Successful Engagement In Meaningful Work
In all likelihood, you have had the experience where you were so involved in some activity or project that it pulled your attention away from the important work at hand. This can create tension, and sometimes frustration, with what seems like an impossible task. You are pulled from your comfort zone and may be tempted to pull your hair out or get too busy to even notice that it's happening. There are many times when this has happened to me. My attention was taken away from my job, home, family, friends, and pretty much everything else for several days. I never fully recovered.
What I've learned over time is that when you find a meaningful task that challenges you to grow as a person and ultimately gives you a feeling of joy and meaning, it starts to bleed. Successful engagement in meaningful work keeps you grounded and aware of the present moment. When you find yourself lost in the "now" rather than living in the "now", you lose your connection to where your body and mind are in the grand scheme of things. The best part about being able to control and live peacefully with the now, is that the now contains all of the necessary ingredients for success.
You have the ability to be in the moment. Your mind is no longer distracted by irrelevant trivia and day-to-day happenings. You're not getting tense over everyday happenings, or digging yourself deeper into negative emotional states. You have the ability to observe life without judgment. You realize that today is all about living in the present moment.
Living in the present moment is the most effective way to succeed in meaningful work. That's because it allows you to focus on today and nothing else. You stop worrying about tomorrow, and you stop focusing on past or future problems or concerns. You simply live in the present moment. The result?
Most people have the ability to engage in successful work and meaningful engagement, but they don't tap into their full potential. They do this by focusing on only part of who they are. By doing so, they miss out on the opportunity to fully express themselves. The result?
Living a successful life requires a lot more than just "doing the right thing." It requires intentional, conscious effort on your part. This intentional, conscious effort turns what might be a small stream of events or thoughts into a stream of productive, meaningful work. Achieving successful engagement in meaningful work requires a commitment to see things from a different perspective, to creatively harness your power and intelligence, and to creatively solve problems.
To create successful engagement in meaningful work and to get the most out of your life, take some time to reflect on the most important people in your life. Focus on their uniqueness. Think about what drew them to their passions. What questions do they ask themselves? And most importantly: How did they manage their uniqueness, make them into their own best picture of themselves and forge a community with others who are working to achieve similar passions?
Remember that unique gifts, successes and failures do not define you. Unique contributions to your community, to humanity, to your family and to your world are what define you. So start now thinking about what truly makes you uniquely YOU. And find a strategy for successful engagement in meaningful work.
Most people are content to look at their lives and careers as "normal," "typical." They are content to be successful and to have good things happen to them. But the difference between those who view their lives and careers as normal is in how they perceive themselves. People who view their lives and careers as normal tend to feel overwhelmed by what's going on in their lives and by how their lives connect to the broader patterns of how humans connect with each other.
Successful engagement in meaningful work does not come when you have achieved all the goals you set out to achieve. It comes when you have made genuine connections with others who also want to achieve meaningful work. When you have made real relationships, it becomes possible to connect with their unique experiences and understand their perspectives and motivations.
You don't need a lot of money to pursue meaningful engagement in life. You just need to have a vision and the willingness to take action. What would your life be like if you went to work every day, but also pursued passionate, meaningful work outside the workplace? If you have an interest that feeds off of your passions, but you also get paid for it, then you have found a way to create a meaningful career. Now, wouldn't it be great to have an income that comes from something you love?
