What Is My Purpose At Work?
‘What is my purpose?’ you may wonder… Whether you enjoy your work often comes down to how your job fits with your sense of purpose. Where you work, the role you hold, and your broader sense of purpose are subject to change. Therefore, if you want to have balance between these three, you must not be afraid of career transitions or change itself. In fact, you must look for them.
The importance of sense of purpose
You may wonder what is my purpose? Having a sense of purpose in your life is essential to well-being. Equally important is having a sense of purpose in your role at work. You have to continually search and find the sense of purpose in your career as circumstances change. You don’t have to quit your current employer to stay engaged. Yet, sometimes you need a more fundamental change. For instance, if you find yourself thinking “There must be more to my working life than just sitting here making money and not actually making an impact”. Perhaps, you dread going into the office on Monday morning or maybe you simply outgrew your role and you are bored to tears in your cubicle. These are all signs that you need to find a new sense of purpose in your career.
The mindsets
When you have a sense of purpose at work you feel passionate, innovative, and committed. Your outward-looking focus is on serving the organization. Also, your professional purpose is in balance with your personal purpose. If you feel this way then you have a purpose mindset. However, if you are focused on advancing your career and you prioritize increasing your salary, title, team size, power or sphere of control, you have a career mindset. Finally, if you perform your duties in return for compensation and not much else then you have a job mindset.
Spending too much time in the career or job mindsets is destructive. You are certainly dissatisfied with your job, if you spend more than 50% of your time in either the career or the job mindset. Therefore, you should seek a new role or maybe even a new company that provides you with a new sense of purpose. You should not fall to complacency because these mindsets can harm your reputation, your likelihood of a promotion and long-term prospects.
Boredom at work
Do you experience a lack of commitment or feel underutilized at work? Do you often ask yourself ‘what is my purpose?’. Perhaps you are bored in your current role and you complete private tasks at work; you feel under-challenged; you pretend to be busy; you feel tired and uninterested at work; you find your work meaningless; you could complete your tasks faster than you do; you are afraid of changing jobs because you might have a salary reduction; or you have little or no interest in your work or your employer.
Find your purpose
Life is short. You deserve a career where you have a sense of purpose. But you cannot leave it up to your employer or your team. It is up to you to define and enact your purpose at work.
About Sense of Purpose
Sense of purpose is the motivation that drives you toward a satisfying future. Hence, your sense of purpose helps you get the most of life and it helps you achieve what matters most to you. Most importantly, it feeds intrinsic motivation and it creates meaning from life. Purpose is our driver. Certainly, purpose is a fundamental component of a fulfilling life. Our purpose is to help you find yours.
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