Finding Meaning
In my last blog, I touched on the issue of having authentic conversations with others in order to find their intrinsic motivators. Daniel Pink’s latest book entitled “Drive” presents some very interesting research data on the concept of intrinsic motivation. In one part of the book, he writes about finding purpose and meaning in what we do and offers the idea that the play and games that children engage in offers insights into the kind of experiences adults should be looking for. When I read his comments on this, it reminded me of my summer holidays as a youth when I would go down to the park and play baseball, touch football and a variety of other games with a bunch of friends. We would meet almost every day to play together and the days seemed to go by really quickly. We’d come home feeling great at having spent time doing stuff we really liked to do. So . . . why is it that we seem to believe that once our school years are done, we can’t have the same kind of deeply satisfying experiences? I think about Jerry Rice – a professional football player in who played in the NFL – who is considered one of the greatest wide receivers to ever play the game. During interviews he would talk about how lucky he was to play the game he loved and get paid for it. What is even more interesting is when you dig a little deeper into his success as a football player, you find that he had a tremendous commitment to getting better every day. His work ethic in practices was amazing. The same was true for Wayne Gretzky – often the last guy off the ice. Add it all up and you realize that much of their success wasn’t luck – it was the product of hard work. The key point is that it was easier to work hard when what you are doing is less about “work” and more about something you love to do.
When we find fulfilling purpose and meaning in what we do, it’s a whole lot easier to put the kind of effort in that will lead to the kind of exceptional results that people and organizations are constantly searching for. So how come we seem to be focused on bigger titles, bigger salaries, bigger offices and other “stuff” when we should be thinking about finding work that we are passionate about. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with setting goals to achieve these things but is it really worth it if we are not doing work we really like to get there?
Are you going to work each day excited about the work you are going to be doing? If so – great. If not, what are you going to do about it?
When you recruit new employees to fill an open role, do you spend more time finding out if they have the skills and experience to do the job or more time finding out if they care passionately about the work you will have them doing? Which one is more important?
The question for this blog is: “Are you pursuing meaning and purpose in the work you do or are you pursuing the next mortgage payment for your house?” “Is work fun?” “Do you know how to make a change if you’re not doing something you are passionate about?”
Send me your feedback on your views on motivations and conversations involving “intrinsic meaning”. Here on my blog, I offer commentluv. That’s a plug-in for bloggers. If you leave a comment, you can link back to your own blog. But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment, I’d like to hear from everyone!
Dave
Yes, adults should be more like children. We should laugh more. We should feel free to touch one another. We should be able to move and not be seen as strange (jumping jacks at the office, stretches while waiting to pick the kids up at school, etc.). Those few people who do act a little like kids are more likely to be passionate about their job (and other things, too). A job “interview” is not the place to discover someone’s passion. “Interview” implies that one person asks questions and the other person answers – hardly the way to set up a mutual exchange of resources (money and benefits for time and energy).
Hi David, thank you for the comment. If the term “interview” doesn’t imply an interactive dialogue (that explores things like a person’s passion) then we should be working toward coining a new term for recruitment or influencing the current definition for “interview”. Would “fitness assessment” (for both parties) convey the purpose more accurately?
Dave