#7: Discovering ‘Personal Purpose’ In a Pandemic
Covid-19 has profoundly influenced the planet, presenting deep challenges for people and businesses. Many people are stressed and even fearful — nervous about others‘ and their own health, and the state of the world in general. We face physical separation from our colleagues, clients, friends and even relatives. It’s hard to go from daily interaction to sporadically touching base remotely, and such communication brings its own set of new challenges and complexities. In the workplace, much of it depends on your job function, role, experience level, your working style and needs. Some of our employees feel more energized when they’re working in a physical environment together, and others feel more productive working from home. Though we are all adapting to working from home, there is no doubt that most of us miss the collaborative aspect of being together and the sense of purpose and value it brings.
Working from home, particularly if your workload has decreased, can feel surreal at times. It may have you asking questions and re-evaluating your current professional role and purpose. If you’re feeling lost, confused or unsure of your current and future goals, this could be a calling to reinvent yourself — to find new passions and put forth new energy into areas of work that interest you.
This is a great time to volunteer, catch up on goals for certifications and classes that can help you gain new knowledge and insight to bring to your work and daily life. This also can be a time to connect with your company’s management and re-evaluate your work and the contributions you can make to your team and to the community in which you live. Take time to discover your personal purpose and reflect on opportunities that can make both you and the world around you stronger.
But Workplace Blog, how do I begin to find new personal purpose when things seem so chaotic?
Start by asking yourself these questions:
♦ What do I want to get out of my career?
♦ What do I need to be effective in my role?
♦ How can I help my team or company be more successful?
♦ How can I help the greater community — and the world?
♦ And importantly, what do I really enjoy doing?
As you begin to come up with ideas, dig deep into your values and passions to provide clarity to your goals and help define who you are. Think about your daily activities and ask yourself, Why does it matter? The answers may be different than they were two months ago — and that’s okay! Times like these necessitate adaptation and a new sense of purpose in us all.
The benefit to taking time to find your personal purpose in this moment is that your contributions to your personal growth, to the community and to society can help bring about positive change — and the world could use a lot of it right now!
And, hey, do you like things that are fun? Like rollerskating and bicycle riding and avoiding infectious diseases? Then join us next time!
Good questions! And I like the idea of getting out of the dread and stress of the moment to focus on growth. Remember when we all stopped commuting to/from work and realized we had all of that extra time? That’s our window of opportunity for this thinking/growing!
Most definitely – the time is now! Thanks Shelby.