Five revealing tips for finding a meaningful career
What does meaningful work look and feel like for you?
For me, it includes coaching career changers keen to make a positive difference for people and the planet.
I recently updated my website and LinkedIn profile to make this crystal clear for potential clients.
Now, a steady stream of career changers committed to ‘contributing’ to a fairer, greener world are coming to me for help.
So, here’s the thing. Get clear about what purposeful work means for you, and you’ll probably start attracting the right kind of opportunities.
This blog explores five ways to figure out your version of meaningful work. Next month, I’ll give you a solid heads up on places to find it.
First up.
Stop focusing on finding your passion
I don’t equate ‘purpose’ with ‘passion.’ Come to me for coaching, and we’ll work on the premise that action finds purpose and fuels passion.
Not convinced? Invest eleven minutes in this myth-busting presentation ‘Stop searching for your passion’ by charming, straight-talking Terri Trespicio.
Then, if you’re still intent on waiting for a passion-driven career change epiphany, do something while you wait.
Simplify the question
Take this sensible advice from (somewhat sweary) writer Mark Manson. Swap big existential questions like ‘why am I here?’ and ‘what’s my life’s purpose?’ for, ’what can I do with my time that’s important?’
Then have a go at his 7 strange questions to help find your answers.
Drill down until you hit your deepest self
Before I became a career coach, I was a project manager in the charity and community sectors. I ran major fundraising campaigns, managed mentoring programs for social enterprises, and evaluated child health programs.
This work made a difference and met two of the three fundamental criteria for meaningful work. It served the greater good and achieved tangible results. But, while my NFP roles tapped my talents, they didn’t fully meet the third criteria for meaningful work - engaging my deepest self. Coaching does that by fulfilling my need to:
Engage one on one to help humans understand what makes them tick
See the direct impact of my work - happier, more confident people transitioning into careers they love
Work flexibly and independently in my own business
‘Making a difference’ means different things to different people. Use these questions to help you tease apart what it means for you:
How will you know you’re making a difference? What will change, and how will you measure that?
Who do you want to make a difference for? Which parts of the environment or the economy or society are you drawn to supporting?
Why? If you dig under all of the above, what puts the fire in your belly? Injustice, inequality, the climate crisis?
What if? You didn’t have to worry about money and responsibilities; where would you use your skills to make a difference?
Keep digging until you hit rock-solid answers that show you exactly where to focus your time and effort. As Terri Trespicio says in her TED talk, ‘passion isn’t a plan.’ If you’re keen on solving the mystery of meaningful work, get busy doing it.
Find purpose in your current work
Could purpose be hiding in plain sight in the work you already do?
Even if your answer is a resounding ‘No!’, some creative thinking about how and why you do your current job and who benefits could help you survive until you’re ready to move.
Psychologist Amy Wrzesniewski calls this process of creating meaning in your work ‘job crafting.’ In this twelve-minute talk, she describes her research with hospital cleaners who’ve crafted their jobs. Many of these cleaners reset their job boundaries and redesigned their tasks to interact with patients and visitors in caring, safety-promoting ways.
When queried about whether the way she chose to work matched her job description, one of the cleaners replied, ‘that’s not in my job. But that’s part of me.’
Wondering how you could job craft your way to more meaningful work? These case studies may give you some tips.
Don’t be discouraged
There are loads of reasons why your purpose eludes you. How to find meaningful work covers three of the biggies in eight minutes.
Briefly, in our quest for purposeful work, we’re looking to honour our talents by solving real problems and making a tangible difference. Sadly, these goals run counter to how our education system, society, and economy currently work. But take heart, things are changing. Lend your ears to this podcast from ‘The Happiness Lab’ about how our definition of fulfilling work is shifting away from ‘pay, perks, and plush offices.’
Many of us are keen to do ‘difference-making’ work that produces substantial results. Research into the career goals of twenty to forty-year-old Generation Y graduates found that eighty-six percent of respondents were determined to do work that positively impacted the world.
Ready to make a difference but struggling for a place to start? Book a chat.
By Jo Green, Career Change Coach
I know that when you find what you love, heart and soul, your life changes. I work every day with people who are reshaping their current careers, starting new enterprises or searching for a new direction. Basically I help people who don’t like their job to figure out what to do instead!
As a Careershifters and Firework Advanced Certified Coach and experienced career changer myself, I can help you figure out what fulfilling work looks like for you.
Drop me a note to organise a free 20 minute consultation to chat about your career change and how coaching could help.
