Archive for the ‘Passion and Purpose’ Category

The clients with whom  I most love to work are people who have achieved some degree of worldly success, but who are not happy in the work they do. They want both success and happiness, but are having difficulty figuring out how to do that. One day, I mentioned this in a brief presentation I made to a small group. The next day, one of the group members dropped off in my mailbox not one, but three, articles that argued it was somehow selfish and irresponsible to want to be happy and fulfilled in your work!!!!! One even suggested that you should be moderately unhappy in your work, to make you hungrier, I suppose. I was stunned that some people really believe and argue this nonsense.

Actually, what the writers were doing was assuming that being happy in your work means that you aren’t making any money – the “starving artist” image. Unfortunately, many people who are unhappy and unfulfilled believe they cannot have it all. They think it is either “success”/or satisfaction. It isn’t. We spend far too much of our lives working to be anything less than happy and fulfilled. Otherwise it is a horrible waste of our energy, enthusiasm and talent. It is a “lose-lose-lose” situation. We lose, the organizations for which we work lose, and the world in general loses, because we could be contributing so much more.

The first step, then, toward finding both success and satisfaction in your work is to get rid of the idea that you can’t have both. You can, even if you don’t know yet how to do that.

To your success!

Recently, I started working with a new client. One of the first things we did was to look over her resume.  I asked her the question I always ask before discussing a resume, “What makes you really good at what you do?” Her answer came out instantly, starting with “Because I care….” and continuing with a series of statements clearly indicating what she was passionate about in her work, while emphasizing how she was excellent at what she did. In all the years I have been doing this, I have found that very few people answer the question by leading with their passion. They may think it is too risky. People may get there eventually, often prompted by me, but they don’t start with their passion. I was impressed!

My client, whom I’ll call Sue, has been working as a Human Resources manager, in a specialized area. What she is passionate about is the people whom she hires and supports in their career development. She lost her job in a corporate reorganization that eliminated her position in this region. Her former employer made it clear to me that it had nothing to do with her performance, which was excellent.

Sue is not looking for a job. She is looking for the right job, and I have no doubt that she will find it…soon. Potential employers are already contacting her. Sue’s issue is being clear in her own mind what her ideal work is. She is taking her layoff as an opportunity to think carefully about how best to apply her passion. It will definitely involve helping people in some way.

I love being around people who are positive, energetic, passionate about their work, and who get things done. So do hiring managers. If you are looking for a job, a promotion or for new work that is a better fit, what can you say about yourself in these same areas, being positive, energetic, passionate and delivering results?

The other question to ask yourself is the one Sue is asking herself: “What is the right work for me?”

To your success!

When I arrived at my car early one morning not long ago, I discovered that one of my tires was very flat. I had to be at a short, but important business meeting at 9:00 am and getting there was going to be very tight. I contemplated changing the tire myself, but I knew I wouldn’t make it to my appointment on time, if I did. So, I called a cab, picking a company out of the Yellow Pages.

Fortunately, the cab arrived within minutes and, even more fortunately, Pierre was driving the cab. To keep the story short, Pierre drove me to my appointment, arriving with 5 minutes to spare. He redirected me, when I went to the wrong door, waited for me (no charge) and drove me home again. When we got back to my car, Pierre pumped up the tire for me, using a compressor and hose built into his van and sent me on my way to get the tire fixed.  I was in such a good mood after my encounter with Pierre that it didn’t bother me that the tire couldn’t be fixed and I had to buy four new tires!

All of what Pierre did for me is good service and smart business, but there is more to it than that. Pierre is a helper. Whatever job he might choose to do, he would be a helper. Pierre has been driving a cab for 35 years, and he makes a difference in this world, one customer at a time, because of the way he chooses to do his work. Judging from some of his stories, while we were waiting, Pierre treats his customers and everyone else alike. He is cheerful and helpful beyond “the call of duty”.

Thank you, Pierre. You made my day. I hope we will cross paths again.

There is a lesson for all of us in this. How we choose to do our jobs often matters much more than what we do. Attitude may not be everything, but it certainly is very important, both to our clients, customers and co-workers and to our own job satisfaction.

I love to be around people who bring a positive attitude to their work. How about you? Do you know anyone who makes a great contribution to others because of the way they choose to do their job? If so, please respond to this post with their story. How do you choose to approach your work?

Many of us are seeking passion and purpose in our lives. We want to find greater meaning, to love what we do each day, to really be alive. How can we discover our passion and purpose if we have not already done so?

Perhaps I can use my own experience as an example. My passion and my purpose in life are, first, to help people appreciate, honour and love themselves. Without this fundamental self-respect and self-love, we are limited in all that we do. Without this understanding, how can we be purposeful and focused in our actions?

Once we appreciate our own gifts, we are better able to grow and develop them and use them well, to live fully and do whatever it touches our souls to do. Acting in alignment with who we are, doing what is meaningful to us, enables us to tap into our passion.

The other key piece of my passion and purpose is helping people collaborate in order to achieve for the greater good. Doing whatever we find meaningful is often easier and more effective when we work together with others in some sort of communal effort. It can be as small as passers-by gathering to get a car out of a ditch or as complex as doing our best to make the world a healthier, more prosperous, more peaceful, and more loving place for all its inhabitants.