Top tips for career fulfilment
Photo by Viviana Rishe on Unsplash
Career fulfilment is when you find a career that balances your interests and your skills and combines your passions and your strengths. Having a sense of fulfilment with your career can lead to overall satisfaction and happiness with your job.
Our work can fulfil us. We might like the idea of winning the lottery at first, but most of us would probably agree that boredom could set in pretty quickly! It’s important to remember that humans are born to work. Understanding how to achieve fulfilment can help you find a job you enjoy and improve your efficiency and performance in it. Ensuring your work involves something you enjoy and excel in, means you feel more motivated to perform well and give your very best to it.
Choose a career you're good at and enjoy
Finding a career where you can use your strengths and do something you enjoy, can increase your job satisfaction. Having success in your job can build your confidence and lead to better positions and pay, which can be important for career fulfilment. Some things you can do to help you choose a career you're good at is to remember interests you had when you were younger. Why not ask yourself what you think you're good at? Or you could ask your friends and family what they think you excel at, as very often we aren’t objective about our own talents. Consider who you admire professionally and think about what they do.
Find a career that aligns with your values
Values are the ideas and beliefs you find important in your personal and professional life. Once you've considered what your values are, try to determine how they can fit into your professional role. There are three broad categories for work values. Intrinsic values are intangible items that motivate and excite you, such as giving back to your community. Extrinsic values are tangible items which can include rewards you earn from your employer, such as a pay increase or being a part of a team. And finally lifestyle. You derive lifestyle values from your career based on what you can afford and what your job can provide you. Finding a career that aligns with your values can help you feel happier in your position.
Create a list of things you enjoy
Having a list of interests can help you find a career you want. When you're interested in the tasks and daily routines of your job, it can help keep you motivated and increase your happiness. Ask yourself the following questions: what are the parts of your day that you enjoy? What subjects do you like to talk about or write about? Where are your strengths in your skill set? What do you like to do with your time outside of work? Once you create your list, research what potential careers involve all or most of your list.
Maintain positive relationships in your network
Having positive relationships with a network of colleagues within your profession may help you learn about new career opportunities, as you can share ideas you have about seeking career fulfilment and ask for advice or tips. You can gain more confidence in yourself and your skills when you connect with people who have similar interests and positions as you, because you can learn from them and their experiences. Some of the ways in which you can maintain a positive relationship with your network is by connecting with them online using professional social networking sites, hosting events or small meetings or by attending networking events to expand your relationships.
Accept new opportunities
This can help with career fulfilment because it can help you experience new things that you wouldn’t normally consider and can help to grow your interests - you may develop a new passion or value you didn't know you had. It's also beneficial to accept new opportunities for yourself because it can allow you time to discover career goals and values that can improve your overall happiness and job satisfaction. New challenges can help with career fulfilment because you might find a new area within which you excel, ultimately leading to new interests or values you can implement into your career.
Consider working for yourself
Having your own business in which you're doing something you're passionate about can motivate you to work harder to accomplish your goals. Doing this in your own business can create more joy in your life by allowing you to achieve more personal goals. Working for yourself also may allow for more flexibility in your life, such as choosing the hours and days you work to complete your tasks.
It’s important that we recognise the value our work can have, not just for ourselves but for others too. We don’t have to fall for the lie that work is something we just have to struggle through. We are made to work and it is liberating to know that we can find value, meaning and fulfilment in it.
This post is adapted from a talk given at the Hearts+Minds overnight in September. For details about the next overnight click here.