Finding meaning in what you do, day after day is
important--not just to a personal sense of fulfillment, but even to your
health.
Studies
show that people who don’t have a sense of meaning in their lives are far
more likely to exhibit the chronic pro-inflammatory stress response, a
condition which is associated with life-threatening diseases like heart disease
and even cancer.
However, a Bad Boss is highly
unlikely to give you a sense of meaning or purpose in your work. He or she is
more likely to give you a sense of defeat, uselessness and a serious case of
“whatever.”
“What
if you work in place where management is unaware or unconcerned that it could
do more to infuse the daily grind with a higher sense of purpose?” asks Monique
Valcour,, a professor at EDHEC Business School. She
goes on to suggest: “You learn to make your work more meaningful yourself.
While it helps enormously to have conditions in place that facilitate work
meaning (like autonomy in deciding how you do your work), it's important to
realize that meaning is ultimately something you create on your own.”
There
it is. Meaning is something you create on your own.
You
look at the product your company creates, or the service it provides, and think
of those who benefit from it.
You
think about the benefit of your paycheck, how it keeps a roof over your head
and helps provide for your family.
You
challenge yourself to be the very best at your job, not to make your Bad Boss
happy, but because striving to be the best you can be gives meaning and purpose
to whatever you do.
Meaning.
It’s what it’s all about.
