Life, eh?
What does it all mean? Why are we here? What’s the purpose? Who am I? Where do I fit in the world, in the galaxy? What is meaningful work? What is success? What makes sense for me, my family, my business/career?
These questions just start to scratch the surface of something profound. They seem to be huge and daunting questions. They are so huge that we alternately search for the answers or distract ourselves with the busyness of life so we won’t have to face it all. If you hadn’t noticed, we burn a lot of time, energy, and effort seeking answers to or avoiding questions of meaning. The good news is that Meaning is neither huge nor daunting.
In fact, it is simple. The hard and fast rule is: “It means whatever you say it means.”
Scary? Maybe. Liberating? You bet.
When you see yourself as the one who gets to decide the meaning of things for you, it takes the pressure off. Your job now is to choose meanings that work for you. (Advance to Go and collect $200 when notice how others must be the authorities who decide meaning in their lives.)
We’ll anchor this idea in some examples tomorrow. In the meantime, I wish you a week of meaningfulness.
In your corner,
Mike
PS: “What does this have to do with my business or my career?” Everything, my friend. Absolutely everything.
PPS: It has been within you the whole time. How about that?!