Friendly teenage fast food worker serving a burger and fries meal with a smile. Isolated on white.
What causes a profession to light one person up while making another cringe? Can you still fulfill your purpose even if you’re not in your dream job? Can you love what you do, regardless of the job?
In college, I worked for a few years as a resident advisor in the dorms. Throughout the year this meant everything from organizing floor social events to disciplining rule-breakers to serving as counselor, friend, pseudo-parent, and sounding board. The first order of business, however, involved helping my residents get to know one another.
At our first floor meeting, I asked everyone to share a bit about themselves. We heard about hometowns, sports involvement, vacations, and hobbies. When we reached Mandy, she spoke of the small town she was from and how she’d worked at a big-name fast food restaurant throughout high school. “Ugh – what a bummer! Good thing you’re in college now!” came some of the responses.
But Mandy’s smile never faded. “You guys, I love it there – it’s a great job! I’ll still work there over breaks and, in fact, I’m hoping to work at the branch here in town once I get settled, too.” Her joy for what several others considered drudge work was palpable.
And, in many ways, surprising.
What causes a profession to light one person up while making another cringe? You may even hear certain jobs used as a threat: “Do well in school or you’ll be flipping burgers for the rest of your life!” But is it possible that even the jobs you may be quick to discount can still be purposeful?
Absolutely.
Meaningful work doesn’t miraculously appear with a certain title or role. It comes from the spirit we bring to the work, the meaning we ascribe to it and create through it. Meaning and purpose come from within.
Mandy knew this at a much younger age than most. When I talked with her about her work later in the week, she simply beamed. She spoke of the opportunity every day to make someone smile. She described the leadership and responsibility she was granted, despite being younger than most of her coworkers. She talked about the relationships she built, the changes she initiated, and the lessons she learned that she’ll carry into her future. She was passionate about the role and organization and, although we may not have used these words at the time, she was clearly fulfilling her purpose through her work.
Through her minimum wage, often unglamorous, burger-flipping work.
Maybe you’re not in your dream job right now. Maybe you can see your ideal work on the horizon, or maybe you feel nowhere near it yet.
Wherever you find yourself on that spectrum, it isn’t as important as knowing that your work matters. What you do right now, day in and day out, makes a difference. You have the power to change lives through your work, whether you’re a parking attendant or a physician or a fast food worker or any of the countless other professions on the planet.
Certainly, employers and leaders have a responsibility to create safe, positive work environments, and hopefully strive to create cultures in which everyone can thrive. But each one of us has the opportunity to bring meaning to our work. I challenge you this week to view your work as a chance to fulfill your purpose. Ask yourself a few questions: Who benefits from what you do? In what ways, small or large, might you make a positive difference? How could you brighten someone’s day through your role?
Whether or not you love your job right now, let your love for life, for humanity, for the greater good shine through your work. After all, as the poet Kahlil Gibran wrote, “Work is love made visible.”