Enjoy What You Do

I’m sure you’ve read that saying that goes something like: “If you enjoy what you do, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”

A poll released by Gallup in 2013 showed that a meagre 13% of people worldwide actually get enjoyment out of going to work.

Perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that some 27% of the people who indicated that they did not enjoy going to work, reported being ‘actively disengaged’ from their work.

To be blunt, this basically means that they will go as far as to take steps to try to persuade co-workers why they should feel the same way.

So what’s going on here?

[box type=\”shadow\”]\”Do what you love and the money will follow.\”

– Marsha Sinetar[/box]

 

Enjoy what you do (continued)

 

Four broad reasons

Having previously worked in the communications and engagement function for a multinational corporation I developed some views of my own based on my observations of people working with  various employers and within different teams and demographics.

In my opinion the reasons for the pitiful number of people reporting enjoyment in their work can be broadly stated as:
– Poor leadership
– Poor team dynamics and environment
– External world focus
– Inadequate sense of self

Problems start at the level of the individual

You’ll notice that this is not just about problems within the organisation providing the work. In fact, if all the problems could be attributed to dysfunctional organisations, then you could argue that they would be self correcting as people would simply migrate from poor employers to good ones.

No, the problems start at the level of the individual. After all, organisations, their leadership and their teams are simply collections of people so this makes eminent sense.

External world focus

I’ve written a lot about this in previous Blog posts.

Having an external world focus or, as some would say, an external locus of control, basically means that you derive your sense of success, worth and/or happiness from the extent to which you perceive the world around you to value you.

In a commercial world that is driven by the profit motive, people are conditioned to accept that level of prosperity is measured by the amount of wealth they have accumulated and the level is judged according to the material possessions they put on display.

Now, the profit motive dictates that employers will pay only as much as they have to to attract and retain their staff. For the vast majority of workers who operate at the lower and middle levels of the organisational pyramid this means (at best) just enough to sustain a modest living.

So you can see that for most regular people, in order to demonstrate their relative prosperity they are forced to go to potentially self destructive lengths, such as borrowing to finance unnecessarily glamorous homes, vehicles or lifestyles.

An unfortunate spin off from all of this is that people will chase jobs and positions that offer greater financial reward, regardless of whether the jobs are naturally suited to their inherent passions.

In exchange for the better rates of pay offered for more senior positions, organisations will demand their pound of flesh, very often perpetuating the trap in which most people find themselves – doing work they don’t really enjoy.

The solution is, on the face of it, a simple one, yet it requires some serious ‘unconditioning’. And that is to develop a brand new paradigm around what it means to be prosperous and successful.

In other words, people need to turn inwards to find what it is that they love to do and then to measure their prosperity or success on their level of happiness rather than their post code or the car that they drive.

That is easily said but how can it be done?

This brings me to the second of the two reasons that can be attributed to the individual.

Inadequate sense of self

Most people, if they are being honest, will admit that they do very little self reflection. They may claim that they simply don’t have the time, thanks to the pressure and demands of the external world.

Perhaps, by now, you are beginning to appreciate the nature and extent of the trap we humans have set for ourselves!

How can we really know what it is we are passionate about – what makes our hearts sing – if we allocate little or no time to getting to know ourselves, who we are and why we are here?

Can there be anything more important to us as individuals than getting thoroughly acquainted with ourselves and the special gifts we each have to contribute to this world?

Personal development – gaining an intimate knowledge and awareness of self – should be a top priority for anyone who desires to do the ‘work’ that they love and thereby become more  fulfilled and happier.

Life coaching – a career whose time has come

People are increasingly beginning to question the paradigm of the external world focus and starting to look within for the source and measure of their true happiness.

Join me in trumpeting to everyone that will hear …

It is time to enjoy what you do!

Life coaches have a critical role to fulfil at this time by offering the care, skills, tools and techniques to help others do exactly that.

Life coaching is truly a career for the 21st century!

 

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