Spoiler Alert: Meaningful Work is Not What You Crave

Benefits: Transform the way you define your “work.”

So That You Can: Focus on gaining the knowledge and skills necessary to find your life’s meaning and realize your full potential.

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Spoiler Alert: Meaningful Work is Not What You Crave

Seriously, Amanda! This goes against everything you’ve been telling us! I swear you told me that The Expectation Gaps can support and encourage me to:

Stop living a mediocre life.
Realize my potential.
Live a fulfilling life.

Isn’t meaningful work kinda at the core of all that? Since it’s what I do for like 35% of my waking hours?

Yes...But You Missed the Key Word

Work! If you’ve read any of my other posts (and I’m sure you have because they’re amazing ?), you probably know that one of the ways I practice my Deliberate Thinking skills is by analyzing the meaning of words; especially words that we take for granted because they are used so often. Let’s look at the definition of our key word here — work.

One of Merriam-Webster’s definitions of work is:

1.a. Activity that a person engages in regularly to earn a livelihood

And what does livelihood mean:

1 Means of support or subsistence

One more…subsistence means:

2.b. A source or means of obtaining the necessities of life

Time to put it all together . . . We perform work for two reasons: to earn money (support) and as a means of obtaining the necessities of life (subsistence).

Is Meaning a Necessity of Life (Subsistence)?

Yes, I believe it is. I equate the concept of meaning with realizing our full potential, and I believe realizing our full potential is the whole purpose of our lives.

We already determined that we perform work to obtain necessities, i.e. we perform work to obtain meaning. The work itself is not supposed to be meaningful.

I realize I may be leading you in circles here, so let’s continue to break it down.

Your Work Should Constrict You (a bit)

This train of thought was inspired by a lecture of Jordan Peterson’s (link below) in which he stressed the importance of picking a sacrifice; that for a period of time in your life, you will have to pick one thing to focus on and give up all other “things.” It goes a little something like this.

When you’re a kid, you are nothing but potential. You see nothing but endless possibilities. You believe you can do anything. The only problem is, you have no skills to make those possibilities a reality.

So you grow up a bit and take on an “apprenticeship” (or “work”). The point of doing this is to become “something.” The apprenticeship should narrow and constrict you because you need to remain focused on sharpening your skills. As you become proficient in your field, opportunities will begin to open up for you.

The time to realize your potential is after you have mastered your apprenticeship/work. This is the time to rediscover the child you left behind and the possibilities he/she saw. It’s the time to reflect on what sparked your interest then and what you were naturally good at. The beauty is that now you have skills that will help you transform your vision into a reality.

Be Patient With Yourself

I think we all feel undue pressure to “become” what we’re supposed to be the day we graduate, either from high school, trade school, or college. Besides the financial burdens that motivate us to climb the ladder of success as quickly as possible, we’ve been sold the idea that overnight success is possible.

You may know that I am mildly addicted to YouTube. I am on it for 1-2 hours most days. Over half of the advertisements that pop up before and during videos are aimed at selling me the idea that becoming successful is quick and simple — if I just follow an amazing 3 step system.

We see people who we admire, doing the things we want to do, and our inner voice starts saying, “How come I’m not there yet?” We dismiss the fact that it took them years of hard work, sacrifice, and determination to gain a spot at the table we want an invitation to so badly.

It’s definitely cliché to say, but it bears repeating (which is also cliché to say ?). Success doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t come in one fell swoop. Success is the culmination of all the seemingly insignificant, daily habits you perform over and over again until one day everything comes together.

Those insignificant, daily habits are the ones that you master during the apprenticeship/work season of your life. You won’t see the path that you are laying down, but it is there nonetheless. It’s so hard to do, but be patient! (I’m saying this to myself as much as I’m saying it to you.)

Trust the Process

How do I know? Because I’m living it right now!

If you’ve read about me, you know that I was a professional accountant and auditor (CPA) for 20 years. Altogether, I either studied or worked in accounting for 26 years; 62% of my life. The point — it was a really long time!

Today, not only am I the founder of this nonprofit organization, I am a writer, videographer, graphic designer, copywriter, and life coach. And those are only some of the hats I wear on a daily basis.

Many of the skills I gained during my 26-year accounting apprenticeship have provided the foundation needed to successfully carry out my tasks as chief content creator of this organization. That just doesn’t seem like a natural progression, does it?

Which is exactly why you can’t see that the work you are performing today is helping you obtain the skills that you need to move onto something greater; something that will be meaningful to you and allow you to realize your full potential. Remember, that’s the work’s job.

A Few Real-Life Examples

I could write a whole post about the skills I gained as an accountant/auditor that I use every day, but we both know that would be beyond boring. Nevertheless, I would like to share a few examples in the hopes that they will help you begin to recognize the transferable skills you possess.

#1 – How to form a nonprofit organization. As most CPA’s do, I know what it takes to legally organize a business, and I’m well aware of the required tax filings. Fortunately for me, my apprenticeship also included auditing the financial records of nonprofit organizations for 12 years. Because of that experience, I also know what is required to obtain and maintain nonprofit status, and, even if I don’t remember all the specifics, I know where to go to find them.

#2 – How to create a website. I’m proud to say that I created this organization’s website, and I’m sure that my apprenticeship skills helped me along the way. I used a buildable template, so I didn’t have to write much code (although I did write a little – go me!), but I still don’t think it’s something a lot of people could do without some training.

In my accounting days, we used a “paperless” program to create, store, and manage all of our workpapers. This system required a lot of coding to link workpapers together, automatically populate data, etc. Although creating a website and creating workpapers are not the same thing, the logic behind both is similar enough that I’m sure that experience helped me tackle the job of creating this website with relative ease.

#3 – How to write persuasively. People don’t typically equate being a good auditor with being a good writer, but the writing is a huge part of any audit job. At the end of the day, an auditor has to explain why they chose to test X, what the results of testing X were, and why those results are good enough. If that’s not the definition of persuasive writing, I don’t know what is.

The Work is Required to Obtain the Meaning

Up until the last six months of my accounting career, I had no idea that I would be using my skills in a completely different capacity. Of course you can’t see that possibility when you’re bogged down in the apprenticeship, being narrowed and constricted, and that’s the point. That’s why you need to be patient, and trust the process.

The length of the apprenticeship season of life will be different for everyone, but it is a time to be embraced. Gain as many skills and soak in as much information as you possibly can. This is the Work that is going to help you obtain a meaningful life.

You don’t need to search for meaning. When you start using your Deliberate Thinking skills, your meaning will become obvious — your life’s mission, your passion, your purpose, your potential, or whatever you want to call it.

And when it becomes obvious, you’ll suddenly recognize that you have the skills you need to create a meaningful life; to realize your full potential.

Let’s wrap this section up by recapping the definitions from the beginning of this post:

You perform the Work.
The Work will give you the means (skills) to obtain the meaning (subsistence).
Your meaning becomes obvious.
You will no longer “work”; you will utilize your skills to pursue your full potential.

Again, How Do I Know?

Again, I’m living it right now. I left my safe career behind and have dedicated myself to building and growing this organization full time. I have not “worked” a day since. There is almost nothing I want to do more in this life. I would gladly do it for free, if that were a practical reality. That’s how much it means to me.

With that being said, it is also the most difficult and intimidating thing I have ever done. I am apprehensive and uncertain every single day, but I am able to push past those feelings because I have a clear vision of what my potential looks like.

It’s also important to note that I didn’t make the decision to leave my career lightly or with reckless abandon. I wouldn’t want to mislead anyone or make it seem like I encourage that. We all have responsibilities to our families and ourselves, and we have to make sure those responsibilities are taken care of first. Those responsibilities also add meaning to our lives.

How Do You Go From “Work” to “Pursuing Your Potential”

I believe the most effective way is to practice your Deliberate Thinking skills. So let’s recap The Cycle of Deliberate Thinking:

Examine your expectations/limiting beliefs
Personify your core values
Execute with intention
Respect other points of view
Stay curious

I’m tellin’ ya, once you start embracing this cycle, you will notice a massive shift in your mindset. You will slowly but surely expose the “thing” that makes your life meaningful. Not only that, you will have the confidence in yourself and your abilities to pursue it.

What Are You Waiting For?

Stop trying to find meaningful work. Appreciate your work for what it is; a stepping stone to realizing your full potential.

You’ll have to step back and look at the big picture, and maybe get a little creative, but stop and think about the tasks you perform as part of your work. What underlying skills are you gaining by performing those tasks? How could those skills be used to help you realize your full potential?

Even if you can’t answer these questions today, keep them in the back of your mind, and come back to them often. The answer will come to you in due time.

I put a worksheet together for you that complements this post and will help you go from inspiration to action, so be sure to check that out.

You may also be interested in the two posts that accompany this one:

Don’t Waste Another Minute on the Sunday Scaries

The Controversial Truth About Your Compensation

Click here for more posts with a “career advice” theme.

If you’re ready to Stop Settling & Start Living! check out our home page to learn more about what The Expectation Gaps has to offer.

And until next time . . . STAY CURIOUS!