Three Principles for Finding Meaningful, Fulfilling Work

Is your work meaningful and interesting to you? If not, do you have a plan for how to transition to work that is?

Is your work meaningful and interesting to you? If not, do you have a plan for how to transition to work that is?

In 2013, after a series of unpleasant jobs, I made a decision: The job I was doing then would be the last job I hated. The next year, I put that decision into effect. For the past decade, I’ve only done jobs that are, on some level, meaningful to me. I can’t say I’ve loved every minute of it, but all of it related to my values. 

People often tell me that I’m lucky to be able to do work I enjoy. Although I have certainly been lucky at times and in certain ways, it’s not an accident that I’m able to do meaningful work. It’s the result of implementing a few principles I’ve developed over the years, which should, if applied with patience, enable you and others you care about to achieve the same.

Principle 1: The Best Jobs Come Out of Things You Were Already Doing Voluntarily

Before I did what I do now, I worked in the urban design profession. That may sound boring to some people, but it was interesting to me. I love cities, roads, buildings, and the ways all those things are designed and built. Although there were aspects of the various jobs I had in that field that didn’t suit me, being able to work in urban design was a joy.

I was able to do so because I was already active in the field before anyone offered me a job in it. I had been making a (constructive) nuisance of myself at local council meetings and supporting campaigns on transport and urban design issues since I was sixteen. That got me noticed. It landed me an internship at a planning consultancy. Later, and thanks in part to relationships I built on that placement, I got a part-time job in the field, which in turn led me to meet people who helped me get other jobs. (Between the placement and the later job, I worked for a bus company as a route planner for a while because, as someone who finds transportation interesting, I had written to them about potential routes they could start.)

The same thing happened with my current line of work as a writer and speaker. Long before I ever published an article about rational, life-serving ideas, I was flying around attending any conference I could to discuss them with people. I was making a name for myself in the field and, in time, I started being offered work in it. More than half a dozen times in my life, I’ve landed jobs because I was already actively involved in the field. That is my secret to getting jobs that mean something to me—getting involved whether you have a job in the field or not. That, and being prepared to play the long game. It takes time to get noticed.

Sometimes you’ll encounter the problem that there is work you could do in a field you’re interested in, but the hours or the pay aren’t enough to make ends meet. This was the case with my first urban design job. My solution was to build a portfolio of other jobs around it. I used the role to show that I knew what I was doing and then offered the same service to other organizations. Before long, I’d built up five different part-time jobs, adding up to full-time hours and income, all doing similar work. 

There is no need to accept the typical formula of one full-time job if it isn’t right for you. Even if you have to mix a meaningful part-time role with a perfunctory job such as retail or bar work to make ends meet, it beats spending all your energy on something that doesn’t embody your values in any way.

Principle 2: The More You Take Interest In, the More Options You Have

As you’ve probably already gathered, I find a lot of things interesting. Chances are that transportation and urban design aren’t interests of yours, but what is? How many things are there that would be rewarding for you if you worked in those fields?

We live in a rich world filled with fascinating subjects, from astronomy to architecture, botany to boating, physics to fashion, and mathematics to military strategy. There’s a multitude of fields out of there that each of us would love if we took the time to discover them. Hopefully you already know what a few of those are, but chances are there are many more waiting for you to discover them. The more you dabble in, the more you’ll learn about what excites you, the more you’ll learn about the world at large, and the more opportunities you’ll open up for yourself through the people you meet and the principles you discover.

When you have a lot of interests, however, it can be difficult to choose which is the right one to pursue. In that case, if thinking on the question isn’t answering it, having a range of options open to you can actually be a blessing. Sometimes, simply jumping in and trying something is a great way to discover the right line of work for you (and if it doesn’t work out, you’ve built skills and learned about yourself in the process). Starting a job or taking a course doesn’t commit you to that career for life. It was working in urban design that made me realize I wanted to study philosophy. I had problems with a lot of the political systems and social ideas I was encountering in that work, and my deepening interest in philosophy was beginning to show me why those things bothered me. I discovered that my real calling wasn’t designing streets but rather addressing the ideas underlying how we build our society physically, socially, and politically.

Principle 3: Luck Needs Encouraging (or “That’s What Happens When You Do Things!”)

You’ve probably heard people say “you’ve got to be in it to win it.” It’s a bit of a tired cliche, but there’s an important point behind it: You can’t wait for luck to give you a break—you have to create the conditions for good luck to happen. 

Over the past couple of months, I’ve accidentally bumped into old friends on at least three occasions. One was because I decided to go see a re-screening of one of the Star Wars prequels at my local cinema. One was because I decided to go out for a cycle ride. One was because I finally worked up the energy to go to the dentist for a check-up. Each time, the decision to do something—to simply get out there and be active in the world—led me to a happy encounter that would never have happened if I just sat at home waiting for someone to call. 

Of course, the principle works both ways. Actions always have consequences, and one of the main reasons people don’t take action is fear of adverse results. But if we sit around doing nothing, we don’t get the good effects either. We can use our reason to anticipate and avoid predictable bad outcomes, but some things will always be out of our control or ability to predict. If we let the fear of such things paralyze us, however, we’ll never grow or learn, and we’ll be ultimately vulnerable to whatever life throws at us. Looking back on my life so far, I can confidently say that I regret far more actions I didn’t take than ones I did. Even the mistakes I did make by taking action were learning experiences that made me richer in the long run. We shouldn’t do everything that crosses our minds, of course—reason should always be our guiding star in deciding what to do—but once you’re confident that an action is in your rational best interests, go for it. Don’t let fear stop you.

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Tony Robbins is usually credited for popularizing the idea that success in life requires that you “take massive action.” That’s true—big changes require a huge amount of concerted effort over a long time. But little actions matter too. The more active we are in life, the more opportunities we open ourselves up to. You never know who you might meet or what you might learn the next time you decide to go to an event, get involved in a project, or simply go out to explore the world. So get out there and encourage a little good luck in your life.