Love what you do.
Is it Possible to Love What You Do?
Yes.
Do you need to turn your world upside down to love it?
Maybe. And Maybe not. Sometimes you just need to realign things – first in your mind and then maybe in the outside world as well.
Do you have a "connection" problem?
Half the battle is figuring out what the problem is. Is your problem related to connection?
What if you didn’t show up for work tomorrow? Would anyone care? Would missing your deadline have a real impact on anyone? Would you care?
If you answer no, then you might have a “connection” problem. You don’t know what your role is in the larger picture … of your work, of your life.
Connecting to something larger.
In a larger organization, it might mean you’re so far down the food chain that you don’t understand how your work connects to the larger goals, or that the goals don’t matter to you.
At the other end of the spectrum, if you work for yourself, you may not have fully explored why you do what you do.
If you’re an artist, do you know what drives you?
If you don’t understand how the work you do connects to something larger than yourself, you will likely feel unfulfilled by your work. Unfulfillment shows up as exhaustion, frustration, lack of motivation, boredom, confusion, feeling like you’re drifting.
How does it show up?
You get stuck in the world of tasks, never-ending lists, hacks to motivate yourself.
Easy things become hard – sitting down at your desk in the morning, handling another crazy request from your boss, engaging in the problems raised at the weekly update meeting.
Every little thing feels very heavy.
First, do the easiest thing. Try fixing what you have.
Looking at this might make you think, “Yup, I need to change jobs.” “I chose the wrong career. Again.” “I’m in the wrong industry.”
But, look again. Is that true? Before you leap away from what you have, figure out if you can fix it. If you can now clearly see a connection problem, it becomes possible to fix this problem. The solution might be in your head, in the way you think about it.
How?
How much can you orient yourself to solving long-term problems, rather than fixing short-term issues?
In your job, what is the reason your company exists? Why does your role exist? Can you orient yourself to how your product makes your customers’ lives better? Can you connect to how your expertise fixes some link in the chain? Making these connections can provide deep insights. Is this enough of a connection for you? It could be.
In your business or in your art, can you connect to your “Why”? Why do you do what you do? Why is it important? Who do you help? How are you making a difference to them?
What needs to happen?
Ask, “In this situation that I want to change, what needs to happen?”
Am I solving a problem or putting on band-aids? Am I, is my team, oriented to an actual solution? Are my projects, and tasks aligned to something bigger? Sometimes you need to draw the line to something that already exists. Sometimes you need to create it.
In fact, when you’re out and about or seeing the latest injustice in your social media feed, instead of complaining ask yourself, “What needs to happen here?” “What wants to happen?
Coaching Tip.
Ask yourself better questions.
Coaching isn’t about advice. It’s about asking questions that provide a different perspective, allowing you to see a problem in a different way, helping you realize that you might be trying to solve the wrong problem. Coach yourself by asking yourself better questions.
When it comes to creating connection in your work, ask “What Needs to Happen?” If there’s something in the world that really bugs you, ask, “What needs to happen?
For me, what needs to happen: More women need to do their work in the world. We need to come into our power to balance things out. Our beautiful Earth needs us to believe that we can find or create fulfilling work that matters to us and to the world. And that we can make the money we want doing it.
That’s why I’m a Work & Life Coach.
