I was skimming through The Doctor and the Soul in preparation for an upcoming speech I’m giving at the 2021 Educating for Careers Conference, and remembered again how pertinent this information is right now – especially as many of us face frustrations and disappointment at work and in our careers.  So, for those of you who may be considering a change in career, or maybe you feel like you are facing unnecessary trials at work, here are a few ideas to consider:

Every individual is indispensable and irreplaceable.  It is important that we are conscious of our uniqueness and singularity.

Without perception of that unique meaning of your singular existence, a person “would be numbed in difficult situations.”

“As long as creative values are in the forefront of the life task, their actualization generally coincides with a person’s work.  Work usually represents the area in which the individuals uniqueness stands in relation to society and thus acquires meaning and value.  This meaning and value, however, is attached to the person’s work as a contribution to society, not to the actual occupation as such.”  – My thoughts on that – as long as you feel you are creatively contributing to society in your work, you will find meaning and value.  However, if not, you may feel unfulfilled and frustrated.  Some of that is personal choice – especially in choosing your attitude and perspective.

“The work in itself does not make the person indispensable and irreplaceable, it only gives him or her the chance to be so.”  Seth Godin’s book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable chronicles several case studies of people who have chosen to be indispensable.  It’s a great book.

“The job at which one works is not what counts, but rather the manner in which one does the work.” – again, choice.  You choose how you show up at work.  Some jobs might make this more difficult than others, but you always have a choice.

And, as many people have sadly discovered in the past year, “The existential importance of work is most clearly seen where work is eliminated from a person’s life, as in unemployment.”  Frankl called this “unemployment neurosis.”  We may long for the days of retirement or unemployment, but meaningful work is a foundation to overall health and wellness.

Finally, an area I’ve been working with a lot lately relates to this idea, “People’s natural relationship to their employment as the area for possible actualization of creative values and self-fulfillment often is distorted by prevailing work conditions…”  Sometimes, work conditions need to change – or, if that can’t or won’t happen, where a person work’s should change.

If you want to go deeper into this topic, have a listen to the podcast I recorded last year on Work & Meaning.  And, of course, if you want to discuss further, I am happy to help.

Take care.  – Dan