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She got stuck on that
thought and realized she had not been intentional, particularly as it
related to her career.
As
it turns out, she was a doctor with a very successful business. She was
making more money than she had dreamed possible. She had a very busy
practice. But she was deeply unsatisfied.
“If I’m honest, I think I
became a doctor because my father was a doctor. It was expected. I
didn’t think I had a choice,” she confessed.
Her eyes welled with
tears.
“But I hate it,” she
continued. “I only get to spend a few minutes with each patient. I feel
like a factory worker on a conveyor belt. It’s all I can do to make
myself go to work.”
She was good at what she
did. Her practice was exploding. But she had lost her passion.
As I later reflected on
her situation, I realized job satisfaction requires three components.
- You
must be passionate.
This is where it begins. What do you care about? What moves you?
What problems do you want to solve or issues you want to address?
If your heart is not in your work, you have a job but not a
calling.
- You
must be competent.
Passion alone is not enough. You have to be good at what you do.
Being good-enough will not give you the satisfaction you desire.
You have to excel at your craft and be awesome. Mastery is the goal.
- You
must create a market.
To enjoy a successful career, people must be willing to pay you
for what you do. You don’t have to get rich, but there must be a
market for your product or service. Otherwise, your career is not
sustainable.
If you have all three of
these components, you experience satisfaction. Few things in life are
more rewarding.
I envision it as three
overlapping circles. (Jim Collins has a similar model in Good to
Great as it applies to companies.) At the intersection
of all three is true success.
Be wary of only having
two:
- If
you have passion and competence without a market, you have a hobby. We all
know people like this. Living in Nashville, I know musicians who
love what they do, are accomplished on their chosen instrument,
but can’t pay the bills.
- If
you have passion and a market without competence, you have failure. If you
aren’t willing to put in the hours honing your craft, it will
eventually catch up with you. You will struggle to get hired or
simply be flushed in the next round of layoffs.
- If
you have competence and a market without passion, you have boredom. This
was the doctor’s problem. On the surface she had it all. But in
her heart, she was missing the one piece she needed to find
satisfaction in her work.
You can get by for a time
with only two of the three elements I have described. But if you want
to succeed at the deepest level, you must incorporate all three.
Questions: Do you possess all three of
these components? What is missing? What could you do to become more
satisfied in your work?
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