What is it to Work with Meaning and can work have meaning?
I like to think that people who Work with Meaning have some ‘skin in the game’. They aren’t just punching the clock and going through the motions. They are bringing some energy, initiative and good humour. They want to be there and they want to contribute.
Work with Meaning is more than general busyness. Your contribution is serving a population or cause that you have some personal connection to. As a result of this connection you will have moments through the day when you feel gratitude, pride and you can’t help but enjoy yourself. For the task itself or the progress made really means something to you.
When I was engaged in general busyness and going through the motions I noticed that my whole life was impacted. How I got out of bed, how important my weekends were and even what kind of human I was being. Through my 20s and 30s I was changing my job and or employer almost every 18-24 months. I wanted more from my work and for my life and didn’t know what I was looking for or how to find it.
Maybe it was the boss so I changed teams, maybe it was the culture so I changed offices and then companies. Maybe it wasn’t work at all I just needed a big enough goal outside of work so I could put my head down and save money. Each move was a chance to put in practice what I had learnt and hopefully a step closer to Work with Meaning. Three experiences of redundancy, five career transitions, marriage and divorce, working for myself, living and working in three different countries and a healthy dose of self-reflection has lead me to what I do now. Supporting others to answer the question of what do they want to do more quickly and with less pain than I did.
I love lived wisdom and acknowledge that learning only from your own mistakes is a long slow painful road. So too is ruling out everything you don’t want to do. My approach, the Work with Meaning approach, is to really understand why you work, what rules you are following, life design, job design then actually writing down what is your ideal job.
Why you work shapes the experience you have when working. Most people work because they have to or they need the money. How many of your fondest memories start with a tale of because you had to or you needed the money? To be content humans we all have to meet certain needs and given the time we dedicate to work it is a wonderful facilitator or blocker of meeting those needs.
All humans aspire to something. Are you the good boy or girl, do you want to be successful or happy? Over our lifetime we observe what works and leads to the thing we aspire to. What start out as observations and good ideas become rigid fact. So rigid that we no longer see opportunities or are willing to take action outside of these rules. Your Work with Meaning may well lie outside of these rules that have served you well, albeit not so well now. Reconnecting with and understanding your rules can allow you to change your rules to better support the life you want to create for yourself.
With an openness to new possibilities it is a great time to do some life design. A lot of people’s life is what’s left after work, if they have any energy left to think about or live it. Giving some thought to what you want to do and have can help see priorities and create some energy to act. Knowing what you want to have or do can be enhanced when you know who you want to share it with and what financial resources you need to pay for it. Great plans and all the finances in the world won’t make a difference if you haven’t taken care of your health and well-being. Even knowing who you want to be, rather than who you have needed to be to fit in, can enhance your experience of life.
Playing golf and or lying by a pool drinking cocktails sounds fantastic.. for a while. The happiest humans I know are contributing to others, working you might say. Knowing what you want for your life is a chance to create work in such a way that it can connect you to the activities and people important to you whilst creating the financial resources you need to pay for it. Awesome. Over the last twenty years 80% of workers would leave their job for a better opportunity. I believe this is because there is too much of what they are good in each day. What we are good at isn’t the same as what we love doing or is important to us. Imagine each day being filled with just a little more of what you love doing and or is important to you.
Finally write it all down. Having done this work you understand why you work, what rules you need to follow and can see how your work and life are aligned and complementary to being your best self, doing your best work. Rather than relying on knowing when you see it or it sounding right when you hear it you have a tangible tool to keep you on track rather than be distracted by what others might want you to do.
Having done this work you turn up to work with meaning and your work has meaning. That is a beautiful thing. Not just for you. You partner, kids, family, friends local community and whoever you engage with share a moment in time with a human radiating an energy you can’t help but want a little more of.
