Finding Personal Meaning In Your Career

 When we talk about personal meaning in terms of our career, people often think it’s about turning your passion or favorite hobby into a job. However, personal meaning can mean different things to different people. Your personal meaning doesn’t necessarily have to come from a job that you love every minute of. Instead, think of it as something you get as a reward for a job well done.

It’s Not Just About Dream Jobs

People have generally defined personal meaning as a feeling you get from choosing a job that makes you feel something in your heart. It is often thought of as something that makes you who you are. However, it doesn’t only come from what you’ve always thought of as your “dream job.” For some, personal meaning comes from the rewards they get from their job. It’s about appreciating the difference you make in your world or someone else’s. You don’t have to save peoples’ lives to make a difference.

How to Find Your Own Meaning

Some people find joy in helping others. Whether it be a colleague, a customer, or a group
of people they don’t even know. On the other hand, you may find value in helping your company run like a well-oiled machine. Whatever your job is, you are an important part of a big picture. Sometimes we forget how much we are worth and start to think it wouldn’t make a difference if we were there or not. This is not true! The way the economy is, if there wasn’t a need for your job position, you wouldn’t have a job!

It May Not Come Directly From Your Job

Many people find joy in being the provider in their families. Whether you are supporting your partner, or a family of eight, you are a vital part of your household. Just like at your job, your family is another group in which everybody has an important role to play. After a hard day’s work, remember that your career plays a role in the world. Whether it’s in your family at home or your family at work, you are always making a difference in someone’s world!

About the Author

Scott Brown is the author of the Job Search Handbook (http://www.JobSearchHandbook.com). As editor of the HireSites.com weekly newsletter on job searching, Scott has written many articles on the subject. He wrote the Job Search Handbook to provide job seekers with a complete yet easy to use guide to finding a job effectively.

 Scott Brown

More Articles 

Your Job Is Not Necessarily For Life. Should You Switch Careers? - Burns Carlton
Executive search firms regularly come across people who have decided to switch careers. There was a time where you chose your profession and stuck with it until retirement and many people still follow that path. An increasing number of people,...

Starting a Career in Freelance Content Writing - Diane Penna
As a frequent visitor to online forums filled with entrepreneurial stay-at-home-moms (and dads), I see posts every other day asking questions along the same line. How do I go about starting a career in writing? Where did you get your...

Career Planning Advice: Avoid the 10 Success Killers! - Paul Megan
Sticking to fundamental business principles is the basis for successful career planning. To us this means that our customers are able to lock up job high-paying offers in as little as 14 days or less. Old-fashioned methods that require...

Hair dressing as a career - Nadeem
Since the world started hair has been a very important aspect of individual personality and with the change in time hair has emerged as a big form of self expression for both men and women. In todays world everyone wants to look...

What Should You Look For When Searching For Career Development Programs - LeeAnna
The computer age has made online career training so easy, you never have to leave your home. There are thousands of different career development programs online today and depending on what type of career you want, you will surely find it on...

My Career As A Hermit - David Leonhardt
"Work from home. Make big bucks in your pajamas." – typical work-from-home ad. Quick. What do writers, stay-at-home parents and online marketing geeks have in common? I mean, besides insanity? They are all hermits. The typical writer...

Get Inspired About Your Career - Richard Hanes
Get Inspired about Your Career Do you linger in bed long after your alarm goes off on work mornings? Do you dread Sunday nights because they lead to Monday mornings? Do you watch the clock and wonder if the day will ever end? Do you look outside...

Career Management and Life Planning Tools: Eight Powerful Questions About Your Future - Sharon Teitelbaum
"Most people don't plan to fail. They just fail to plan." This old saying applies to any area of your life where you want to make some positive changes. Prior to planning, however, you must get absolutely clear on your intentions , and...

How to choose your career - Tyler Benson
With the warm breeze of summer wind a numerous number of high school graduates gets ready to enter the university. This is the moment they've been waiting for all their lives and now time to choose one career out of the hundreds has come. First...

Ten Great Careers For Single Parents - Max Stein
The challenges of raising a child by yourself, whether you’re a mother or father, can be very difficult. Add the burden of having to be out of the home for 40+ hours per week to work and raising a child at the same time can be nearly impossible....

Career Advice: Real Winners Know How To Lose - Ramon Greenwood
Career Advice: Real Winners Know How to Lose By Ramon Greenwood The idea of winning is at the very heart of the American work ethic. The gospel of our culture tells us winning is not just the best thing, it is the only thing. But real...

Animal Husbandry and Other Unnatural Acts: A Career in Dog Training - Albert Medinas
Do you like dogs? Do they like you back? Well, in that case, maybe YOU have what it takes to make it in the ruff and kibble world of canine coaching. Maybe. But before you start barking up this career tree, it might be beneficial to get a...