Do You Want to Do More Meaningful Work?

If you’re anything like most people, you want the work you do to be meaningful.

Because, hey, if you’re going to spend a good chunk of your day doing something, it may as well be a thing that feels worthwhile.

Yes, the purpose of your job is to pay the bills. But most of us would like to feel as if we’re fulfilling some sort of purpose beyond that in our daily work.
At least that’s what I suspected. And that’s what people typically tell me when they come to me looking for career coaching.

So when I ran a quick poll on LinkedIn recently and my suspicions were confirmed, I wasn’t surprised one bit.

We asked people who were thinking about making a career change what’s most important to them.

It wasn’t salary.
It wasn’t benefits.
It wasn’t company culture.

The desire to do more meaningful work was the winner, hands down.

Here’s why I expected this answer…

Human beings are meaning-making animals. Don’t take my word for it; you can trace this idea back to the great philosophers and big thinkers throughout history. Meaning is what sets us apart from the deer and the turtles.

We’re not just out here to survive. We seek to create meaning through how we live our lives.

We want to do work that feels good. We want to do work that makes a difference.

We want to spend our precious time doing work that has a positive impact on ourselves and our world.

It’s a big deal.

But the problem is, if we’ve just been toiling away at a job that sucks the ever-loving life out of us or we’ve just been puttering along in a ho-hum, “decent enough” career…well, we lose touch with what meaningful work even looks or feels like.

So here’s a hint —
What makes you come alive? What lights you up? When do you feel most like yourself? What uses your gifts? When do you feel like you’re being most helpful?

Do more of that!

Take some time to explore these answers for yourself. Once you have some clarity, the equation is simple:

1. Being Yourself + 2. Making an Impact = 3. Doing Meaningful Work

If you’d like to share, I’d love to know what you came up with. Post your comments below.