What do you do if your work feels meaningless?
How do you continue if quitting is not an option?
There’s a chapter on finding meaning and purpose in my book, in which I explore this question.
Here’s the longish excerpt:
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There’s a famous story that has been written about many times over the past few decades. It’s about an interaction between a janitor and the then U.S. President. I couldn't find evidence that it really happened, but here it goes.
In 1962, the U.S. was preparing to launch its first Moon mission. It was a high-stakes event, and President John F. Kennedy visited NASA's space center to see how the plan was shaping up. He saw a janitor carrying a broom. The President walked up to him and casually quipped what he was doing at NASA.
The janitor replied, "Well, Mr. President, I’m helping put a man on the Moon."
The authenticity of the story aside, it carries a profound lesson. While the kind of work you do is important, finding meaning in it has a lot to do with your perception of what you do.
You might argue the janitor was working at NASA after all. Ask a janitor working at a mall and they might have a different answer to the same question. Let me counter this by sharing another story—and this did happen.
It’s about a liftman who sat on a stool beside the elevator buttons in a large office building. He took on the supposedly onerous task of pressing the floor numbers for the daily office-goers. I used to visit this building often for work.
I would observe this man do his part with a smile on his face every day. He would sometimes exchange a few pleasantries with people, but mostly, it was quiet work.
One day, when I was alone in the elevator, and since my stop was on the 24th floor I had a good few seconds, I asked him if he ever got bored doing the same thing day in and day out. I expected a humdrum answer along the lines of "I can't find anything else to do," or "I can't afford to lose this job."
Instead, this is what he said. "Sir, the job is far from boring. I get to smile at people. When you see a person smile, you become slightly happier inside. People come here in all kinds of moods. If my smile can make them happy for a few seconds, nothing like it. I am doing God’s work, sir.”
You can imagine my surprise and embarrassment. My condescension was met with a purposeful response. I was dumbfounded. All I could manage, while feeling sorry for myself, was an idiotic smile before stepping out.
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I go on to elaborate on how to think about purpose, but the main takeaway from the above is this: Maybe your work, your job is meaningless but what if the way you’re thinking about it and looking at it is the main problem?
What if you could change your perception about your work, like the janitor and the elevator operator did above?
Dig deep and maybe, just maybe, you’ll arrive at a clarity on what might be the certain aspects of your job that could create meaning for you.
Get my book: 7 Rules for a Calm Mind in a Chaotic World