5 Profound Ways to Discover Your Life’s Work

Imagine having a profound, plainspoken conversation with your loved ones. You share how you figured out what matters and what doesn’t. You speak with absolute conviction: This is what I stood for, believed in, struggled with, and accomplished. This is my life’s work, and what I want to be remembered for. 

What follows are five profound ways to get to that discovery, to get to that conversation.

Work is not just an eight-hour interruption in our day. Most of us will spend most of our adult lives and most of our waking hours focused on our jobs. Whether we like it or not, we are defined by the choices we make at work. How we behave during that time is often the most documented record of who we are, what we stand for, and what we believe.

One senior vice president at a Fortune 50 company resorted to showing pictures of her coworkers to explain to her four-year-old why Mommy spends so much time away from him. Is this the record we want to leave for our kids — a digital photo album of team meetings? Swipe right for a worthwhile life?

With every choice we make at work, we take a stand for what we believe. Or not. We practice what we preach. Or not. We focus on what really matters to us. Or not. We adhere to the same guiding principles that we follow when we’re outside of work. Or not.

Finding Clarity in Figuring Out What Really Matters

Most of us experience a disconnect between what we’re supposed to get done at work and what truly matters. When researching and writing my book, What Is Your Life’s Work?, I found patterns in the journeys people traveled to discover true meaning and what mattered in their lives. Five profound personal discoveries…

Discovery 1: Finding Yourself

Most everyone already knows what really matters, at work and everywhere else. We just let all the daily excuses and conflicting priorities cloud our judgment. Yet the people who are truly focused on what matters to them rarely have this problem. They know how to listen to themselves — how to quiet all the outside noise long enough to hear their own heartbeat and their own wisdom. The journey to discovering what truly matters in work and life begins with you. Self-discovery: Deeper thinking about who you are and what matters to you. In my senior executive coaching assignments and organizational transformation gigs, I have found this discovery to be among the most difficult growth in personal development. For most of us, deep self-awareness follows the 80/20 Rule: 80% of us think we know who we are... But don't. And that 80% have done only 20% of the work needed to truly know themselves.

Discovery 2: Finding the Lessons to Be Learned, the Questions to Be Asked

You have a lifetime of hard-won wisdom, and you’ve spent years figuring out what to ask when tough choices are thrown at you. But it’s easy to forget all that when confronted with the daily pressures in today’s morebetterfaster workloads. Those who continually stay focused on what truly matters never lose sight of the key life lessons they’ve learned. For most people, the most crucial lessons can easily be counted on one hand. And... Too many of us miss those lessons, or bury them in our rushrushrush routines. Don't be one of those people. Know your biggest life lessons. Own them. Cherish them. Even — no, especially — the most painful lessons.

Discovery 3: Finding the Choices That Really Matter

Every day you face hundreds of tiny choices — which things to do, which people to see, what meetings to attend, what to say, how quickly to respond — all of which seem terribly urgent and pressing. But only a precious few choices will lead you to what really matters. For just a day — up to several days — keep track of all the choices you made during that time. Create a list: On one side, Urgent and Pressured; on the other, Important to Me. Compare how often you choose one side over the other. Is it time to choose differently? Answering that connects you to the fourth discovery…

Discovery 4: Finding the Courage to Choose

Saying “no” to your boss, or just telling her something she doesn’t want to hear; taking on a project that’s beyond your current skills; walking away from overtime when there are bills to be paid; finding a better job; or just ignoring that deluge of emails, texts, and social media posts…All require some kind of courage. Most everyone I’ve interviewed discovered that once they found their inner clarity, courageous choices that had seemed hard became easy. And most of us wait until that inner clarity was forced upon us — by getting fired, or losing a loved one, or experiencing a health crisis, or something similarly traumatic. Don’t wait to have clarity forced upon you. Find a coach, mentor, or friend to help you get there without a crisis. 

Discovery 5: Finding Joy, Serenity, and Fulfillment

It’s time to find the grace in most every challenge you face, most every choice you make, most every person you encounter. Grace is when you're filled with joy, serenity, and fulfillment even while facing tough challenges and very hard work. Athletes call this being in the zone. You can do it. There is a higher level of what really matters. Everyone who finds it will experience a transformational leap of knowing themselves and how they are connected to something bigger than themselves. Keep in mind that this final discovery is different for each of us. One person I interviewed described it as the joy of toil and hard work, another as the fulfillment of giving to others, and another as focusing on family above all else. What is your state of grace? Who do you want to be? How do you want to be — regardless of what comes at you?

Jensen Site, Twitter, FB. Bill’s upcoming book, The Day Tomorrow Said No, is a powerful fable about the future of work. (Spring 2020.) A fable specifically designed to revolutionize conversations about the future between leaders, the workforce, educators, and students. Go here to download a FREE copy of the final pre-press draft of the book.