Chapter 3.9 – Quality of life, working climate and productivity

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»The economy – especially small industry, services and art – flourishes on our planet as never before. On the other hand, everybody only works as long as it’s fun for them. That’s why there is no over-production that pollutes the environment unnecessarily.«.  

– Joytopia

If everybody does what they love, how will that alter the quality of life? What impact is to be expected on working climate and productivity? How satisfied will the customers be? Would everything that is needed be produced at all? And who does the dirty work?

Anyone who has attended a good personality training course or success seminar knows that you can only be really successful when you do what you love. All really successful people do what they love. Or can you imagine a piano virtuoso who does not like music, a top athlete who hates training, a Steve Jobs who finds the iPhone stupid or a Pope who does not like praying? Only when you do what you love will you achieve the quality and productivity that it takes for exceptional performance. When you do what you love you experience work as pleasure. You are very happy to do more, work longer and better and achieve better results. You see problems which arise as welcome challenges to develop yourself and the quality of your work even further. Naturally you also enjoy being together with colleagues or business associates and customers; for with them you share the common stage, on which you are allowed to live out your favourite occupations.

Doesn’t every employer wish for such motivated employees? And doesn’t every employee wish for such a fantastic boss? Isn’t every customer happy to have such competent and cooperative suppliers and business partners?

With unconditional participation the gradido model gives all people the guarantee that they are allowed to do what they love. People who no longer know what they love receive valuable support from a loving community to develop their full potential. As everyone is already provided for through unconditional participation, they will only take on additional work that meets the standards set by unconditional participation regarding working climate, meaningfulness and pleasure. Potential employers and customers face the challenge of meeting these demands when they make offers and place orders. Hence, all work on offer has the potential of being loved.

»Yes, but who does the dirty work?« – »Who will still want to clean?« – »Who will work as a dustman?« – I can hear you asking such questions now. Let me answer these questions with two stories from my personal experience. 

During my school time a cleaning woman came to our house once a week – always the same woman over many years. Let’s call her Ms Miller. On this day of the week – I think it was Thursday – we boys had to watch our behaviour. We had the greatest respect for Ms Miller and her word was law. We sometimes found toys we had not cleared away in the dustbin. But that did not often happen since we knew that everything had to be tidied up before 8.00 on Thursday mornings. We had to get used to that. My parents much appreciated Ms Miller as in her way she taught their sons to be a bit tidy at least. From time to time my parents invited her to dinner.

Can you imagine that Ms Miller loved her work? Every Thursday morning she was the main person in our family, the undisputed boss. She not only had her work under control but also the two rascals. And she was highly respected by her employers.

About 25 years later I spoke to a young man in my neighbourhood. He told me that he had applied for a job as a dustman. The job was super – in the fresh air all day, no need to think and with good pay. While his contemporaries were still going to school or training for a job, this young man already had a good income and could afford things young people dream of, such as a nice car, a good flat, holiday, etc.

I don’t know if that young man is still a dustman today. And as chance will have it, a dustcart comes past outside just as I am writing this. I cannot see any dustmen in the street but only a rubbish claw controlled by the driver that empties the dustbins into the container single-handed. Driving such a dustcart seems to be a rather pleasant job. I would also enjoy doing it from time to time.

What can we learn from this? Firstly, that opinions as to what kind of work is enjoyable and which not differ from person to person. What is horrible for one person can be another person’s dream job, particularly when it is well paid. Besides that, hard jobs are increasingly done by machines, as in the example of the rubbish claw on the dustcart.

Dirty work or dream job – that is only an individual point of view. There are people who like doing any kind of task when they receive sincere appreciation and good pay. That also applies to dangerous work: there are people who seek adventure and danger and would be bored by a normal life. Nature provides for everyone and ensures that there are also people to take on every challenge that presents itself.

Every job will have to meet an important requirement in order to find someone to do it: the work must be meaningful. Hardly anyone will put themselves in danger or do something unpleasant if they see no sense in it. In the Natural Economy of Life earning money is no longer the main sense and purpose of work. Money is no longer an instrument of pressure, even less an instrument of power. Money has become one of many incentives. It can, as before, motivate people to do something they would not have done without money but it is no longer the sole motivation. Meaningfulness, working climate, enjoyment, fun, appreciation and thanks are other motivating factors which must add up. They all have in common that they enhance the quality of life of all those involved. They thus serve the threefold good – the good of the individual, the good of the community and the good of the big scheme of things.

In such a wonderful working climate people gladly perform well, particularly when they can enjoy their earnings without any deductions.

Advantage 5 – Positive account balances

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»If you have achieved true wholeness, everything will flow to you.«  

– Laotse, Tao Te Ching

There are only positive figures in the living nature visible to us, as we have already mentioned. Just as there are no apple trees on which minus 100 apples are hanging, there are only positive account balances with the gradido. Nobody has a debt unless they have explicitly made a loan agreement with another person. And even then they do not have a negative balance on their account but an agreement to repay the money.

What impact does this have alone on health? The words »positive« and »negative« do not just designate a sign before a figure; they also have a deep psychological meaning. We like being together with positive people as their pleasant nature uplifts us. As our self-confidence is also connected to the balance on our account, we can assume that positive balances influence our self-confidence positively. In a country in which everybody has a positive balance on their account people will energise each other with their positive self-confidence.

The national budget is also positive and government debt is a thing of the past. A debt-free nation also radiates a positive feeling to its citizens and the mood goes on improving. In addition, there is the positive Equalisation and Environment Fund which does not punish environmental sinners but rewards eco-friendly business activities.

We perhaps still lack the imagination to envisage the full scope of the chain reaction of these positive influences. However, we know that positive emotions stimulate the body’s production of endorphins. These are natural happiness hormones which decisively improve our health. And it has long been known that positive motivation can dramatically increase productivity and quality of work.

Thus, positive account balances are not just a mathematical gimmick. They are a crucial factor for the health, productivity and quality of life of a nation and hence of the whole of humankind.

Advantage 25 – Freedom from tax and social security contributions

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»You have to be a philosopher to be able to file an income tax return. It is too difficult for a mathematician.«

– Albert Einstein

German mathematician and physicist

The national budget plus health and social services is funded from the second amount of money created. No taxes, compulsory insurances or social security contributions are necessary. The national income per capita is roughly as high as it currently is in Germany. A great deal of expenditure is no longer necessary:

•       A debt-free state has no costs for either interest or repayment of debt

•       Unconditional participation means that work is done that would otherwise be at the expense of the national budget

•       Many social security contributions are no longer necessary because of the basic income.

Without the need to impose taxes we have a generous national budget with health and social services and with considerably lower expenditure. The surpluses can be used for the »nice things of life«, which further enhances people’s quality of life.

Advantage 26 – Much less state control

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»The masters see things as they are

but do not seek to control them.«

– Laotse

Chinese philosopher

A state that does not have to collect money from its citizens needs fewer controls. Although its citizens still have to be protected from criminal assaults, criminal potential will also decrease when people are contented. In turn, the additional freedom has an impact on people’s feeling of well-being, which means a further increase in quality of life, happiness and contentment.

Advantage 47 – Clear system of incentives for life

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Our common mother –  nature – is showing her children more and more clearly

that she is at the end of her tether.«

– Tenzin Gyatsho

14th Dalai Lama

Business works with incentives. The strongest incentive system in business is money. In the old system money did not create any clear incentives for life. On the contrary, it mostly created destructive incentives, to destroy the environment, to exploit others, to wage war. Even the most good-willed person is torn between their conscience and ethics, on the one hand, and financial incentives, on the other. Our present money system virtually forces people to adopt behaviour hostile to life. And so it is no wonder that the war industry is one of the strongest industries worldwide. It is perverse that we humans, who find ourselves in the position of possibly vanishing from off the face of the earth soon, invest our greatest economic strength in a branch of industry whose purpose it is to kill each other! Our current economic system is clearly programmed for self-destruction.

The Natural Economy of Life offers clear incentives for life. Its top decision criterium is the threefold good – the good of the individual, the good of the community and the good of the big scheme of things. From the threefold good the threefold creation of money is derived – basic income, national income and the Equalisation and Environment Fund. The money is created directly from life and offers incentives on all levels to decide in favour of life and behave in a manner friendly to life. This particularly applies to the Equalisation and Environment Fund, which subsidies eco-friendly activities.

Here again the principle applies that positive motivation is many times better than threats of punishment. By rewarding good, we promote positive feelings in people. Joy, pride, self-confidence, community feeling, sense of responsibility, etc. enhance quality of life for every single individual and hence for the community. Seen medically, endorphins are released in people’s brains – happiness hormones which contribute to a good feeling and lasting health.

As we see, the threefold good is also maintained again here. Individuals become happier and healthier, which enhances quality of life within the community. This situation was generated by rewarding or subsidising eco-friendly activities, namely measures for the good of the big scheme of things.

Advantage 52 – Economic equalisation

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life« 

»Poverty is the greatest destroyer of the environment.«

– Indira Gandhi,,

former Indian Prime Minister

There is no justification for poverty, either on ethical and moral grounds or for reasons of scientific and economic logic. On the contrary, all people in this world have a right to a life in human dignity. Differences are in order and enhance diversity. But when they go to the limits of existence or even survival, it is a damning indictment of the whole of humanity.

It is an inherent quality of the Natural Economy of Life that it creates worldwide prosperity and peace in harmony with nature. This quite clearly means equalisation between poor and rich countries and classes of society. Since there is enough for everyone, we do not have to take anything away from anyone and give it to someone else. Equalisation between poor and rich countries and classes of society thus means that those who have hitherto been poor become wealthy, while the people who already live in prosperity can keep their wealth.

I don’t know how it is with you, dear reader, but I personally can only really feel good when I see that the people around me also feel good. As long as my fellow humans are poor, I cannot really enjoy my prosperity. When the people who have hitherto been poor become wealthy, not only their quality of life is enhanced but also the quality of life of the others, who were already prosperous before.

Besides that, life will also become more peaceful. Already today the children of rich parents have to be taken to school by a guard in some cities as it would be much too dangerous for them to walk to school alone. Such a »golden cage« does not exactly contribute to quality of life for wealthy people either. Equalisation between poor and rich countries and classes of society therefore harms nobody and benefits everybody.

Advantage 60 – The rich can stay rich

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»You can't help the poor man by destroying the rich.«.

– Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the USA

The Natural Economy of Life has no enemy stereotypes. Its aim is to achieve prosperity for all in peace and in harmony with nature. As we know, there is enough for everybody. The wealthy countries and people can continue to enjoy their prosperity. Perhaps they will not be able to exercise so much power but they no longer have to protect themselves from other people. If everybody is faring well, why should they attack each other? And greed for power is also just a greed that will automatically disappear once everyone is safely provided for.

The rich people in this world will also benefit from the Natural Economy of Life. They will have enhanced quality of life, a good conscience, security and the uplifting feeling of being connected with everybody. 

Advantage 61 – The previously poor gain prosperity

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life« 

»If a free society cannot help the many who are poor,

it cannot save the few who are rich.«

– John F. Kennedy

35th President of the USA

The Natural Economy of Life creates prosperity for everyone. However, our earth cannot support a prosperity such as the industrialised countries are currently living out. But this does not mean that we have to »tighten our belts«. We merely have to bring our prosperity into harmony with nature.

We will cease giving GM feed to factory-farmed animals so as to subsequently bring  their meat contaminated with antibiotics to the tables of a few privileged nations. Instead of bombarding the citizens of rich nations with lifestyle diseases while the people in other countries have to starve, we learn to grow healthy organic vegetable food regionally. People will enjoy a wide culinary diversity of regional specialities.

The new prosperity of previously poor people will be accompanied by eco-friendly production, whether of foodstuffs or other goods. Eco-friendly, untreated products are, at the same time, good for the people who use them and their use contributes to health and hence enhanced quality of life. Do you notice the positive chain reaction?

Advantage 64 – High quality of work and life

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»When you do what you love and are ready to take money for it,

you cannot avoid being successful!«

– Samuel Woitinski

German author and coach

According to statistics, 75% of employees have emotionally detached themselves from their jobs. They only still go to work because they have to earn money. They are compelled to do a job they dislike because they first of all have to earn their living. Without this pressure they would stop today. You do not need much imagination to realise how much their well-being and the quality of their work suffers from this attitude.

Once again, it will be quite different with the gradido. Gradido means »thanks« and a basic income of a thousand gradidos means as much as »A thousand thanks for being with us!«. With the basic income the community thanks each of its members for being a full member of the community. Everybody is welcome with the very personal talents life has given them. As a full member of the community everybody can contribute with their inclinations and abilities.

When people do what they love, they do it especially well. They do it with love, joy and enthusiasm. They are »intrinsically« motivated from within. This inner motivation is of much more value than all the money in the world; money is only one among many means of motivation.

During the transition from the old system to the gradido it could be an interesting task to work out each person’s inclinations and abilities together with them and develop their full potential. Many people have forgotten how to feel and articulate their true needs. However, there are good methods of doing this, which have proved themselves a thousand times.

When people have relearnt to sense themselves with all their wishes, dreams, likes, talents and abilities they will become »their real selves« again. They begin to shine and blossom. The gradido system gives them the right to unconditional participation – the right to contribute to the community with their individual potential and in return receive their active basic income.

Everybody is blessed with a hitherto unknown quality of work and life, which previously was reserved for just a few privileged people. Those who had already achieved this are among the winners in this society. They are more than averagely successful in their professional and private lives. In the gradido system the majority of people will be several times more successful, more motivated, more productive and happier than before. Their quality of life is considerably enhanced and with it the quality of their work. 

Advantage 66 – Significantly less negative stress

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»The all-time drama has actually had only a single topic –

the inability of people to live together.«

– Gerhard Bronner

Austrian musician and cabaret artist

There are two kinds of stress –positive »eustress«, which motivates and spurs us on to do our best, and negative »distress«, which wears us down. This section is concerned with the negative kind of stress – distress. Distress results from pressure, fear, threats and so on. In earlier times it served as a way of reacting to life-threatening situations in an appropriate way. Our ancestors had three possibilities of dealing with dangers – fight, flight or play dead. These three survival strategies have proved to be successful and we can still observe them in wild animals today.

In today’s civilised world it is mostly not possible, or at least very inappropriate, to react to the threats of daily life with the fight or flight options. A person who has trouble with their boss can generally neither beat him/her up or run away. Hence, there only remains the third option of playing dead. However, our behaviour has an impact on our inner life. When we live in a situation where we frequently have to use this strategy we die inwardly and each time we play dead a part of us dies. We become frustrated and demotivated and in the end fall ill.

 

In the Natural Economy of Life we have a far greater freedom of choice as to how we want to react, for we are no longer as dependent on our jobs as nowadays. We still will not beat up our bosses but we can defend ourselves in another way when we feel that we are being unfairly treated. And if that does not help, we can quit without having to put up with social disadvantages.

Moreover, unconditional participation gives us the chance to do what we love and so there is already much less reason for conflict from the start. When we do what we love we do it very well and thus have great chances to receive recognition and appreciation. Should conflict situations still arise, we can defend ourselves since we have the right to unconditional participation and cannot simply be dismissed. Besides, we would only have to endure such a situation for two hours a day, if need be. Should the situation repeat itself, we would change our job and thus also the human environment in which we are acting. The normal state is therefore deep satisfaction and fulfilment in the self-chosen work; and we can cope with the rare stress situations.

If we work in the free economy, either instead of or in addition to the active basic income, we do not have to put up with unfair treatment from either our employer or customers. We are not obliged to do the work to assure our livelihood since our existence is always secured. For employers this means that they have to create a pleasant environment for their employees, otherwise they would lose them. For customers it means that they have to treat their business partners in a fair and friendly way. The customer is no longer the only king: we have all become kings.

Negative stress is a frequent cause of illness in our times. If we have no stress, we stay healthier both mentally and physically.