Many people dream of one day finding the perfect job for themselves. But meaningful work can mean various things to various people. Maybe you are looking for the best job for your skill set, a job where you can grow, a job where you can help others, or even something else. Whether you just graduated from high school or college or you have been searching for meaningful work for years, there are ways for you to find meaningful work for yourself. Here are four steps to help you figure out the perfect balance.
1. What do you love to do?
If you are looking for meaningful work, then you may want to start off by looking at your passions. What are you truly passionate about? What makes you excited to think about? What makes you not dread going into work every Monday?
Different people have a passion for different things. There is no right and wrong for everyone. You might love to do software work. You might love engineering. You might love a certain organization. You might love to help animals.
Find what you love to do, and see how you can possibly make a living out of it. Some passions may mean that you can survive off of the amount that you bring in, whereas other passions may mean that you will have to work another job on the side as well.
2. Are you looking for something that you have to love?
You might think that in order for work to be meaningful, you have to really enjoy it. However, meaningful work can also mean that your work allows you to do what you want to do.
This could mean that your job offers you plenty of vacation time to do what you want in your spare time. Maybe your job has a certain benefit that you have always wanted. Maybe your job just means that you have time to do what you want in your spare time or allows you to have a good work-life balance while providing for the necessities in your life.
Another way to look at this is that you may not specifically enjoy the work that you do, but you really believe in your organization and its activities as the end goal.
3. How could you help?
If you are looking for meaningful work, then you should look into the skills that you currently have and see how you can apply your skills to something that you want to do. You might also want to look into gaining additional skills so that you can obtain the meaningful work that you really want.
Are you a good listener? A good writer? Maybe you are great at networking and could help with fund-raising efforts for your organization. Think about what you are good at and how you could put your skills to use in a specific type of position or at a certain company.
4. Test it out.
If you are unsure about whether you want to work at a certain job or not, then you may want to test out whether or not the work is right for you. Even if you have been dreaming about something for years or decades, you won’t know if you will truly fit well with the work or not if you don’t try it first.
You may want to do your research or even try volunteering at the organization. However, keep in mind that volunteering and actually working at an organization are not always the same, and you may have a different experience if you were employed there.
What type of meaningful work are you looking for? Have you found your meaningful work? If yes, how? Please share in the comments below.
