Often the missing link between our work and career is significance. I don’t mean in terms of paying the bills, I mean work that matters.
I believe the key problem is in the core question: How do we find work that matters? How we find work that matters is not an external question, but a question within.
It is a really personal question. It is an inquiry into the self. Going deep into self-exploration is what will bring the answer into reality.
Doing work that matters is so important, yet you may not find it if you’re looking on LinkedIn or Indeed. So where do you find it?
You find it inside. Try to sit still on a mat and see what is there.
You will probably tell me I am kidding you, right?
Trust me… the mat will work eventually and in the meantime let me give you some hints. Go within and ask yourself: what are the themes of your life story? Is a theme of your life story patriarchy, finding yourself, owning who you are, reinventing yourself? What are the categories of your life story? Organization, invention, creativity, ideas, spirituality, career, family, parenting, childhood, or entrepreneurship? What causes shape your life? Social change, spiritual transformation, innovation?
Inside those themes, you will find what you are fighting for. You will find what matters to you.
Image by Andrew Neel from Unsplash
There’s more to be discovered. Are you divorced from what you love and what matters to you? Are you avoiding what matters to you and why? It may be a past hurt, a past failure, or it may be that they told you you couldn’t do something. There are many people who became lawyers or doctors but they truly wanted to be artists.
Find that part of you that has been stifled inside waiting to be awakened. Start by rekindling a relationship with that part of you that is emerging and you will be able to renew your connection with what matters to you.
I know this is not often easy and can feel like sweet and sour candy. Still, I encourage you to do it.
The hole and emptiness you feel when you don’t are greater than facing the challenge of pursuing what truly matters to you.
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