Category: Finding Purpose

Would You Work Your Job for Free?

When my son was in 9th grade, he asked what the primary characteristic of the most successful leaders is. I paused a second and said that the best leaders are passionate about what they do.

I got to thinking about the different career philosophers who said, “Find your passion and you will never need to work again.” As Mark Twain aptly stated, “Find a job you enjoy doing and you never have to work a day in your life.”

Yet, there is a twist. A nagging reality. What if your passion is not practical because the work does not pay the bills?  It’s easy to say “Find work you love and the money will follow.” This is not always true, but a profound goal.

Uncovering the question will bring a possible change of career trajectory, a galvanization if you are on the right career path, or there may be no conflict since you need to simply pay the bills.

Here are five techniques for determining if you truly enjoy your job:

  1. Decide your definition of “enjoy.” Each person has their own sense of what they enjoy. Some people find that challenge with stress is enjoyable.
  2. Skew the “Bell Shape Curve” yardstick. It has been said that if you hate your job 20% of the time, absolutely love it 20% of the time, and just find it ok 60% you have a good job. However, truly enjoying your work will be 10% dislike, 45% joyful, and 45% just ok.
  3. Audit your end of day energy. Passions create energy while miserable jobs sap energy. Ask yourself at the end of the day “how much energy do I have after working today.” After working all day do you feel energized or “out of gas.”
  4. Balance the practical with the passionate. It is unreasonable to just “follow your bliss.” For most times if you follow your bliss, you will go broke. I am not a total evangelist for “Do what you love and the money will follow” principle. If that was true, most people would not work and then find themselves in financial difficulty.
  5. Ask yourself “have I done or would I do my career/work for free? I was speaking with a corporate executive event planner who talked about previously planning events for free. Her true calling and passion is event planning and as she said “that is what I love to do.”

Here are some questions and ruminations that might help you clarify the direction you want to take:

  1. What activities did you do as a child where practicality was not important or important? Looking back, the activities you did as a child reflect what is natural. For the play of a child is without “real world” pressures.
  2. At your retirement dinner, will you be thrilled to stop working, or proud of your accomplishments and the quality of life you had? Looking into the future to reflect on the present is an excellent way to gain clarity.
  3. Do you look more forward to Monday or Friday? “Lee” Iacocca, an American automobile executive best known for the development of Ford Mustang and Pinto cars, while at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s, and then later for reviving the Chrysler Corporation as its CEO during the 1980s, looked forward to Monday because he re-engaged in his passion. If you look forward to Friday, you may be “imprisoned” in a joyless job.
  4. Many successful people are in careers their parents wanted. They yearn for change. If that is you, experiment with small involvements. For example, if you yearned to be in acting, take acting lessons or work in a theatre. If you wanted to be a coach, find volunteer opportunities to coach.
  5. Turn your avocation into a vocation. If you have a love for fishing or a sport, find ways to engage in that activity. Research the reality of having a business in that vocation, and especially interview people in that field. You may be pleasantly surprised about what you discover.

Making Purpose Work

Last night I was in a coaching conversation with a client who was experiencing consternation. The consternation was the result of being hindered by a staid culture where the status quo eclipses any possibility of change. However, he made a poignant statement that the “the enemy of success is not changing.”

His obvious frustration led to a conversation about the broader realities of being an executive. He mentioned waking up in the middle of night worried about the well being of thousands of employees and their families. He was truly “mission motivated.” His purpose of providing for thousands of families transcended his paycheck and was his true purpose.

My client’s comments and the picture of waking up in the middle of night echoed in my head as I drove home. I realized that finding a sense of purpose is the secret to weathering any storm.

But finding purpose is not easy and requires some self reflection and discipline. Here are five pragmatic strategies you can employ to find your purpose:

  1. Seek out assignments that contribute socially – When a crisis occurs, don’t be afraid to volunteer. You will find that social missions provide fertile opportunities to learn what could be your purpose.
  2. Ask yourself “What part or activities of my job would I do for free”- When you take finances out, you can find the purpose beyond money.
  3. Communicate to others so they feel purpose – To help with college, I was a busboy in a restaurant. I was asked to join my fellow busboys one Saturday morning. Arriving at the restaurant we met with a group of executives. They told us we were the most important part of the restaurant. They explained that without us, customers would not sit at a clean table and the waitresses could not take the order of hungry customers. They sincerely expressed the “why” of our work. With that sense of purpose, I cleared tables quicker and with an extra touch of cleanliness.
  4. Relate tedious work with helping others – Think about the little tasks you do everyday. A client of mine cleans and refurbishes commercial drums. The CEO has communicated to employees that the drums they clean contain chemicals that are responsible for such products as perfumes and car oil. Their fastidiousness in cleaning each drum allows manufacturers to produce safe and valuable products.
  5. Create perspectives of purpose – There is the story of two brick layers working on a church building. When someone asked what they were doing, one bricklayer said, “Can’t you see, I am a brick layer.” When the other brick layer was asked the same question, he said, “I am building a great cathedral.” The second bricklayer carried a “perspective of purpose.”