A Guide to Good Work

Or, Why and How to Stop Being a Wageslave

Jun 02, 2026

Work is part and parcel of man’s life on earth. It is a manifestation of his dignity; it is an opportunity to develop one’s own personality. - St. Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God

Work is good. And so it is important that we keep this amazing opportunity that God gives us to literally co-operate in the eternal process of creating and holding the universe in being from being corrupted, scorned, and otherwise malformed.

I certainly don’t have everything figured out and perfect but I’ve had a broad swath of work experiences. And in that, I have found what should be obvious: some work arrangements are vastly superior to others.

Theses

My overarching thesis is this: the modern cog-in-the-wheel norm of work is bad and causes spiritual harm, and not just because your boss isn’t nice enough or the company doesn’t pay enough. Instead:

Workers should own their means of production (in a distributist sense, not a communist sense).
Ownership should be exercised in a meaningful sense; in the sense of having autonomy and direction over the work.
Piecework and fixed-bid contracts are the ideal; hourly rates are concessions.
Diversity of work is good.
Crafts work, where one progressed from apprentice to journeyman to master, should be emulated. Workers should take responsibility and the general frame of employment makes this difficult.
It’s not impossible to imbibe these principles in this day and age; freelancing, contracting, household business, and many other structures are viable paths.

What I’m Not Saying

If you are a or have a W-2 employee you’re committing a sin.
Hourly wages or salaries are not useful proxies at times.
You ought to live a crazy hustling entrepreneurial lifestyle (entrepreneurship is another level entirely - I am advocating for something more like contracting).
My success in life is because I pulled myself up by my bootstraps - I have no privilege or luck - and if you just do exactly what I did then you’ll be fine.

Defining Work

What do we mean by work?

To labor is to exert oneself for the sake of procuring what is necessary for the various purposes of life, and chief of all for self-preservation. - Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum (1891), §44

Or, I would put it this way: the use of one’s faculties to affect change in the world. It has nothing to do with pay, or even compensation for that matter. The man who does oil changes is working. The man who farrows and raises pigs for his family to eat is working. The woman who cooks and cleans for her home is working.

The pay is not what makes it work. Useful Unemployment is great.

Or to use the terms a lot of the hustle bros use: work is adding value.

When we drift too far from work as problem-solving and too much into money-making, we run into serious issues. We need to always anchor our thinking in economics not around maximizing “shareholder value” or whatever magic metric we want to throw around like a Gini coefficient, but around the simple questions like, “how does this make the world better?”

Arrangements of Work

There are many arrangements of work. For those who are new to the world, here are just a few, in order from bad to good (for reasons that will be explained shortly):

Hourly employment (W2 Employee) - you get paid per hour that you’re on the job. Your employer provides you all the tools, workspace, etc. that you need to do it, and is also legally obliged to give you certain benefits at certain company sizes / hour thresholds.
Salary employment (W2 Employee) - Like hourly employment, except you get paid per week that you exist, and you have defined job roles. Usually, most companies do have hour requirements on this so it ends up being hourly employment but with more consistent pay.
Hourly (or “time and materials”) contracting (sole prop or 1099) - you get paid per hour that you work, and per the materials that you used. No benefits. Usually, expected to provide your own tools and workspace.
Fixed-bid contracting (1099) - you get paid for completing a work. Doesn’t matter how long you took - paid the same. (well, there might be bonus structures for finishing faster) (disclaimer: I’ve never actually done this as a 1099)
Selling goods or services (sole prop, or joint venture, etc.) - you’re a business, basically. Ever had a garage sale or lemonade stand? This is that. Buying houses/cars/machinery to fix it and resell it also falls into this category.
Shadow work - you transform goods into other goods for personal or familial consumption without monetary reimbursement. A home gardener, a housewife, changing your own oil, being an au pair, are examples of this. The IRS doesn’t know because there’s nothing to know.

You can see here that entrepreneurship isn’t necessary to move in a good direction, nor do I even consider it to be the ideal. You don’t need to be some crazy venture capitalist with a brick and mortar store.

Aspects of Good Work

What are some aspects of good work?

Sell Work, Not Labor

This section from Ade Bethune is worth quoting in full:

Labor is a gift. Does that mean to say, however, that no one should be paid for his work? Isn’t the laborer worthy of his hire? Yes. And Peter is the first to claim it. But it is the laborer who is worthy of his hire. It is he who needs his hire; but not the labor. No one can value the labor or the work itself in other terms than as a free gift. Labor is a gift. But neither does that mean the poor worker is to offer his productions as a gift to his patron. That would be nonsense.
This rather is the idea: that the laborer offers himself as a gift to his work. His devotion and his painstaking care are his own gift to his work. It is the gift for which no money, no honors, no bribe can pay. Men can be forced to work (through force or necessity). But no worker can be made to love his work... His labor is a gift.
Man always loves the ones to whom he gives himself. He also will love his work to the extent to which he puts himself into it. Even though he makes it for another man to use, his work will always be his, because he, in the first place, gave it freely of his time, his skill and his energy. The more whole-heartedly he has given himself to his work, the more intimately the work remains his. Unconsciously we recognize this when we say: “This is a Chippendale chair.” We say that, because Chippendale made the chair.
Ade Bethune, Work

This description of what is going on in the act of work is phenomenal. Labor is ultimately freely given (you cannot extract it from a man; he must give it, even if it is because he has been promised pay). Raw labor (such as laying tile, or sawing a log) is given not to a person but to a work (such as a finished bathroom, or a completed roof truss).

Thus, if the labor was exchanged rather than the work, the laborer would be removed from his work; causing alienation; a loss of love.

When we actually grapple with this low-level analysis of alienation, we see that the solution is absolutely laughably not a communist revolution, but much simpler: piecework.

I love doing fixed-bid projects. I love them for this main reason: my client pays for a problem to be solved. They do not pay for my efforts. They do not pay for my mistakes. On the flipside, they also do not get a discount for my good luck, or my skill. I have the ability to put extra time into something that should be right without feeling guilty about increasing billable hours, and the incentive to get done quickly so I can move on with life.

The incentives on fixed-bid are not perverse. On a less “contractor” and more “employee” basis, this is called “piecework”. You get paid 30 cents per square foot of tile laid (or whatever you come to an agreement with. and with a standard for the work, docking on shoddy work, etc).

Contrast this with an hourly rate. If you’re hourly, you’re incentivized to rack up the clock and be as inefficient as possible without being fired. The moral hazard here is obvious.

This isn’t just a matter of moral hazard though. It is dehumanizing to pay for a person’s time. It makes sense to buy the products of a man, because these products are, well, not the man. But, to make a claim to a person’s time is slavery - because the time is a part of them. There is a reason why the term “wage slave” is apt. It’s true.

This may not be the only way. But I do think that fixed-bid/piecework both provides superior incentives, and more closely matches the ontological realities of exchange that are occurring.

Tool/Capital Ownership

It is surely undeniable that, when a man engages in remunerative labor, the impelling reason and motive of his work is to obtain property, and thereafter to hold it as his very own... a working man’s little estate thus purchased should be as completely at his full disposal... - Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum
If we do not restore the Institution of Property we cannot escape restoring the Institution of Slavery; there is no third course. - Hilaire Belloc, The Servile State

It is good for man to own the tools and capital which he uses in his labors.

While at my first “real” engineering job I was walking through the machine shop to talk to a machinist. While waiting for him, I picked up one of the rulers on the tool cart. He barked at me and told me to set the ruler down. I learned then - that was his tool. Yeah, he was a W-2 employee. But that was his toolbox. That moment stuck with me a lot. This man owned those tools. He invested his wages into the tools of the trade so he could be better; so he could do more.

But of course, the “tools” and “capital” are not limited to just the material - the immaterial are also important. Owning the knowledge; owning the processes. We’ll talk about that more in a second.

Here are some ways to ‘own’ things in different professions that might not be so obvious:

White collar work in general: Nice clothes. A good computer. Good stationery. Pads, portfolios, organization. Keep a rolodex / digital equivalent. Keep your own journal.
Blue collar work in general: Your boss might provide you certain tools but you should buy what you can if you’re going to be in it for a while. At least get common hand tools. Gloves. Tool belt. Good work clothes.
Programming: you’re going to be hamstrung by NDAs and procedures at most W2 jobs so you can’t bring your own computer. But keyboards, mice, desk setups, monitors perhaps - all of these can be yours and rather than begging your boss to get a nicer monitor for you, just buy it yourself.
Mechanical Engineering, Metrology, Machining: obviously you’re not buying big equipment until you’re on your own, but rulers, scales, hand tools, good pens and drawing equipment - all of these can be yours. Compile your own reference materials and books. Do you find yourself making calculators for particular tasks? Make sure you own them.

This has the great benefit of job security. Not job security in the sense of “I will have this particular job” (for that, see How to Write Unmaintainable Code ), but “I will always have a job available when I want/need it” - be good at your craft and you’ll be in demand.

Autonomy

The reason for tool ownership is so that the worker can have autonomy in how their tools are employed; otherwise it is not ownership in a meaningful sense.

The test of a man’s freedom is his responsibility as a workman. Freedom is not incompatible with discipline, it is only incompatible with irresponsibility. - Eric Gill
[Work] is personal, inasmuch as the force which acts is bound up with the personality and is the exclusive property of him who acts… - Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, §44

Once a worker is adequately formed (which is not immediate!) he should direct his working conditions to be more productive and healthy. It is his labor, after all - not his employer’s.

This is a point that we could have executed on so well in the remote work era but we completely fumbled the ball (in large part because we didn’t heed the prior point).

Once you’ve accomplished what you need to do for the day, go home rather than just finding busywork to do. It seems that in far too many cases we take “salaried” to just mean “hourly but with a fixed set of hours”. No, salary is for those with clearly defined roles that aren’t piecework-able. Think managers, artists, engineers, and other knowledge workers and creatives. These roles need a high (but not infinite) degree of autonomy to function right. As a design engineer, sometimes I need to pull a 12-hour day at the drafting board. Some days there’s just nothing to do. So, I don’t work on those days.

You’re not paying me to feel nice and professional and like a “real company”. You’re paying me to do a job - and as long as I do it, we’re good.

This leads us to the final point:

Diversity

Give a portion to seven, and also to eight: for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.
- Ecclesiastes 11:2

It’s good to have multiple enterprises, for several reasons:

It increases stability; just like one diversifies an investment portfolio.
It can increase flexibility to have multiple small enterprises than one large one. (It can also hamstring it). This can be used to vacation, or to always have work by having a low-priority backlog of work.
It keeps you open to new possibilities (at different states of life this is more helpful than others).
It prevents burning out on one drudgerous task.

This doesn’t need to be things that the tax man sees. Here’s some examples from my life:

In addition to a salaried engineering position, have a low-priority backburner of contract work to take on (multiple work queues)
Don’t just raise crops, also raise sheep and pigs with the same land/equipment (complimentary enterprises)
Don’t just raise the livestock, market it directly to consumers (vertical integration)
Have seasonally shifting work (e.g. full-time harvest but only for a few weeks in the fall)

And again it doesn’t have to be employment or constant revenue streams:

When you get done with your job, flip houses
Grow your own food
Sell the spoons you like making dozens of on etsy
If you’re a contractor or sole proprietor, have a diversity of clients - get projects from different industry sectors and company sizes.

Tips for Good Work

Make a Portfolio and a Reputation

I stopped updating my resume. Why would I? I have a portfolio. It shows projects I’ve worked on. Tells about how I did it. The substance speaks. Knowing where I went to school is just trivia. Maybe you should still have a resume but I don’t find it needful.

Obviously in technical realms this works well. I don’t know how you would go about doing this if you’re in a world of NDAs. Or if you’re, say, an actuary. Get creative. The point is this: don’t tell me that you have skill x/y/z. Show me that you can add value.

And, of course, even better than showing me you can add value, is my friend telling me you can. Referrals and networking are the most important sales tools.

Find Problems, Not Jobs

This is the biggest mindset shift you need to make. If you wake up and start asking “who is willing to give me money” you’re not going to go very far. Same as if you just ask “how do I exert agency” or “how do I self-actualize”. Many artists fail because they don’t meet the world where it’s at.

You need to be figuring out what problems people have so you can present a legitimate gift of self. And you should also identify the problems that people are willing to compensate you to solve.

That’s a very different thing than looking for a job (which is a ready-made position that just needs you, the cog, to slide in and do whatever you’re told). It takes some initiative. You need to be creative and say “well, y’know, I could figure out how to fix your gutters for $50, what do you say?”

There is a serious creativity in being able to identify problems.

How do you do this though, practically? Go to trade shows. Go to conferences. Go everywhere. Ask questions. Listen intently to the problems people have. And when you can solve them, don’t hold back from making this known.

It’s OK to Start as a Wageslave

In some fields (such as engineering) it’s really only once you’re established as competent that you can become an independent contractor. Until then you should find places where you can skill up. But even here, take the mindset of a contractor. In your reviews, don’t talk about how much time and effort you put in - talk about what you accomplished. If you’re salaried, act like it - work late when you need to and leave early when you’re done.

Buy Tools

I cannot stress enough how having tools of the trade changes your mindset towards work. It’s not just a mind game, but it largely is a mind game. Obviously I can just go somewhere else and start working. I’ve got a drill and tape measures and a good computer and all the other kit I need to practice my craft.

The act of buying tools also very much changes how you look at the wages you earn and the game you’re playing. You can buy back your time - you can buy labor-saving devices and employ them so that you have more time in the future.

There is also the simple pride that having the tools of the trade brings. It is my craft. I can do it without my employer. It’s my work.

Don’t Entangle

Do not get company health insurance. Please just join a healthshare ministry. I could go on about insurance and how cost-sharing is better than insurance, but the point really is this:

It’s difficult to have the mentality of diversity and autonomy if you have health insurance through your employer. You need to have that sort of detachment. It is unhealthy entanglement. There’s no reason for it other than horrendous tax incentives. Maybe if you’re super disciplined and type-A you can have your backup insurance provider ready to go and swap out but boy that’s just a hassle.

Much like cohabitation, employer benefits take something that is still ultimately a severable relationship (at will employment) and adds things on top of it, artificially, to up the stakes and prevent severance. If you want slavery, ask for the nail driven through your ear. Otherwise, act like a free man.

Retirement plans are a whole thing. I don’t like them for many reasons. If you want to set one up through your employer, sure. They’re actually not that entangling except for vesting. You can always take the money from a 401(k) and roll it into an IRA. But you should have a psych check on this - I wouldn’t do anything that overburdens you.

Don’t make your employer a middleman for your life.

Have Savings and Practice Thrift

This should be obvious and self-explanatory. If you’ve got a nice cushion of cash it’s a lot easier to say no to bad work. If you’ve got a cushion of cash, you can just say “yeah, I will buy the tools I need for this venture”.

Sidebar: if I know you in the flesh, and you’re in a situation where you just need some extra cash to make the jump out into the great wild west of freelancing or whatever - talk to me.

Keep your overhead costs low. Don’t need much, and again - you will have an easier time saying no to bad work.

Savings makes making good decisions easier. Although, it also does make bad decisions easier...

Responding to Common Objections

“You shouldn’t let your hobby become your job.”

I think this can come about when you put all your eggs in that basket and you need that thing to work; you’re dependent on it to live. The pressure is on to make it work.

Well, don’t do that! Just chill. Sell the things you have in abundance - and don’t let them get to a scale you come to dread. Maybe just sell dozens of those wooden spoons - but not hundreds. Or maybe you just need to give them away (after all, again, it’s just about adding value to the world - not making money).

Or get over yourself and learn to manage the stress; to offer up the stress. There is personal growth to be had here, and I don’t think you develop it except by doing it.

“This doesn’t work in the heavily institutionalized field of x.”

I don’t doubt it. Some suggestions:

Stay away from that field.
Do only part time work in that field, and diversify outside of it (e.g. by flipping houses).
Become a consultant (may require staying in for several years first).

“But I’m just not a go-getter; I don’t think I could make the leap.”

You should become somewhat of a go-getter though. This is a good trait to develop.
I’m not advocating entrepreneurship per se. I’m not even saying you must freelance. I’m just saying you need to adopt this mindset. You can do a lot of what’s described here while still being 100% W2. You don’t have to really “hustle”. Just be a little more open.

“It’s hard to get the baseline savings required.”

This isn’t the Dave Ramsey show or Financial Audit.
Find a mentor, who may even be able to spot you, or that you can understudy with at least.
If I know you IRL, please, talk to me.

“Having lots of jobs seems like a lot of stress.”

For most people, yeah, it is. There is some personal growth that is required to do it. But that’s good - it helps you develop organizational tools and, again, be an owner in your life rather than just doing whatever the one revenue stream you have says you should do. Ownership is stressful. But it’s something that you can learn to manage and you end up being the better for it.

“This doesn’t seem practical for jobs where you are part of a greater whole.”

The objection is in regards to jobs like an assembly line or wait staff at a restaurant.

Sometimes hourly pay is an acceptable proxy, but it has to be kept in mind that it is more of a proxy than a reality.
In the case of an assembly line, you can actually do piecework still.
At a certain point though these are somewhat disordered forms of work unless they are a sort of ‘joint venture’.

“So are you advocating for people to get paid less for doing more?”

No. I want everyone to generate way more value and wealth and to get paid accordingly for it.

If you’re actually gonna be a 1099 not a W2, that means taking risks upon yourself - risks you should get paid for. Seriously: remember to figure out what the market will bear when you go out on your own.

There are a lot of companies abusing 1099s or fake hours or things that are scams, such as automakers forcing “flat rate” for auto mechanics in auto shops servicing warranty claims. They have no negotiating power in this arrangement. This is despicable, and the mechanics should continue walking out of such working arrangements.

“This isn’t maximally economically efficient.”

I don’t claim that it is, except insofar as our aim should be human development, and everything I am discussing tends towards the possibility for workers to grow in and exercise virtue, and even gives them incentive structures to do so.

I do not care how much the line goes up. I care how many go up to heaven.

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