The search for meaningful work

What is meaningful work really, and why does the search for meaningful work cause it to elude us?

The search for meaningful work in many ways is like the search for job happiness. The more you look for it, the harder it is to find.

What is meaningful work anyways?

Is it doing something that satisfies you?

Is it doing something that has a cause, or a deeper goal attached to it?

This seems to be how our culture views meaningful work. We see it as something that as you participate in it, it has an extra layer of significance to it.

We see it as this grandiose idea of being able to earn money while at the same time have a soulful connection to the task itself.

Meaningful work gets viewed as the ability to fulfill by solving a larger societal or cultural issue.

This can lead us on a wild goose chase in thinking we need to find ‘our problem’ to solve so we too can be meaningfully fulfilled at work.

When in actuality it’s a distraction from where true meaning is created in our life’s work.

It’s a backwards approach

Let’s flip this around.

Meaningful work isn’t about solving large world problems but in conquering our own internal struggles and challenges.

In fact, looking out at grand society issues often just distracts from our own ones.

It’s easier to distract ourselves with solving homelessness, saving the rainforest or something like that then the real, life issues at our fingertips.

The real meaning and change we create through work is done close to home.

We must use work to turn the flashlight inwards and manage our own personal relationships and keep our own life in order.

That’s where real change happens.

Young adults take note

This is a familiar theme for many young adults.

I was certainly guilty of this.

When we're young we want some ambitious, glorious career pursuit that reflects extraordinarily on us.

However, the discipline and self authority often isn’t where it needs to be.

The financial responsibility is lacking.

And the car is filthy and hasn’t been cleaned in a year.

Not exactly the place to be demanding a grandiose purpose at work!

How the search for meaningful work usually begins

When they’re unfulfilled and lacking purpose in their livelihood, people typically look to find fulfilment by pondering what else they can do. This begins the search for meaningful work.

We tend to think, “my job is too mundane. How can I find a career with a greater mission attached to it.”

If only we could all find our own passion and dream job, then everything would be perfect.

Right?

Well, before you start solving all the worlds problems, here’s a more important question.

Is you’re own life in order?

Are you tending to your own garden, metaphorically speaking?

The truth is, we don’t need more people with grandiose career visions. We need people to find what is meaningful work to them through how it changes their own story.

Our work isn’t meaningful because there’s something inherently extraordinary about it. It becomes extraordinary because of how we use it to meaningfully impact our own life.

What is meaningful work really? It's about changing your story and altering you path

What is meaningful work?

The most purposeful work ventures and meaningful career pursuits are those that cause you to overcome an internal struggle. The struggles that at one point limited and defined you. They're one where:

• You removed a barrier.

• You learned a lesson or challenged a personal story.

• Your life entered new territory.

• You figured out where to put your efforts to get meaningful results.

These successes are meaningful not because of the job, but because of how it allows you to tell your story. It changes the narrative of your life for the positive.

At one point your story was a different one. It was defined by circumstances and limitations.

Then you were able to change it.

How do you change your story?

Is there an area, subject or relationship that is so emotionally charged that whenever you encounter it all bets are off? One where you give yourself license to crash and burn? To give up?

Has this become a bottleneck in your ability to pursue meaning and fulfillment in your livelihood?

You may not realize it but that has become a defining feature in your story.

Don’t worry, we all have them.

What is important isn’t in not having these stories, but in the capacity to change them.

We find meaning in work through the capacity to change these destructive or defining features.

What could be more significant than this.

The most meaningful job path for you is the one that allows you to challenge your own personal limitations.

The wonderful thing is. The meaningful opportunities we need are usually the ones at our feet without us even asking for them.

It’s just that we don’t see them as meaningful opportunities for growth and change. Instead of valuing them, we them as something to get rid of.

Is your opportunity for meaningful work being dismissed?

We want to get rid of the meaningful opportunity at our grasp. We’d rather have some far off, extraordinary purpose.

One that doesn’t really impact us but feeds our ego.

When solving a problem, a mission or purposeful cause can be useful

When someone feels compelled to shift careers, most often it is started without a clear destination in mind but only a desire to change the current conditions.

They start from a place of being unsure what field or job title to explore.

At this time, the idea of solving a problem or “scratching an itch” can be a way of curiously exploring new avenues.

An individual can approach a career change from the mindset of,

“I’m not exactly sure what I would like to do, but I’d like to help people with this particular problem.”

This can act as a useful starting point to take purposeful action.

However, the real work in a career change is still done through challenging your circumstances and limitations. The meaning gained though the work in a career transition isn’t in the final acquisition of a new career. It is done through changing the personal story along the way.

The end mission is simply a guidepost to move towards where the real work is done with a daily blue-collar mindset.

A blue-collar mindset to creating meaning

Take a blue-collar mindset towards creating meaning through work. One where you get your hands dirty and put your effort and focus into fixing the problems close to home.

This is the meaningful work that really moves the ball forward to increased opportunities, building skills and developing character and resilience.

Have a blue-collar attitude towards looking within and say,

“this is the real struggle I must address and overcome if I want to open up possibilities and get ahead in my profession.”

When we approach our work challenges through self reflection, the changes we make transform and empower us.

What is meaningful work but a mentality to rise above our challenges and limitations. It's the core level work that addresses problems where they originate, creates true meaning and renewed hope. .