Why Am I Here Doing This Job

Why Am I Here Doing this Job?

Hi, I'm David Oliver from Love Work Live Life

Have you ever paused during your work day - perhaps at your desk, or next to the assembly line, or in a particularly boring meeting - and wondered "Why Am I Here, Doing this Job?"

Sometime ago I was sitting with a Senior Executive in the Life Insurance business. We were talking about training and discussing a new motivational programme for his 7000 or so members. The conversation went in a different direction to what I had expected.

He told me that lots of Independent Financial Advisor's chose the profession because of the lifestyle it offered. He thought that many of them were so taken up with the lifestyle that they had lost sight of why they do what they do. In the process they lost their motivation and passion for their work and the people they were meant to be serving.

That's a sweeping generalization and I don't think it's necessarily true but it got me thinking that day. How does this apply to you and me? Well, it may be good to ask ourselves whether we are so focused on what we're taking out, that we've lost the focus on what we're giving. When that happens, our passion for work, and often the rest of life, evaporates.

Maybe you and I could ask ourselves today: Who can I give to? What can I put in?

Or ask ourselves - Do I only look to what I can get out of this job, or this firm, or this team?

If the answer to these questions is 'yes' then maybe we need to reassess why we are doing the job we do - especially if the enjoyment factor has gone. I firmly believe that we can make a difference in our workplaces - whatever our work is - but only by putting something in, caring for our customers, our colleagues and even our bosses. And when we are giving 100%, we will get far more out of our work in the long run.