How to Find Work Satisfaction
"Principles are fundamental truths that serve as the foundation for behavior that gets you what you want out of life."
How do I find satisfaction at work?
I haven’t given that question much thought — at least not lately — until I was asked a question: “What are the top priorities that guide your work?” I realized, having those priorities intact is what brings me satisfaction at work. These priorities are based on a set of guiding principles or values:
It’s not enough for me to simply produce excellent work as I can do that by recycling what I’ve already done. I want to learn something new, grow and develop into a better version of myself while bringing others along in the journey to positive transformation. I invest a lot in my education. I learn from thought leaders, modelling from the best, upgrading my skills, developing expertise and learning about emerging knowledge. I love travelling to explore and learn about different cultures while attending workshops to refine my craft/hobbies (e.g. fiction/non-fiction writing, dancing, travel, multi-media content creation). It satisfies me to draw on all of that in inspiring my work which leads to…
Work is most fulfilling where I have made a positive impact. I challenge myself: “Is this useful, and useful for who?”. The sweet spot for me is being on the cutting-edge and innovating to create value. I love using my creativity to simplify the complex and find elegant solutions. Elegant solutions are typically simple/easy yet come from sophisticated thinking. I lap up generating insights, especially the “why haven’t we thought of that before?” kind of insight. Bringing all of that to life in a way that is useful with a successful adoption is very fulfilling.
Where I was consistent in prioritizing these set of values and principles, I experience flow such that work does not even feel like work anymore. It becomes play and it brings me joy!