13. How to Find Meaning in Your Work and Your Life

The book, Bring Your Work To Life, by William John Mills, points out that the secret to meaning in life, and in work, depends on how you relate to yourself, how you relate to others and your relationship with higher values or purpose in life.

Relationships are an important part of work. Despite what the work is, how you relate to people not only affects how well you work, but also how you feel about yourself. And how you feel about and treat yourself in turn affects both how you work and how you get along with others.

Mills suggests that people take a look at how they use time, which is what life is all about. Taking a look at how you use time, and how you would like to use it, can give you a better picture of yourself, and help you make better choices in life.

People sometimes can't choose the job they take. They need work and have to take what comes their way. But regardless of what is their first choice in life, their attitude to work is also their attitude to themselves. And how they work often reflects how they live.

Despite what negatives a person experiences from others in their work, how they treat themselves is important. Find something positive in what you do. Don't let other people's reaction turn you off finding your own value and meaning in work.

I know of some people who put up with a job during the week in order to have the time and money for a "good time" on their days off. If their social life revolves around drinking and barhopping, it often isn't that productive. Their work doesn't have meaning. It is just a means to an end. As a result, these people often don't enjoy about one third of their life.

The worst job I could think of would be sitting at a machine, isolated from everyone else, watching a bunch of dials and controls. It would be hard to stay concentrated on what you were doing. Many industries rotate workers around such tasks. They found that boredom created carelessness, which in turn caused costly accidents or injuries.

Those who don't have contact with other people on the job, or any passion for their work, tend to stagnate. The clock ticks slowly, and they keep watching it. Those who care for their work often become immersed in it, not even noticing time go by.

Mills also points out how varying amounts of time and energy affect how people feel. When you've got the energy, but not enough time, you feel like you are trapped on a treadmill. When you have low energy and not enough time, you feel burnt out. Having little energy and too much time on your hands can turn you into a couch potato. But when you have both time and energy, you enjoy your work the best, whatever job you do.

Mills focuses on the need to love what you do, suggesting the following focuses:

1. Be purposeful. Periodically remind yourself about your purpose and put it into practice.
2. Be response-able. Only attend to those things that are within your control.
3. Be there. Stay focused on what you're doing at the time you're doing it.
4. Be the observer. Avoid getting caught up in things, so that you can maintain a perspective on them.
5. Be accepting. Accept yourself and accept others for who and what they are.
6. Be yourself. Share as much as you can about what you truly believe with others.

Mills also shares a quotation from Buddha, "Your work is to discover your work, and then with all your heart to give yourself to it."

This can make the difference between just living or feeling fully alive. It doesn't just happen. You have to work at living, not just at working. Mills' book has excellent guides for such a journey.