Creating Meaningful Work

Does your work make you happy? Or are you simply trading hours for dollars doing something you couldn’t care less about?
Meaningful work means different things to different people.
Some of us believe that in order for our work to be meaningful it must have a huge impact on the world. Discovering a cure for cancer, feeding millions of starving children around the world, or protecting endangered species are good examples of what most people would consider meaningful work. But is that all? What if our passions lie elsewhere? Can any type of work be meaningful?
Yes – to those who benefit from it!
Consider an alternate definition of meaningful work: something that you feel passionate about, which also provides value to the world.
Any type of job or career can be valuable, if you think about it. Doctors, lawyers, accountants, caterers, musicians, artists, housekeepers, dog walkers, party planners, product manufacturers, hair stylists – they are ALL providing something of value.
The very first step towards success in any occupation is to become interested in it.
– Sir William Osler
In that sense, any job at all can be meaningful. But is it meaningful to YOU?
This is where a lot of people go wrong, by choosing work that “has meaning” but is not exactly meaningful to them.
Perhaps your high school guidance counselor convinced you to go into medicine, but your true passion is music. Or your father was a lawyer, so you felt obligated to follow in his footsteps. Or you weren’t sure what to study in college, so you picked a field that seemed simple and paid well but now you feel bored.
You may not think it matters what you do, as long as you’re able to pay the bills. Or you may be a “weekend warrior,” devoting weekdays to a mundane job and following your passions on the weekends.
There is nothing wrong with this if it makes you feel happy and fulfilled. But if you walk around with a constant feeling of frustration and emptiness, you might want to re-evaluate your career path and choose something that truly fulfills you.