Can you stop working in pursuit of nothing specific?

livemint.com:

covid pandemic, however, stoked the need to make more of one’s life than merely fulfilling the demands of a day job and explore inner callings for a change. And this shift has been noticed by the employers. “The entry conversation of CXOs and high performers is no longer just about how strong their career paths will be at the company, but how a role in the firm would allow them to lead a fuller life by enjoying benefits like a sabbatical or a hobby or a long paternity leave," in the words of Sadasivan.

There is a ‘cool factor’ attached to such flexibility. Take the case of a friend who quit his job as a CXO of a successful startup at age 37. He had realized that meeting the company’s numbers was bringing in bonuses but did not make him happy.

He had worked in the FMCG segment before with large corporates and thought that maybe a different role would make a difference. But a job switch did not help. What did help was quitting the startup he had joined and shifting out of Bengaluru to a smaller city during the pandemic.

“I realized that time was currency, but what was more important than time was attention. While chasing numbers on excel sheets, scrolling through my phone and shuttling from one meeting to another, I had stopped paying attention to myself or the world around me," he said . Today, he works two days a week as a consultant.

He has found a peer group of people who have followed a similar path and are very clear that returning to the corporate world is best avoided. The aim is to earn, get the required health insurance and savings, but through work that does not take up large portions of their lives. But is this option available to many ? After all, for most employees, it’s the job that pays the bills, and for a