A desire is increasingly noticed among clients: they strive to make a social contribution and work on tasks that have deeper meaning for them.
Why is this so important?
When you can do a job where you can use your talents, you are simply a happier person. On the other hand, when we waste our talents, we suffer. It comes at the expense of our emotional and physical wellbeing. We feel redundant and drag ourselves to work. As a result, we become exhausted, frustrated and disappointed in ourselves or the work we do. We feel an emptiness that we sometimes cannot name.
What is meaningful work?
No one else can determine for you what meaningful work is: not our culture, your parents, friends or your partner. Your talents are unique and so is what gives your life meaning. It sometimes takes time to get clarity on what meaningful work means to you, and yet it is best to actively pursue it. If you do a job that corresponds to what is important to you and if you can do every day what you are good at and enjoy doing, this will give you much more energy. Moreover, if you can develop what you want to develop in your job, you will work with more enthusiasm and passion.
Everyone has talents
We all have unique talents. By using and developing them, we give our lives direction and meaning. People usually easily see the talents of others. What is peculiar is that they dwell less on discovering their own talents or simply do not see their talents because they do not consider them important or great enough.
Doubts about our own talents logically undermine our efforts to discover our talents. Feel free to call them inner tormentors that get in the way of meaningful work. Doubting our talents makes us insecure. Add to this the fact that our environment sometimes likes to insist on what we "should" or "should do," and so we begin to adapt ourselves to the expectations of others.
An important step in overcoming your insecurity and your beliefs about "what you should do" is to gain clarity about your own doubts and the expectations of others. What are you afraid of? What is on the list of what you "should" do? Who says so? And why? Write down the answers so you can gain insight into what is holding you back from pursuing meaningful work. This may go against your intuition . By listening to your inner tormentors and writing down what they have to say, you don't give them more power, you give yourself more power. You create the opportunity to say to yourself, "I understand, I can see that I am afraid of this but I am going to do it anyway." And so you find yourself back at the helm of your own career!
Why not a "SLASHCARRIERE?
Maybe you can't find your talents and interests in 1 job? Then a "slash career" may be what you need to realize your full potential. Marci Alboher (author of the book "One person/ Multiple Careers: A new model for work/life success") interviewed hundreds of people who had several careers side by side that allowed them to develop and combine their different talents and interests, which is not always possible when you only have 1 career. The book is full of stories about people who created meaningful work by not limiting themselves to 1 career. So you can read the story of a lawyer/cook, a surgeon/playwright, a dock worker/documentary maker... With a slash job, you can combine all your dream jobs. The result? Lots of satisfaction from what you do and tons of energy!
Do you need help figuring out what work makes sense for you? As a career coach, during sessions we look at what is important to you in your work, what you are good at and enjoy doing, what you would like to develop, what professions fit your personality, etc.
Request your free introductory consultation soon to see how we can get started together.
Written by Sofie Vanham - Reworked by Sabine Havelaerts