Meaning – A deep driver
There can be many different motivating factors behind work. The meaning your work has can be a deep driver that can sustain you over the long-term, providing great satisfaction and fulfilment.
It has this quality of sustaining your work, more so than pursuing something purely for pleasure and self-gain, rather like a meal of sweets and sugar, burn quickly in the body but can lead to premature burn-out.
In his book, “Start with Why”, Simon Sinek, identifies the importance of having a driver, of something deeply meaningful, contributing to something beyond yourself, as it can help you ride out the ups and downs of your working life.
Finding the Why
Beyond paying your bills and surviving… why are you here? I mean, is your reason for being here just to survive? To make loads of money? Then what?
If you already had that money in the bank, what would you do for the rest of your life?
What can you get passionate about? The original meaning of the word passion is actually “to suffer.”
If there was a mission / purpose that you’d be willing to make sacrifices for, even suffer for, what would that be?
If you could change one thing about life on this planet, what would it be? What makes you angry or annoys you?
Answering these questions can also lead you to define the problem you could solve and thereby offer something that people might be willing to pay for.
If Work was the expression of your Love, what would you be doing?
If you were to fight for something, what would that something be?
What can’t you stop talking about?
As you can see, there can be many pointers to meaning. The key thing is to find that deep driver, which can be the energy and motivation for action.
You might find clues in your life experience and the story so far, or do some reflection to identify what your values for work are.
I sincerely wish you clarity in the process of finding your why!
Photo by Eva Elijas from Pexels
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