Work is hard work. How to find purpose in your work is a hard question. Even when you know you are doing important things, showing up to do the hard work can start to feel like a grind. Pointless. Meaningless. Joyless.
I don’t want it to be this way. I want every moment of work to be joyful.
Unfortunately, regardless of who we work for, including ourselves much of the time, imperatives other than our own joy are always present. Organizational mission, revenue generation, boss and customer expectations and so much more compete for our time and energy.
Last month in a group mastermind call one member put it squarely on the table. She said, in a lessons-learned-kind-of-voice after helping manage a merger integration, “While leadership is often about big ideas and plans, a good bit of it is just showing up for others, making hard decisions so others know where they stand. Sometimes being a leader is just hard work and there is no way around it.”
All this can easily lead us to give up on the idea that we should even bother to find purpose at work. But I think giving up on this idea leads to the no-win zone. This is where the leader in you has to show up.
When you and others around you are struggling, lost in grind of it all, finding purpose at work acts like a lighthouse in the fog. Taking the next step to purposefully craft your work in ways that help you stay connected to this purpose is like having a compass and a map.
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Connecting to Purpose Makes Your Stronger
Want to build a muscle? Work it hard until it’s stronger. Those who look for meaning and find purpose at work live longer and healthier lives. They’re also more motivated and tend to be more productive.
In my own life and my client work as well, I consistently find that the best antidote to stress and burnout is to tap into the deepest sense of purpose available. From such a purposeful connection I can always unleash a wellspring of professional and personal energy. It never fails.
Purpose isn’t everything, but sometimes it’s magical.
After much pondering and experimentation myself, I’ve come to believe that the search to find purpose at work is more than just a shortcut to motivational energy when I need it. I believe that focusing on the meaning in my work is also necessary for broader career and life satisfaction as it can guide us beyond surviving to thriving in the workplace.
Like a compass, north star or light house, which can always center and direct you on your journey, you don’t want to leave your purpose behind. Keep it close and consult it often. Your purpose can help you:
- find (or make) your path when you feel lost.
- tweak up a good situation to make it better.
- see small accomplishments as big wins.
- decide whether to stay or go when the workday BS factor seems too high.
Keying into your purpose–for your life and for your day–has a magical ability to provide perspective and point out priorities. It has the power to shortcut the noise and point to what needs attention. It can also shine the light on your achievements and give them greater meaning.
Is the Effort to Find Purpose at Work Really So Hard?
I don’t really believe that trying to find purpose at work is as hard as finding the time to find our purpose seems to be…
What is my purpose? Why am I working so hard? What can I do that matters? Who do I want to matter to? These are not questions anyone else can answer for you, and the answers you have to sit with, mull over and refine over time. Others can support you and offer clues in your search, but ultimately–much like leadership itself–keying into your purpose (much less your purpose at work) is a personal and inward journey before it becomes an external motivating force, propelling you towards success.
And of course one thing that definitely makes finding your own purpose challenging is that most companies don’t even pretend to care that much about their employees. A ‘shareholder value’ focus of organizational purpose permeates our business culture, justifying “always-on” work practices as well as ethically compromising mission sets. The result (especially in the midst of pandemic stress) is that too many people are burning out from both too much work and moral injury, which is now spreading beyond soldiers and health care professionals to many other job categories where people’s sense of ethics feel at odds with what they have to do every day.
As an employee and as a leader, if you want to bridge the gap, for yourselves and your employees, you will definitely need to make a commitment. You’ll need to take the time to find your purpose at work, connect and reconnect to it frequently.
How to Find your Purpose at Work
Start by looking at patterns throughout your career.
- When have you felt most purposeful?
- What were you doing during these times?
- Who were you being during these times?
- Connect the dots to find the common throughline
Next, put this throughline into words that matter to you and give you goosebumps. Put those words into how you talk about yourself, your job and your career. Put them on your LinkedIn profile. Craft your job to let you live and talk like this more often. Become an expert at this so you can help your team do it too. Keep doing this over and over, every day, month and year. Before you know it you’ll realize you’re not looking for your purpose anymore, you’re living it.
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Photo by Ali Kazal on Unsplash
