The secret to feeling fulfilled in your work, isn’t doing something you love
“If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” — Marc Anthony.
How many times have you heard this? And how many times have you thought, ‘I wish doing what I love was financially viable.’ That sentiment also almost exclusively applies to people either working for themselves or running their own business. Rarely will you get the opportunity to do what you love while working for someone else. Some people are able to do what they love, because they have a partner that can support them and the pressure to pay the bills isn’t present, or because a unique opportunity presented itself which they took advantage of.
But the reality of the fact is that for the majority of people, we’re not going to have the opportunity to do what we love. We’re going to have to get a job in which we can earn enough to keep a roof over our heads and food in the fridge. These ‘inspirational’ quotes are great and all, and a very small percentage of us will get to actually enjoy that kind of life, but I much prefer to think of the masses and help the 99% instead of the 1%; and for the 99%, being constantly told to just simply do what the 1% do, can be more disheartening than encouraging.
Fulfilment is not doing something you love
That being said, there is a way to live a life feeling happy in your work, and that’s not from doing something you love. Happiness comes from fulfilment. The feeling of fulfilment is defined as:
“the achievement of something desired, promised, or predicted”
Fulfilment can be achieved in a number of ways, but the one that I feel has the strongest, longest lasting effect and will work on a daily basis is what I want to talk about today.
In my day job, I spend my time working with teams of software engineers to help them do the best job they can do. You could argue, that isn’t what I’m actually paid to do. I’m paid to ensure the team deliver, but how you approach that is where you can achieve fulfilment. I don’t love what I do. I love video games. In fact, I tried to make a living playing and reviewing video games but instead of feeling like “I was never working a day in my life”, I felt like I was working very hard, for very little, and sucking the enjoyment out of something I love at the same time. It has taken me a few years to begin to understand my own drivers and motivators, but now that I do I can use that in my day job and it allows me to expand out the list of potential roles I would feel fulfilled in doing.
I don’t love what I do for a day job, I don’t love writing articles or giving talks on topics around leadership and Agile. But I damn well believe in what I’m doing, and that’s the key. If you believe in what you’re doing then you can find fulfilment in the worst of situations. Yes, I have days where I want to just scream at the people I report to when they just outright refuse to listen. I have days where I get frustrated by the fact that people well above my pay grade are making awful decisions which I know I could of helped them with. I have days when it all just goes Pete Tong and it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. But what keeps me going day after day is the knowledge that I get to do something I believe in every single day.
I believe that everybody can and should get to feel engaged, fulfilled and challenged in the work they do. I believe in the best in people, and given the right environment and circumstances and also the right amount of time, anyone is capable of achieving far more than they ever thought possible. I believe that with the right leadership, nearly any business can be a success. It is these beliefs that I take to work every single day. It is these beliefs and the spreading of the message that keeps me writing these articles and developing talks. It is doing something I believe in every single day that keeps me feeling fulfilled and content at the end of the day.
As a leader, if you want to get the most out of the people working for you then you need to give them something to believe in. Really give the people working for you purpose, a cause to fight for, a banner to rally behind. Not just a financial target to meet. You are their leader, you are there to inspire them. Give them inspiration.
As an individual finding it hard to find enjoyment in the day job, take some time to really look inside your own mind and heart and understand what it is you believe in and how you can adapt that to your work environment, and if you can’t adapt your work to it then at least you’ll know what to look for when you decide to move on to your next position. Finding something you believe in is not an easy thing, some people spend years looking. But it’s easier to find the answer when you know what you’re searching for.
I am available to give talks in England on how to build a culture and environment that breeds productivity and fulfillment through effective leadership. Connect with me on LinkedIn and let’s talk some more: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martyn-puddephatt-14b08757/
