Find What Gives Your Work Meaning

Is it a connection to a certain cause? Is it engaging one of your skills or personal passions? Is it serving a specific population? Everyone has their own causes, the things that give their life meaning. Without knowing what you’re chasing, your quest for meaning will turn into a wild goose chase. So it’s worth reflecting on your “why” before you pursue any major changes.

Ask yourself concrete questions to reveal your truth:

What are you working for? What impact do you want to create in your job? What skills do you want to develop and leverage?

Keep it short and simple—just focus on what gets you out the door every day. 

Your mantra should encompass who you are, where you want to go, and the impact you want to make during your 9-to-5. 

Stop viewing your job description as a static, unchanging list of responsibilities. Even if that list completely reflected your career aspirations when you applied, you and your role probably evolved since then. 

Approach your job title as a fluid set of activities—which you can change to fit your skillset and personal passions.

• Change your tasks: modify your actual tasks to more closely match your goals and desired skills. Automate your tedious time-wasters and stop multitasking.
• Change relationships: identify how your effort might positively impact another person.
• Change perceptions: selectively focus on preferred tasks.