Two people are stuck at a career intersection. Each wants more than he has and doesn’t know which way to turn.
Sam is quick, spontaneous, and always in motion. He’s bright and loves a challenge, particularly if it combines mental and physical dexterity. He won’t stay with something long, so once he gets what he’s after, he moves on to whatever’s next.
Sam is dutiful and respectful; absent minded and inattentive. He’s always apologizing for what others tell him he missed, forgot, or took for granted. Everyone likes him. The “A” crowd at school likes his humor; the “B” crowd likes his humanity. Sam likes the crowd that doesn’t need a crowd to feel like they’ve got identity.
Sam’s a perennial underachiever who barely squeaks through school. His teachers think he’s capable of more than he shows. He starts projects and doesn’t complete them, begins homework and doesn’t finish it. He’s full of promise and makes promises without fulfilling them. He’s a disappointment and embarrassment to his parents who have no patience with Sam’s halfway style, cluttered room, and failing grades.
Sam finds a college that will accept him but refuses to baby him. He tries another, then another. After three colleges, two years and thousands of dollars, his parents call a halt to his academic experiment and set him free to explore the world, without benefit of their bank account or credit card. He moves from city to city, and job to job, refusing to settle and refusing to choose.
Jake is a high achiever who finds success at whatever he attempts. He letters in three sports, is president of his school, and class valedictorian. He double majors at college and coin flips his future: law or medicine. Law wins the toss. He sails through school, makes Law Review, passes the Bar, and joins the best firm in town. Then Jake hits the first roadblock of his fortunate life. He doesn’t like where he is or what he does. He changes firms. It doesn’t help. He changes focus. it doesn’t help. He tries to change his mind, it doesn’t help.
Jake’s won the brass ring and it doesn’t fit. The smartest guy in the class is bored, uninspired, and burning out before he’s even caught fire. The challenge is there, he just doesn’t care. He’s spent time and money he didn’t have, to pursue an outcome he doesn’t want, and now, he’s stuck.
What’s with these guys? What do they need they don’t have? What do they have they don’t need?
They have plenty of energy and desire. They want to win. They just don’t know what to do with the prize once they get it. For them life has become a series of games to be won. Regrettably, there’s no meaning beyond the trophy.
Employees find meaning in their work when they believe their work has value and what they do makes a difference. What do Sam and Jake care about and why? What do they have interest in, beyond the superficial, that would be enough to sustain them in a career? So far, not much.
Not everyone finds the key to fulfillment in work they’re paid to do. Many honest, forthright, caring individuals find they can make a difference and contribute to society in the time they spend outside work. They accept jobs they can leave at the office, so they are free to engage in volunteer activities in schools, church and community. They want work that has meaning and purpose, whether it’s working with the scouts or tending the sick; helping at blood drives or driving voters to the polls. Others commit their time to nurturing their family and friends by providing warm, loving, and supportive space, flowering, fruit bearing gardens, and satisfying, health giving meals.
There’s no right or wrong goal, no good or bad objective. Whether work, family, or community focused, those who feel most satisfied in their lives believe they have made a positive difference, to someone, or something, somewhere. If you find yourself, to use Stephen Covey’s words, caught up in “the thick of thin things” pause long enough to determine the value or worth of the struggle.
