What Really Matters to You?
Many people feel unfulfilled in their work. 
They have the constant, nagging sense that they would
like to be, or should be, doing something different.
There are many different reasons people feel stuck:
- They don’t know what they should “be when they
grow up” - They like their job, but think they should be more successful, accomplishing or earning more
- They hate their job, but can’t walk away from the paycheck
- They know what they really want to be doing but it won’t bring in enough money
You can make a big improvement in your success and fulfillment by focusing in a very
purposeful way on what you are naturally good at and most enjoy doing — and then
incorporating those things into your work.
I certainly can’t do fully do this topic justice in a short blog post, but the idea itself is
worth focusing on and thinking through:
What do you love doing? And Why do you love doing it?
There are ways to incorporate the things you love about what you love doing into your work.
You need to get to the essence of what really matters to you, and make sure that you are spending time at work doing those things.
Given that they are not paying six-figure salaries to go scuba diving, skiing, visit museums, or spend time with family and friends, you need to focus on WHY you love the things you most like to do.
Is it the adventure, achievement, laughter, planning, being an expert, spontaneity, teaching, focus, challenge, teamwork, working alone, discovery, calmness, excitement?
When you really think about what you love doing, where specifically does the energy come from?
Once you clearly focus on what you are naturally good and, what you most enjoy doing, you can proactively manage your job description to be doing those things more and more of the time.
Here’s the BIG IDEA:
Great success is achieved not by doing a good job at whatever is thrown at
you, but by managing to put yourself in a position to do work that you are going to be great at.
If you do this you will:
- Feel much more like you are doing what you “should be doing”
- See your career advance much more quickly
- Become a more valuable employee
- Become a better leader
- Discover more interesting opportunities
- Get more recognition, relevance, and payoff
- Feel much more fulfilled in your work
You may want to change your work and life in a much bigger or more dramatic way, which is both fine and a whole other topic.
But you would be surprised how much more you can enjoy your current work, if you
maximize what you do to take advantage of your natural strengths and energy, and then tune your job over time so you can do what you are best at most of the time.
More resources on this topic:
- “What really matters to You?” Podcast.
- Working on your strategy for investing in your strengths is a big part of our Career
Workshops.
October 2nd, 2008 at 6:55 pm
I love this section and it rings true for me. So given we have to work to pay those fat bay area mortgages, what do you do if you are starting to understand what makes you tick, but you’re at a company that doesn’t appreciate the things that make you tick. I think this is true for lots of high tech companies. As a former mentor of mine once said, high tech marketing is mediocre at best, but they don’t realize it. I think that’s pretty true given our target audiences are usually B-to-B and are less “glamorous.” Apple, of course is not that way. They appear to get it, but they are also doing consumer based marketing mostly. So given the industry has little respect or knowledge of great marketing, and that’s what I think I do well, what’s a girl to do? Leave the industry? That’s easier said than done, given non tech jobs usually don’t pay the same, and being “off the tech track” can leave someone living here, feeling a bit in the dark. Any thoughts on this?
October 2nd, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Hi Wendy,
yes, many people enjoy the high salaries in high tech, but the work leaves them feeling unfulfilled. Many high tech environments also do not naturally value a broad range of strenghts and skills beyone technical ones. So as you say “what’s a girl to do?”.
If you want to keep the high pay, you can still find some ways to tune the “contract” of what you do with your boss to better suit your strengths and what you care about.
Think about how to answer the question: What do YOU DO?
Do you help people understand each other, do you inspire and excite people with your writing and communications, do you cut through complexity to create action? If you think about the essence of what you do vs. the job description, i.e., “high tech marketing” you might be able to tune your work over time to feel more satisfying.
good luck!
Patty
October 2nd, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Thanks…this is good food for thought. I’ll try to get clarity on where the energy comes from and see if there’s a better fit.