💥 “All I wanna do is LIVE, not work.”

I got some anonymous feedback on the newsletter that I haven’t been able to shake out of my mind:

I have no clue who wrote this feedback, but I’m so glad they did.

I, too, feel this on some level.

I’m pretty sure we all do.

Now, I’m not going to pretend to know the universal answer to our deeply capitalistic systems and world of work (maybe purchasing a pair of Bernie mittens, from which 100% of proceeds go to Meals on Wheels Vermont, is a start? I kid…).

What I can offer is my own approach to finding a deeper meaning in my work, one that has helped my clients reframe their posture toward work, too. One that does not ultimately drive me to ~*work harder*~ at the expense of my own mental and physical health, nor one that guilts me into believing that “the only way to do great work is to love what you do” (lookin at you, Steve Jobs).

It’s an approach that I’m tentatively dubbing The Meaningful Work Equation:

Growth + Community + Service = Meaningful Work

Growth

• Are you gaining new skills, ones that are either useful or enjoyable? (I’m aware “useful” can be subject to a capitalist definition.)

• Are being asked to reexamine your existing beliefs about yourself and/or other people?

• Are you finding new, positive ways to handle conflict, disappointment, competition, and traditional ideas of “failure?”

• Are you learning more about your own feelings of purpose, satisfaction, and joy?

Community

• Are you working within an inspiring, uplifting, integrous, healthy environment?

• Are you helping to create this environment for others?

• Are you becoming a more conscious advocate for others, either as a manager or a colleague?

Service

• How do your clients, customers, partners benefit from your work? How does your work help them benefit others in turn?

• How do your family, loved ones, dependents benefit from your work? How does your work (or your working) help them benefit others in turn?

It’s highly unlikely that all three of these factors will be equal at any given time. That’s just another illustration of the seasons we experience that my feedback responder alluded to. But if you can pinpoint one factor that feels robust and another that feels less so, you’re in a better position to create some balance yourself. Or to find a new opportunity that allows for more balance.

Because if you remove these three factors- growth, community, and service- from the context of work, they’re really just at the crux of human existence, no? Focusing on community, growth, and service is really just living, is it not?

Okay, getting a lil too existential for a Tuesday morning, so I’ll leave you with this:

While I was working at Stitch Fix, I learned first-hand how integral the warehouse operations were to our core product, to our client promise. The warehouses were where all orders were filled, packed, and shipped to eager clients all over the country. Warehouse Associates worked nontraditional hours, moving on their feet for most of their shifts, picking clothing, packing boxes on conveyor belts, unloading container trucks.

On a routine tour of the San Francisco warehouse, one of our managers asked an associate, “How do you stay connected to the work on such busy days, when box after box is passing by you?”

The associate replied, “I read the name of the client the box in front of me is being sent to. When I need to place the package slip inside and seal it up with our logo sticker, I say, ‘This is for you, Marion. I hope you love it.’ I say this out loud for every box I pack for each client.”

Which of these three factors of meaningful work is currently the strongest for you? Which is the weakest?

*Shoutout to my friend Marion for helping me focus this idea around meaningful work!

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