Working with purpose

There are few things more soul destroying than doing a job that really means nothing to us. How many of us have got to the end of a working week to think - "Well, what have I actually achieved?" - only to be less than satisfied with the answer. There are only so many email backlogs, ill planned projects, ceaseless targets and endless meetings that the human soul can tolerate. Sooner or later we cry out - "I've had enough, I'm off."

This doesn't mean that we are a generation of must-have-it-alls. On the contrary, we're wiling to slog our guts out, put up with office politics and the tube, if it MEANS SOMETHING at the end of the day. More and more of us are seeking meaning in our work - something that actually MATTERS to us and that satisfies the things that we consider important. This is the age of the individual, with each of us demanding more from our lives. It is also the age of a new global consciousness where we hold the world and ourselves accountable for the state we live in. We are no longer willing to slave for a huge corporate machine unless the huge corporate machine has a heart. Corporate Social Responsibility for example is a new and fast growing trend. No company (whether leaping on a band wagon or not) can afford to continue to be ecologically or socially irresponsible and expect to survive.

So what is it that we are seeking from our work? As with all things, it's different things for different people. However the words of Anita Roddick may sum it up for many of us - "Success to me is not about money or status or fame, its about finding a livelihood that brings me joy and self-sufficiency and a sense of contributing to the world."

When we do work that has meaning to us, an extraordinary thing happens. It takes on an energy of its own. We are absorbed, energized, at one. We do not notice the time passing. We are driven by something larger than ourselves. But this does not imply that purpose must be something exalted or grand or that we are all latent Mother Teresa's. It is NOT SEPARATE from ourselves. A cartoonist may make us giggle and lift our perspective but he's probably doing it because it makes him giggle. The archaeologist reveals to us fascinating insights into humanity not out of a great sense of mission but because the story he's discovering fascinates him. The children's author writes the books that capture young minds because it captures their imagination too. The point is that simply by expressing our true selves we give something of great value to the world and ourselves - authenticity, energy, joy, love, inspiration, fun, hope, insight. The list goes on. The world would be a very dull place if we were all to try and save it. It needs our astonishing and bewildering uniqueness to make it the astonishing and bewildering place it is. And when we are holding that back, stuck in a job that shuts us down - there's a safety catch to stop that continuing - in the form of a nagging voice, insistent that we need to do something about it.

One of the most profound questions that any of us can ask ourselves is this:

What am I doing with my life?

What is it we are doing with this one fragile life of ours? What do we want to do with it? If you were to keel over tomorrow, would you be happy with what you have done with yours. Or would you feel you'd wasted it, not lived up to your potential, sold yourself short, not been brave enough, happy enough, bold enough, free enough. And if so, when would be a good time to start. These are the questions that SHOULD keep us awake at night (not how we're going to survive another excruciating day at the office!).