Finding purpose in your career
I’m not sure whether it’s the launch of a new group coaching programme, or just the universe telling me something about my own purpose, but I’ve been in a LOT of conversations with people lately about purpose and meaning in life. And especially purpose and meaning at work.
There are some common threads that I’m hearing. I’ll paraphrase:
”I’m happy enough in my work and I’m good at it, but I’m just not really in touch with what it’s all really for.”
”I know that my work can and probably does make a difference to other people’s lives, but I’m kinda stuck in the weeds of it all and not really seeing the impact up close.”
“I could argue that I have purpose and meaning in this role, but really it just feels like I’m working in support of somebody else’s purpose and agenda, not my own.”
If we layer on this everything else that we want - more work-life balance, more connection, more exploration, more joy, more stability, more adventure, less worry, less stress… - we can end up in a bit of a tangle. Ultimately we can end up creating compromises in one area of our life in order to support another. For example, we might “put up” with a job that feels it’s without meaning or purpose because it pays well and means that we can derive meaning and purpose out of a great family life. Or we have a job that offers a significant sense of meaning and purpose, but it becomes so consuming that our family life, friendships, hobbies and/or wellbeing suffers.
But what if you could have it all? What if meaning and purpose were a constant in every single facet of your life?
Your career
Your relationships
Your family life
Your friendships
Your relationship with your self
Your hobbies
and so on.
I believe passionately in creating the time and space to really define our own sense of purpose, and to align the choices that we make, the things that we do, and the way that we show up in the world to that purpose.
It starts with getting clear on that purpose. And that doesn’t have to be limiting, the “right” answer, or a once-and-done vision. It gets to evolve and grow.
When you ask someone about what they see their purpose as being, they’ll often focus on the things that they do or want to do. This is a limiting way of looking at purpose, and reduces purpose only to the field of career or service.
When we shift our purpose to a statement that’s about how we be (rather than what we do) we create a higher commitment - our overarching personal “what for” in life - that touches all facets of our life.
So, my purpose is “play”.
At work, it means I bring a playful curiosity to inspire people to believe that the impossible is possible. It means that my highest commitment is to playful creativity in service of everybody being able to live their dream life.
In my friendships and personal relationships it means that I treat every interaction like an invitation to play, and as a place to bring the spirit of play and curiosity to their lives.
With my wellbeing and my relationship with my self, play generates a commitment to reinvention, to joy, and to creativity.
With spirituality, play brings a place to get curious and explore - to see the world with the awe of a young child and wonder at the possibility it offers.
You see how a purpose that stems from a place of being can be freeing? It doesn’t tie us to needing to find the “right” thing once and for all. It generates a common thread across our whole lives that is malleable and open to reinvention. This enables us to fix our purpose in a place of “being”, and thus open up so many possibilities in terms of how it manifests in our “doing”.
So, if we look at your purpose and meaning derived from a constant state of being, what would it be? And how might that empower you to transform your relationship to career, work, relationships and self?
This is just one of the things that my group coaching clients (and my 1-2-1 clients) get truly present to in the work that we do together. If you want to explore your purpose and meaning in life, then my door is open to work with you on this.