How to find meaning in your work

"Somewhere between 'go to school' and 'get a job,' work became the central node of our lives-the very thing that defines us. We measure our worth by our output, our identity by our title, and our health by how much we can endure. The hours. The travel. The back-to-back meetings. The busyness."

"That's not the picture we painted for ourselves when we chose our major in college and envisioned what we thought would be a fulfilling career; that's conditioning. The result of which has shaped our meaning of work and how we see ourselves in it. But meaning isn't found in the busyness of the grind-rather, it's found in alignment."

"In our venture to become parents, we didn't imagine our job would be that of a supervisor or a concierge to our children. Instead, we imagined ourselves as guardians who would help our children grow. For Skenazy, the meaning of parenting is to prepare our children for adulthood, not to protect them from it."

Society has conditioned people to measure their worth by work output and job titles, creating a false equation between busyness and fulfillment. This conditioning began in school and persists through career choices, leading people to prioritize endurance over meaning. However, genuine fulfillment emerges from alignment between values and work rather than from grinding through endless hours and meetings. Lenore Skenazy, cofounder of Let Grow nonprofit, applies this principle to parenting, reframing the parental role from supervisor or concierge to guardian focused on preparing children for adulthood. This perspective shift demonstrates how reconceptualizing our roles and responsibilities can transform our relationship with work and ourselves.

Read at Fast Company