Imagine waking up inspired, living your purpose and serving others – living what I call an engaged life.
Do you know what you would be doing? What impact you would be making? How you would feel?
If you are living an engaged life, congratulations! Sixty-eight percent of Americans aren’t, according to Gallup, which conducts an annual employee engagement survey. Engaged employees are people involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace.
Not being engaged at work – the place where you spend most of your day – can affect your whole life. But being engaged – knowing your purpose and using your strengths and talents day in and day out – can supercharge your career and life, dramatically raising your level of fulfillment.
Your “Why” is that driving belief or cause that gets you out of bed in the morning, says Simon Sinek in his book, Start With Why. Sinek asks us to consider three things:
What we do.How we do it.Why we do it.When you know your Why, you are connected to your deepest motivation. You can discover your Why through Why University, Sinek’s online resource. As a graduate of Why U, I know my driving motivation is to help others believe in themselves so they can live courageously and reach their goals and dreams.
Each business also has a Why, usually connected to the Why of the founder of the business. When your deepest motivation is aligned with the Why of your employer, you’re more than halfway toward using your strengths and talents to live your Why.
Over the years, I’ve tried to fix my weaknesses and find my talents and strengths – listing the latter on my résumé so I could land a job that allowed me to do more of what energizes me and less of what I dread. My breakthrough came when I discovered StrengthsFinder 2.0, Gallup’s book and online companion program.
The book helped me identify my strength themes in just 20 minutes. Focusing on the larger perspective of my strengths, instead of specific tasks, showed me that holistically using my natural abilities is what truly energizes me. In addition, my weakness-strength perspective was shifted when StrengthsFinder 2.0 revealed that we can make more progress and be more satisfied by focusing on growing our strengths instead of “fixing” our weaknesses.
Note: As much as I encourage buying used books to save money, don’t with StrengthsFinder 2.0. The code to access the online assessment is contained in the book and can be used only once.
Give it a try. Discover your Why and your strength themes so you can become fully engaged in your work and life. Not every day will be “perfect,” but you will discover what it’s like to find fulfillment.
matt.kelly.durango@gmailcom. Durango resident and personal finance coach Matt Kelly owns Momentum: Personal Finance. Visit his website, www.personalfinancecoaching.com.
