How to find meaning
By Evelyn Jackson (CEO and Creative Director)
‘Meaning’ is complex and everchanging based on our own personal experience and situation. And this insight looks to share some tips on starting your journey, rather than be a fully-fledged answer to this important question.
Nevertheless, meaning has become one of the callouts for most people today. It is what organisations everywhere are trying to instil in how they engage their employees through their vision, mission, and values. In the world of work, this alignment benefits how we perform and how engaged we are at work. Yet, for many of us finding meaning is much more than aligning your values to your role.
Here are some questions to help you reflect and start to identify for yourself how to find meaning.
1. How do you want to spend your life?
2. What gives you positive energy?
3. How can you leverage your strengths?
4. How are you learning every day even when you don’t need to?
5. When are you mindful and why?
If you can reflect and answer these, you are well on your way to find the freedom to work and live better. On your way to finding meaning.
1. How do you want to spend your life?
There are many books and articles on IKIGAI, a Japanese concept for finding purpose – looking at what you do, your passions, what you are good at and what others value. It is said that finding your “IKIGAI” is about finding the sweet spot where they collide. And finding your IKIGAI is worth the journey. But here is a practical approach to answering this question. Perhaps we can start with what you want to spend your time on. Start by thinking about the elements of IKIGAI, and then put simply, identify how you want to spend your life, what is important in your life. Limit this to maximum 9 areas – be it spending time with girlfriends, working on your latest passion, working, traveling and so forth.
2. What gives you positive energy?
Identify what is important/ what you need to spend time on and how much of your time is spent on those. Then layer this with positive versus negative energy. So much of our time is spent doing things that absorb positive energy or instil negative energy. Our job is to be aware and acknowledge this so that we can make better decisions to live a more meaningful life.
3. How can you leverage your strengths?
Doing what we are good at gives us fulfilment and joy. Joy brings happiness and a sense of achievement and purpose. Remember the last time you patted yourself on the back? Or better still, remember the time your manager or someone you admired did? When we leverage our strengths and focus on work that takes full advantage of our strengths, we can trigger that inner voice that supports us, that encourages us, that cheers for us to conquer. The joy that comes from this self-recognition is an important step towards finding meaning and its ok to embrace it.
4. How are you learning everyday even when you don’t need to?
Curiosity is an undervalued trait. A sense of curiosity and the appetite to learn something new engineers feelings of positivity, purpose, and confidence. Human beings have evolved through this appetite to learn. Learning something new brings about a sense of adventure, excitement, and focus. Life throws many obstacles and the way we respond, the way we approach these obstacles is critical to our ability to find meaning. And it’s been proven that continuous learning is one of the best ways to respond to life’s obstacles.
5. When are you mindful and why?
When it comes to meaning, being mindful, being present, building connections with the activities and the people that give us positive energy is perhaps the most important. Too often we get caught up on going from one activity, one meeting, one project to another without the opportunity to stop, look up and be present. To find meaning, stop and absorb your every moment. Treat each moment, each encounter with gratitude and thoughtfulness and see your world with intention and see the difference.
Finding meaning, finding a sustainable life that gives you the freedom to work and live better is not something you can do overnight. It requires self-reflection, it requires honesty, and it requires us to do the work to make changes as we discover what works and what doesn’t. And it also requires us not to take ourselves too seriously!
At Corporate Crayon, we help individuals learn to work and live better lies through one to one mentoring and online resources at www.findmymeaning.net
Get in touch today and see how we can support you personally on your journey on these and other areas or support your team to find meaning.
Written by: Evelyn Jackson, CEO of Corporate Crayon, Mentor at Find My Meaning, Employee Energy Expert, Mum and life partner in training.
To find out more about how to find the freedom to work and live better, contact us at Find My Meaning today.