, our relatives will also be affected. Our children have the right to demand. It says parents gave birth to children, and parents also need to have moments to relax with their children, play with them, talk to them, and spend quality time with them—even sleep with them some nights. It has the right to demand like that. But we say that no, parents have to work to earn at all costs a lot of money to raise our children. In the name of that, we say that we have to earn money to raise them, but we forget to spend quality time for it.
Then, in the whirlwind of work, our mind is deceived. It makes us only think about work and forget about our loved ones, especially parents and children. Those are two systems. The consequences of only thinking about work are a very cunning trick of the mind. You will suffer two consequences. I say these things because recently I have been thinking very deeply around the statement of a defendant in court. She used to be a dedicated person to her work, and recently when I read the newspaper, I learned that she received the death penalty because of some problems at work.
As for the court law, I absolutely do not discuss it here. Whoever is wrong will be dealt with by the law according to the standards of the law. But I pay attention to this angle when I say the last words. Then she said that she is very regretful. Besides regretting her job and the mistakes she made, she also regrets never having slept fully with her child. She said that since then, after giving birth, she gave her child to the nanny and then focused on her work, on numbers, on plans, on projects, on goals. Now, when she received the news of the death sentence, she regrets never having had quality time with her child.
Then regret is better than no regret. Regret, in some way, is also a wake-up call. But if we anticipate all of that, then I think we will be more balanced. We agree that we define each other by work. We agree that work keeps us from being useless. We agree that work can even create the extremely great meanings of life. We continue to agree that at a certain period of life, it is true that we need to lose sleep and appetite, putting all our heart, soul, and effort into work. But we must always be alert with our mind to remind ourselves that work is just a part.
Although it is an important part of life, besides that, we have our wife and children. We have our husband and children. We have our parents. We have friends. Besides the world of work, we have the world of creativity, the world of entertainment, the world of love, the world of fun, and life is an addition. Of course, it must not be the mechanical sum of all those pieces of the world. If you focus too much on any one piece of the world and identify yourself with any one piece of the world, including your work, then that leads to risks—the risks that we will regret later when we are aware of that.
Then, in parallel with doing that, we will know how to spend time on other parts of the world. In parallel with doing that, we will know how to balance the other world, other world pieces in life. This time, when I was still a journalist, I was also caught up in work. One day, I said that if I don't do this, I have to temporarily stop for a while. Then I returned to the job of journalism with a very different mindset. I was able to balance. I was able to balance.
Before, there was a time when I wrote any article that the editorial office requested. Any editorial office that requested, I also wrote. I kept saying that it is because I respect my brothers and sisters, but it is true that many brothers and friends in the editorial offices order articles. But I can also refuse, and I can refuse to have days when I have to go out and enjoy life. I have to spend it with my children, my parents, my relatives. But how can I just say that I respect my brothers and friends, but I always take on work with deep concern and real concern? I really respect you, or I'm greedy for work.
Of course, I'm not a journalist anymore, but there were times when I had to stop and return to that journalism job with a sincere heart. Now, I am a speaker. I write books with a completely different mindset than before. I balance work with other aspects of life. Then I find that by doing that, we will be able to enjoy and experience a happy life right now.
So, with this video clip, I want to say that our mind creates all kinds of traps, and our mind often creates tricks. One of the biggest tricks is the greatest thing about our mind: it deceives us. We are our work. We are identical with our work. So, be careful with your mind and remind your mind of that to escape the mind trap and thereby create a balanced and happy life.
Thank you for listening. See you again in the next video clips.
[Applause]