My Lifestyle Career

From Success to Significance: Doing Work that Matters

Do you find yourself thinking:

"I want to make a difference in the world."  

"It's time for my work to be about something more than just making money."    

I hear statements like this all the time from my clients, particularly those who are at least ten years into their careers.  Many people hit a point in their lives when they feel a longing to have their life's work stand for something more than corporate profits.  As one of my clients, an advertising executive lamented during our first session, "I simply don't care if I help to sell any more cereal.  Creating ad campaigns just doesn't excite me like it used to."

Doing work that "matters" doesn't mean you need to transform into Mother Teresa. You can make a difference in the world many ways: 

• The interior designer who helps to renovate a children's hospital creates a healing environment for patients and their families.
• The bicycle shop owner who refurbishes old bicycles and donates them to children in the community, provides a service that helps both the environment and the youth in town. 
• The make-up artist who offers free makeovers during a job-hunting workshop for victims of domestic abuse helps to bolster women's self-esteem at a vulnerable point in their lives.

The opportunities for turning what you do -- into "what you give back" are virtually limitless.  If you've been feeling the itch to move your career towards doing work that you consider to be of greater value, but you're not sure exactly what type of work to do, here are some questions to help you hone in on causes, issues and organizations that might be a good fit for you:

1) If you could make a documentary about any subject, what would it be?  

2)  Who are the three people you admire most?  Why?  What about them is so inspirational?

3)  Which charities, organizations or causes do you support with your time or money?

4)  Have you gained specialized knowledge from a personal challenge or struggle that you would like to share with others facing similar challenges?

5)  What do you consider to be the most pressing issues of our time?  How could you leverage your skills and interests to help solve a piece of those problems? 

To learn more about other resources to help you do "good" work, click here.

Reinvention Resources: Your Tax Dollars at Work

I was in DC this past weekend so I returned to work on Monday with a mental-reminder that the US Government is an excellent source of free career advice and resources. Here are some of my favorite sites for career exploration and information:

America’s CareerInfoNet; This is an extraordinarily comprehensive site where you can research wages and employment trends, occupational requirements, state by state labor market conditions, millions of employer contacts nationwide, and peruse the most extensive career resource library online.

Occupational Outlook Handbook: Updated every two years by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Occupational Outlook Handbook details job responsibilities, educational requirements, and outlook information for a wide range of occupations.

Occupational OutlookQuarterly: Besides providing occupational outlook predictions, the Quarterly has several very useful article archives, including a section called, You’re a What?, that provides information about unusual occupations and career paths.

US Small Business Administration : A mega site filled with resources for both the novice and seasoned entrepreneur.