The National Career Development Association (NCDA), in their 8 page PDF document "Career Development: A Policy Statement of the National Development Association Board of (Adopted March 16, 1993; revised 2003)", has the following definitions. (NCDA gave me permission to create this html version.)

• "Career development" is the total constellation of psychological, sociological, educational, physical, economic, and chance factors that combine to influence the nature and significance of work in the total lifespan of any given individual. 
  
• "Career" is the totality of work -- paid and unpaid -- one does in his/her lifetime. 
  
• "Work" is sustained, conscious paid and/or unpaid effort, other than that having as its primary purpose either coping or relaxation, aimed at producing societally acceptable benefits for oneself and/or for oneself and others. 
  
• "Drudgery" is involuntary effort to produce benefits for oneself and/or for oneself and others undertaken out of perceived necessity rather than personal choice. 
  
• "Vocation" is one's primary work task at any given period of life. 
  
• "Occupation" is one's primary work task in the world of paid employment.
• "Job" is an identified set of duties and responsibilities -- paid or unpaid -- assigned to be performed usually on a sustaining, ongoing basis by one person. "Position" is a set of competencies (skills and knowledge) required as a component of the overall mission of the agency, organization, or setting in which the position exists. 
  

With these definitions, NCDA's conceptual view is that any given individual has only one "career" even though she/he changes occupations, vocations, positions, or jobs several times.

"Work" is the foundation in career development, and "... represents the need to do – to achieve - to know that one is needed by others and is important. Work is a major way for individuals to recognize and understand both who they are and why they exist in terms of making contributions to society that bring personal meaning and satisfaction to them. It is when persons regard what they are doing as work that productivity is maximized. Without work, the best a job can provide is economic security benefits -- which may not be enough to motivate the employee to perform in a maximally productive manner. The goal of career development is ensuring that the individual finds work as well as a job."

I believe that there is a type of work that goes beyond this definition of work or career and is the fulfillment of our dreams or our destiny or what we were meant to be/do, and where we find our voice or our calling or our soul's code. 

I call that term LifeWork.

The following resources provide similar or supporting definitions of "LifeWork' or other terms..

1. This page 39 in "What color is your parachute? for teens" does a good comparison of  "career" with "job".
2. all activities throughout your lifetime which enhance your own life and the lives of others. ... Jobs or careers can end, but the need to continue to grow, develop, and express our self continues. "Lifework" better represents the collective experiences we have over a lifetime that make us who we are. ... Few jobs or careers can encompass all of what constitutes who we are. ... what provides meaning and satisfaction can change over time, as our life circumstances and responsibilities evolve, necessitating changes or adjustments in our lifework activities. (University of Minnesota's CCE)
3. The chief or entire work of a person's lifetime. (answers.com)
4. the principal work of your career (OLLA)
5. the work to which a person's life is devoted; most important work of one's life (yourdictionary.com)
6. the entire or principal work of one's lifetime; also : a work extending over a lifetime (mw1.merriam-webster.com)

Each quoted text above was copied from the referenced website on 4/14/2008.PPT -

See also LifeWork and combinatorial uses of words life, work, and career

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• February 27, 2006 - "LifeWork" - defined
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• April 17, 2008 - My defintion of LifeWork and how it compares to "work" @ dreams
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• April 22, 2008 - "LifeWork" is a special kind of "work"
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• February 24, 2006 - LifeWork and combinatorial uses of the words life, work, and career
• April 21, 2006 - The feeling you get when you have discovered your LifeWork @ dreams
• March 28, 2007 - Other Internet sites that use the term "LifeWork Planning" @ lwp
• Defintion of terms: NCDA: Career, career development, work, drudgery, vocation, occupation, job. LWPS: lifework, lifework planning, destiny, lifestyle
• Who else uses the term "LifeWork" to mean the same thing that we do?
• November 17, 2006 - The value of doing career/lifework planning @ communities
• March 31, 2006 - Inspirational stories about peoples LifeWork
• February 24, 2006 - Make your dreams your LifeWork @ dreams
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• August 21, 2008 - The beginning: My 1 minute "LifeWork Profile" @ new
• November 17, 2006 - The value of doing career/lifework planning @ communities
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• March 28, 2006 - The genesis of my LifeWork (bliss; passion; voice; calling) @ lwpsmonograf
• July 23, 2008 - RR tracks as a metaphor for your LifeWork journey @ destiny
• March 22, 2008 - The sequential LifeWork Planning process program chain @ stages

• November 18, 2006 - "Put everything you know about yourself on one piece of paper" @ new  add to the home page
  
• August 16, 2006 - My LifeWork Joy Quotient @ dreams
  
• March 30, 2006 - LWQQ - LifeWork Quality Quotient
• July 22, 2006 - My most important LifeWork paper @ cybercounsel
• May 22, 2006 - Resources about "making your dreams your LifeWork" @ dreams

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• May 06, 2006 - Ink your thoughts and other info (into docs, files and/or posts) that will help you do your career/lifework planning, and @ profiles
• April 29, 2006 - to "think, ink and link" key information about your career/lifework planning so you can "Make your dreams your LifeWork".. @ new
• April 16, 2006 - Your pursuit of happiness and discovering joy in your life is the key to discovering your LifeWork @ dreams
• February 06, 2006 - LifeWork Planning Services (LWPS) ... catch your dreams; make them your LifeWork

• April 16, 2006 - My LifeWork quest @ dreams
• March 31, 2006 - My LifeWork Statement
  • February 22, 2006 - Your LifeWork Statement @ lwpsdevel
• March 15, 2006 - My LifeWork card for my vision 6/6B
  • June 10, 2009 - Dr. Sally Gelardin's "one line statement" of her career/lifework @ Plan
• June 26, 2009 - Staying focused on and connected to my LifeWork
• arch 24, 2009 - What is "career/lifework" planning and why should I do it?
• April 28, 2008 - Interesting GAs for "lifework" @ Plan
• November 05, 2007 - writing is "lifework" not "deskwork" @ being

This article precisely captures the essence of my definition of LifeWork. 

THE CAREER IMPERATIVE Mark C Ward 27 May 2010 20:53 On calling and Life's Work

You owe it to yourself never to settle for a mere job, writes Mark C Ward. 

You walk into customer services department. You see all the representatives sitting in their cubicles. It is immediately evident. Some have energy, commitment, engagement. Others are tired and have a dull look in their eyes. The former are on purpose, going somewhere, and aligned. Despite an apparently humble designation they are doing more than mere work. Customer service is for them a vocation. For the latter group, it's a job.

When the sales team is assembled, some come in focused, energetic, and happy to talk about the pipeline, prospects, closing deals, gross profit or margins and so forth. Even in bad months they are driven and engaged. Others drag their feet into sales meetings, make excuses about the numbers, and find reasons why their pipeline is empty. For the former the sales game is a vocation, for the latter it's a job.

The word vocation actually means calling ("vocation" comes from the Latin vocare, meaning ‘to ‘call"), and although calling is a dangerously misleading term, I think that a distinction between a mere job and ones life's work is an important one. Let me say at the outset that ones life's work or vocation can change over time. Case in point: Bill Gates is one. He is the leading philanthropist in the world aiding many causes with his millions in spare cash. Is he on purpose? You bet! But then was he not on purpose when building Microsoft? He was, but his vocation or purpose changed. It changed because he changed as part of his naturally unfolding process towards maturity. We can have more than one calling during our lifetimes, of that I assure you.

Job vs Vocation and True Work

A job is functional, mechanical - the ‘what' of what you do. It involves a job description, measurements, key performance indicators (KPIs in HR vernacular) and is concerned with outputs. A job might be tolerable, even occasionally enjoyable but will never be inspiring or fulfilling on a deep level. It is simply a regular activity performed in exchange for payment. A vocation on the other hand is born out of following what one loves and seeking a connection with personal meaning and purpose. It involves inspiration and stimulation. A vocation is the work arising from following a "calling" - the term for an occupation to which a person is mysteriously or inexplicably drawn to.  It comes from within and always has as a quality true engagement of mind and spirit. As the old cliché goes, if you love and are passionate about your work, you actually never work a day in your life. Then work becomes a channel for mind and spirit to freely express yourself. A reservoir of energy is unleashed. Untapped strength of will and inner power are accessed. So finally, what is true work? When you are expressing the best that is within you with love, creativity, passion and spirit - that is true work.

Our duty to ourselves

I have said all that, to say this: each and every one of us is in fact called, and the calling is not to some profession or end game, but rather to the journey, the pursuit of our own unique place in the world. We are called to find our life's work, and to venture out on a path entirely unique. One of my favourite fables concerns the Knights of round table, summoned to go out into the forest and look for the Holy Grail. Without being instructed to do so, they each found the darkest place in the forest they could find where no path existed, for they did not consider it honourable to walk in the footsteps of another. Rather they were internally summoned to carve their own unique path in the forest. And this then is our summons, our duty to ourselves. We are called to find our unique contribution and to pursue it with integrity and steadfastness in a world that seeks conformity, predictability and security. By heading this calling, you can be sure that you will find your vocation and when called to account for what you did with your life, you can answer from a place of satisfaction and knowing that you have done what you were meant to do.

*Mark C Ward (BA, M.LPD) has been a management consultant and executive coach since 1995. He is a director at JUMP Human Resourcing (www.jumphr.co.za). For coaching enquiries or suggestions write to him at mark@careercoach.co.za