Career-Life Purpose, Work Achievement & Fulfilment:

How We Enhance All Three

"The alchemists thought that the opus demanded not only laboratory work, the reading of books, meditation, and patience, but also love." C.G. Jung 

The reason we have included a section on Career and Life Purpose in our Life at Work Programs is that its an important underlying principle or factor in work fulfilment and achievement. We are not aware of any studies that have proven a direct cause-effect relationship between a sense of meaning and work fulfilment and achievement, however a sense of meaning is well known to be a very motivating force. As human beings we seem to inherently seek out the purpose of our actions even if our behaviours are linked to our most basic drives - survival, food, clothing, shelter and the like. Our personal motives are particularly examined by us, and even by others, when things aren't going too smoothly. Then we tend to review our direction, achievements or experiences in the light of our purpose. 'Purpose' here may be anything from one specific goal or cluster of goals, through to the key values that underpin our core sense of meaning and drive for life.

When training, mentoring or coaching individuals with work fulfilment and / or achievement-related issues its always a basic necessity inclusive of each person's experiences of work, including the values that are either expressed or implied. If we are not empathic or at least considerate toward these personal factors we are highly unlikely to be effective in building sufficient rapport to engage, assist and positively influence them. Work is action related. It is an interface.. one of the areas where we influence the world, and the world influences us. If an individual cannot see any real relevance between what they are experiencing at work and her or his sense of purpose then attention to the task, motivation and effectiveness will not be as high as it otherwise could be. So it is crucial to be able to see the world of work through the eyes of the person's sense of personal values and purpose, even if these have not been directly named by them. otherwise we have less leverage for positive change or improvement.

For these reasons our Life at Work programs are always inclusive of individual (and common) values and people's own unique sense of career and life purpose. As we assist each person in reflecting upon, clarifying and even prioritising the relevance of their own specific values and purposes their focus and motivation to build 'solutions' grows. Once this focus and motivation is present it becomes more highly probable that internal changes (such as a new perspective, disposition and / or behaviour) will also naturally arise. It is as if they have stepped 'inside' the issue, as it were, and become their own change makers. External changes, such as work fulfilment and achievement, tend to follow, particularly if they can be effectively empowered to address any necessary external factors or situations.

Even when changing the external factors is not possible or appropriate, internal change and external gains can often still be achieved and maintained by building personal skills and resilience. This occurs when the person is helped to identify and, if necessary, be resourced with those skills necessary to ensure they continue to personally (i.e internally) benefit from the personal changes involved. These personal behaviours are usually two-tiered. The upper tier is a set of general behaviours e.g. interpersonal attitude, paying attention or attending to self in a particular manner. The lower tier is more 'set specific' and requires a little work to clarify with each individual. Either way, we find that work fulfilment, achievement and purpose then tend to have reached some kind of creative synergy and are able to become self-maintaining, perhaps even self-enhancing. This enhancement is strongest when there is a realisation of how career or work purpose can be meaningfully linked, via behaviour, to one's actual life values and purpose. When the individual becomes conscious of how to enable and maintain each of these links within the Self and within work they become more motivated and empowered about all three. They discover that even if they are not thrilled about their work they can experience fulfilment and achievement regardless because it has become internally meaningful!