The Best Gift Ever

It’s Christmas…

And, I can think of no better gift to give yourself than the gift of creating meaningful work.

Last week, I read this quote in Business Insider in an article (by Jenna Goudreau) entitled: 7 brilliant leadership lessons I learned this year:  

“Laszlo Bock, the SVP of Google’s People Operations
and author of ‘Work Rules!’, said on a panel this year
that “people don’t stay for the money.” Rather they
want to go to work every day and be surrounded by
other smart, engaged people and do work that makes a difference.”

A recent Gallup Poll found that 87% of working people say they are disengaged from their work, with 70% in the United States. That means that these people are just going through the motions, putting in their time, frustrated and bored and unhappy. That’s a lot of unhappy people. (And, they are not very productive.)

Does that describe you?
Are you struggling to find meaningful work?

You need to create it. And, the first step is to determine what “meaningful work means to you.”

“What does ‘meaningful work’ mean to me?”

The best gift you can give yourself this Christmas is to answer that question for yourself. Find some time during the holidays to sit down, away from the festivities, to ask yourself the following questions:

What does meaningful work mean to me?

How do I define meaningful work? Is it where I am making a contribution? Doing something that has a social impact? Using my talents to their fullest potential? Don’t use my words. Come up with your own description.

What are you doing when you think of doing work that’s meaningful? It doesn’t have to mean working at a hospital or with orphans in Africa, although if that’s what you want to do, that’s great, too. The point is: you can do something meaningful right where you are, in small or large ways. The important thing is to be able to identify what you do, or want to do, that feels meaningful.

Great! Thanks for taking the time to do this…you’ve completed the first step! You are on your way to creating work that is meaningful.