How To Find Meaning In Your Work

Having purpose…

I’ve always thought Radio had a leg up when it came to being felt as “meaningful work.”

We have the ability, every day, to touch lives, to intervene when needed, to inspire, to entertain, to help people in our community when no one else will.

But maybe that’s because of something inside of me. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I chose to work in Radio in the first place.

When I arrived at Vanderbilt eons ago, I thought I wanted to be a doctor. Spending two years with rich guys determined to specialize in radiology so they could work only 3 days a week and still make a small fortune helped change my mind.

So maybe I’m unusual in needing to find some sort of meaning in my work.

But if I’m not, if you feel this too, I’ve got a great article for you HERE.

Here’s a small piece of it: “In general, though, it seems like a few basic building blocks of meaning are the ability to use skills we can be proud of, pay and working conditions that feel halfway fair, and work that is useful—or at least not actively immoral. If these aren’t part of a job, the employer is likely to be hard-pressed to bring meaning to the workplace.”

I don’t think companies can impose meaning externally. But I do think companies can encourage meaning in the way they approach their employees and their ‘customers.’

I doubt it feels terribly meaningful to be hosing elephant poop down a backroom drain when you’re dead tired and have a terrible head cold.

Every day may not feel blissfully meaningful.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t create conditions where it’s more likely to occur.

We just have to try.