Make your work work for you
As we approach the end of the program, we delve deeper into the way you energize yourself – or not – through the work choices you make. We spend the biggest chunk of our life at work – one third of it to be exact if you work fulltime, and possibly even more. How often do you stop to evaluate the effect this huge chunk of time spent at work has on your overall well-being?
Making work choices (also known as ‘job crafting’) may sound like an anathema – a job is a job, you might think, and you just have to get on with it. The truth is, as always, subtler. Even within a large corporation there is greater leeway in designing your job than you might think. The choices we make significantly impact the quality of our life, including our mental, emotional and physical energy. Job crafting is proactive, and the motivation is first and foremost about enhancing your own well-being.
Take a look at the areas we highlight below. They all provide food for thought about your current position. If you dare to follow your dream, even if in a small part, which of the ideas listed below could you incorporate into your work life to make you feel even better about the way you spend one third of your life, throughout your adult life?
If you wake up all too often with the thought of “thank goodness it’s Friday!” as opposed to “I love what I do!”, then the idea that we can find and create more meaning and happiness through our work is an appealing one.
Job crafting is about designing your work in a way that allows you to be more of who you are – with your unique talents, skills, passions and values. Even if these are expressed only in small parts of your daily routine, they contribute significantly to a sense of well-being, authenticity and meaning.
When you dare to ‘do your thing’, you express more of who you are and what you are intuitively meant to do. Then, not only do you live a richer and more fulfilling life, but you also enrich and contribute to the life of those around you.