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Deep Thoughts About Meaningful Work
Here at the home of the ‘Money and Meaning Movie’ I like to think you and I think a little harder about what it means to create a great life.
You wouldn’t have loved the movie so much if you didn’t think deeper thoughts than most somedays, right? 
Which is why I think you’ll like a quote I’d love to share with you today about work, just before diving into two cool offerings in today’s news. The quote is from a book I’m enjoying at the moment called ‘My Job, My Self: Work and the Creation of the Modern Individual.’
Had you ever thought that the work you do is making you who you are? Actually changing your identity? Shaping and molding you. Interesting, isn’t it?
Here’s the quote, from Chapter 5: Lack of Vision on page 59. Intriguing stuff.
“If work shapes and defines people, then forms of work are needed that will help rather than impede self-realization:
jobs that offer meaning as well as money;
jobs that impart dignity to the product and the person;
jobs that connect workers and their lives;
jobs wherein “the doing is as important as what gets done, the making as valuable as the made.”
Jobs that meet worker’s three kinds of needs: body, mind and spirit.
But jobs such as these are hard to find. [...] too many of us cry out, “our jobs are too small!… our work is not revelatory.”
My dear business owner, isn’t it true that as we create our own work, we have the opportunity to create revelatory, big work that grows us? Work that serves and earns money, yes, but that also lovingly shapes us into the greatest version of ourselves possible?
I like to think this is the singular responsibility and opportunity of the modern business owner. And I’m so glad I get to share thoughts like this with you.
If this idea rings with you, or if it feels like a struggle to ‘get’ or if you think it’s ‘bollocks!’ I’d love to hear. Post below.
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Email this post to a friend.
Posted to: Meaning...| Money...
February 27th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Andrea,
Great information. I believe the reason most of us become entrepreneurs is that we want work that feeds us mentally, spiritually and emotionally as well as financially. We simply have to be willing to be responsible for being the creator, and we do this by making choices that stretch us. For example, in January I decided to become a radio host of The Stop Your Drama Show. (The Show is named after my signature process and starts airing in March.) I find so much meaning simply in doing the interviews because I’m meeting people that I would have never otherwise had the opportunity to meet, including famous authors, psychiatrists, well known coaches, scientists.Ten years ago when I was a blue collar worker I would have never dreamed that my life could change so much over the course of several decisions, this choice being one of them. It makes me realize that we create or world choice by choice, no matter where we start.
This choice is shaping me because of the people I’m meeting and what I’m learning. Without even trying my network is expanding and I’m getting new coaching clients, so YES, no matter what our current situation, if we make the commitment to stretch we can create the life we want.
February 27th, 2008 at 6:51 am
Dear Andrea~
Thank-you for your article! Purpose begins with our spirit, our spirituality, combining both mind, and body. Feeling great right where we are in the moment. Then what ever it is we do, that energy follows. It is an outflow of that balance of love generated from within.
Have a great day! May wonderful discoveries and a newness be yours!
Allison from Cape Cod
Realtor, Yoga & Meditation Teacher
February 27th, 2008 at 6:54 am
To me this was a great email, Andrea. So many people are in a job waiting for the right job, discontented w/ the present job, hoping that the right job will bring them the satisfaction they are looking for. I’ve had a bunch of jobs that were paying the bills but leaving me poor emotionally. But the thought here is maybe I would have been richer in spirit if ‘I’ had imparted dignity to the job. Maybe it’s not so much of what can the job do for me, maybe it’s what can I do for the job(that has a familiar ring to it). Oh, I know it’s not that simple and that people have all kinds of working situations that are unbearable. Maybe jobs will offer more meaning as we offer more meaning. Work does give meaning and even work that seems boring, mundane and ridiculous(I’m speaking of most college courses I have taken)can add value to our lives. One way to look at it is: this job has value for the simple reason, I am valuable and I am working here. All that to say this: Thanks for the provoking thoughts and I’m going to approach this day w/ not groaning b/c of all I have to do but looking at what I can do and be grateful for it.
Thanks,
Nancy
February 27th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Andrea,
Dr. Robert Hartman, Nobel nominee, pioneer in the value’s science of Axiology and the “father of profit sharing” in the U.S. proposed that one of the primary purposes of an organization is to SERVE the employee.
He posed four questions that reflect the meaning of life. The third question was:
“What can this organization do to help me fulfill my meaning in the world?”
Livelihood is an integral part of a life well lived. With great pressure to generate maximum money, few companies cultivate meaning in work. Too many are still stuck in the old game paradigm that a person is there only to serve the company.
Most of the thousands of companies I’ve consulted with are stunned when I suggest they elevate this question to the top of their “mission” statement.
Meaning, fulfillment and appreciation are the non-financial payoffs we all crave and need to bring our best self to the game.
When companies “throw the box away” and embrace NEW Game thinking, they recognize people are their greatest untapped resources. When they liberate their “human assets” through meaning, fulfillment and contribution, they transform the experience of work. They elevate the game and the performance of every person.
More meaning is the cause that produces the effect more money.
You hit the nail when you say “Jobs are too small” - companies insist on boxing people in to a job description. My challenge to them is this:
INSTEAD OF REDUCING A PERSON TO FIT THE JOB, EXPAND THE JOB TO FIT THE PERSON.
It’s simple and obvious, yet it boggles me how they respond as if they just discovered fire.
I appreciate you being a model for what you live, an integrated life. Keep provoking stimulating conversation.
Mitch Axelrod
Author, “The NEW Game of Business™”
http://playthenewgame.com
February 27th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Boy, does this idea ever “ring” with me! I was born painting but worked in menial jobs in my 20’s. When my baby sister was a teen, and old enough to see what “slave labor was doing to her super-talented sister”, her love and faith in me encouraged me to push beyond what I thought I was capable of becoming, as a person and as an artist. When I discovered hand-painted ceramic art tile, I realized it could be a lifelong passion and pursuit. So I created my OWN niche in the art world instead of waiting any longer to be “discovered” by someone else. My sister was the catalyst, but creating the new person, the new artist and the new life was all mine!
February 27th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Wow! When I read your post, I got so excited! This is the backbone of my coaching business!
I recently started to see clearly how my past work experience has shaped me and I use this wealth in my current work. I’m looking forward to seeing how I am forming and changing now.
Meaningful work is integral to honoring people’s basic dignity. Any job can be made worthwhile when the value is placed on the people involved, rather than the product or process. Mitch Axelrod’s post provides an interesting challenge, particularly right now in the U.S. with the slowing economy. It is too tempting to see people as simply a cost rather than problem-solvers or teammates.
Keep us thinking deeply, even poetically, as we run our businesses. Thank you.
March 4th, 2008 at 5:58 am
Dear Andrea, I wanted to thank you for this post. I’m discovering it a week after it was written, but on the exact day, at the exact moment when I needed to see it. I’m building my coaching practice around helping people reimagine their careers - helping them to see their work as not just a way to make a living but a way to make a life.
I think we are living in revolutionary times in terms of how we as a society view work and its place in our lives. There is so much great thinking happening around this issue. I’m seeing more and more people of all ages seeking to not just have a career but to use it as a vehicle toward creating more meaning. What a chance for us as coaches to be a part of something this great and amazing!
And the reason this was so important to me today? Because today, this very morning, I’m supposed to be sending my graphic artist some language for her to incorporate into the new design of my blog. I was having a really hard time condencing it all into something brief (you know how it is with something you feel passionate about…). Your post strengthened my determination, and, in a way, gave me permission to emphasize the questions I’m really interested in - those of meaning and purpose - upfront. Synchronicity at work (or play
)… Thanks again!