A common career coaching topic in my practice is helping clients find fulfillment at work and in their career, especially in the past three years. Much has been written about how the pandemic caused a need for career fulfillment. It is not uncommon for people to not know what they would like their professional trajectory to look like, or to consider the crucial factors that affect their job satisfaction.
Do you have a job or a career? Do you simply make a living, or are you living a fulfilling life? Is your job a means to a pay check, or do you see it as an important source of meaning and purpose, an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the world? Do you feel like a replaceable cog in the corporate machine, or do you aspire to create a purpose-driven career?
There is value in every job in the market. When it comes right down to it, there is an opportunity to make a difference in any role regardless of pay grade or title. It only takes one person to make a positive impact in any workplace, and in every position, whether entry-level or high up on the totem pole, big or small, paid or unpaid. There is always something meaningful you can contribute to your workplace and the world, in the work that you do. To find meaning and purpose, look for the big picture and identify your contributions.
The famous old story about the three masons illustrates this general truth. There are many variations of the story but the general gist of them all is of three people working on the same wall laying bricks. When asked about the work he is doing, each man has a different view about the work. One says he is laying bricks. The second says he is building a wall. The third replies with great pride that he is building a cathedral “for the glory of God.” Another such story is about John F. Kennedy and the janitor. As the tale goes, during Kennedy’s visit to NASA headquarters he talked to a janitor mopping the floors who described his job as “helping put a man on the moon.”
I love the two stories and their powerful message. I believe that the key to career satisfaction and fulfillment, at all levels, lies in one’s attitude - how a person views his or her work, whether they can see the big picture and connect their efforts to the power of purpose. For some people, fulfillment may feel like a natural state of mind. But in my experience, for most people, finding purpose in work is not obvious and is often something that is hard won. Creating a purposeful career can be especially hard if you feel undervalued and unappreciated, or if you are chronically overworked and stressed out. The key to navigating a purpose-driven career through the ever-changing workplace is usefulness. Being useful is a superpower. It’s the secret to finding long-term career fulfillment. It means identifying ways to deepen the connections with others and to make meaningful contributions. Through meaningful contributions you create a career.
Yet, your value is internal. There is no single definition of meaningful work. It is a combination of your values, priorities, and the things that inspire you. To clearly define meaningful work, focus on the following three questions:
What do you need from a job, and a career, to feel fulfilled?
What’s your something larger, bigger than yourself, in your current position?
What are problems you want to solve? Meaningful change you want to drive right now and over your career lifespan?
Once you find clarity on doing work that matters, work to create a career that makes you feel fulfilled. Start with a career mission statement. Write a paragraph articulating everything you would like to have and do in your career. Then, summarize it in a positive statement that resonates with you. See my example below:
“My mission is to empower my clients to pursue career fulfillment and growth throughout their working years.”
To deliver on your career mission, continuously cultivate the 3 C’s: Confidence, Consideration, and Character.
Confidence is built by daring to make the big moves, by facing and overcoming challenges instead of avoiding stressful or difficult situations. Running away from problems is a race you’ll never win. You create a fulfilling career by building confidence in your skills and abilities and knowing there’s always room for growth; taking on greater responsibility, doing more, having more impact, and expanding your sphere of influence. No one is born confident. Confidence is cultivated by setting and achieving goals. It’s action that begets confidence. It is a rewarding cycle. The more you challenge yourself, the more frequently you raise your competence, the more you accomplish, the more confident you become. This means making peace with failure recognizing that when you dare try new things, it’s normal to fail. Create a positive failure mindset. Believe that you never fail. You either achieve or learn. You are a head of the curve simply by striving. With that mindset, you will become more courageous, capable, and confident.
Consideration is discernment, the ability to shape keen insights into good strategies. It takes courage to dream big and dare greatly. If your goal doesn’t scare you, it’s not big enough. But to achieve meaningful goals, you must also have the courage to make sound decisions taking informed risks and constructive action. The more you discern, the less you fear, the more effective you become in making optimal decisions for reaching your goal. Conventional goal-setting wisdom is to focus on the desired outcomes. However, it is just as important to pay attention to the tradeoffs. In every decision you make creating your career, give due consideration weighing facts and possible courses of actions. Ambition is a necessary ingredient in creating a career but it must not cloud good judgment. Do take risks but always do your best to be ready. Figure out the pros and cons of various paths. Imagine the possible consequences, both good and bad. Gain as much clarity as feasible to understand what you’d gain and what you’d lose to proactively choose which decisions to make and which to forgo. Success entails many qualities, underlying them all is good judgment to tackle complexity effectively and efficiently. There is a time and place for everything – at times for bold moves and on others, exercising caution and patience might be the best move for your career.
Character is the soft skills, your personal attributes, that enable you to interact harmoniously with others. They impact how effectively you work on your own and with other people. While your technical skills may get your foot in the door, your character is what gets you in and opens most of the doors to come, or what gets you fired. As you create a career, doors will continuously open and close. Having people who enjoy working with you and trust and respect you is key to accelerating your career because it is always the people in your network who can open a world of opportunities for you. Your professional reputation is what others think of you, and it could be manipulated or faked for a short while. However, when you work with people long enough, true character will ultimately be revealed by the sum total of a person’s tendencies, attitudes, behaviors, and actions. Character is who you really are, even when no one is watching. A character is cultivated little by little over time with each complex situation and tough decision you have to make. Character is formed by experience. The more you live through, the more you learn, the more you know. And when you know better, do better. Like creating a career, building character is a lifelong process of learning and growing. Self-awareness of who you are leads to making better career decisions, which leads to creating a fulfilling career and life.
Creating a career is a masterful craft. The greatest power in our lives is our capacity to imagine and envision, not only when we are young but over and over again throughout your career. It takes a great deal of courage to create a career you love. Each step from college to the workplace and up the ladder takes confidence. Navigating the complexity of choices as you set and achieve goals to create the career you want requires careful consideration. Career fulfillment is an ongoing process involving setting new goals, facing fresh challenges, channeling the right mindset, and strategically taking action discerning the options and activities to continue to be useful and make an impact. But ultimately, it all boils down to character – how you show up for yourself and others. Visualize your highest self and work to become that person you aspire to be, the best version of yourself in your personal and professional life in order to actualize your full potential and optimize your career for maximum fulfillment.
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