I read an article the other day about how millennials are searching for a key component to their working life: impact. They want to feel their job matters, that they and their company are making a difference in the world. While I think this is mostly common sense--after all, why would anyone do any activity if they didn't think there was some practical or even metaphysical level of meaning behind it?--I think this can lead young people down a dangerous path. Young people, for a while at least, shouldn't be concerned with "making an impact" on the world; they should allow the world to impact them.
We hear a lot these days about privilege for certain groups, but I can think of nothing more privileged than being able to say, "I only want to take a job where I am making an impact on the world." I'd be willing to bet farmers who toiled in the sandstorms of 1930s didn't get out of bed each day thinking, "I'm going to hoe my field with my donkey because I feel like I'm impacting the world." There's no way early 20th century coal miners in Kentucky or factory workers in Michigan headed to work optimistic about their influence on humanity and their grand purpose in life. They went to their jobs because that's what people do to support themselves and their families. And our country succeeded because of those back-breaking and emotionally unfulfilling efforts. Try telling one of your grandparents that you are holding out for a job that makes you feel special inside and see what kind of look they give you.
We all want careers that offer us more than a paycheck. In fact, research shows us that money is not a primary motivator. Your purpose is extremely important--we know that. But at age 22, that can't be your only aim. Your aim should first be self-sufficiency. Live on your own, pay your own bills, and don't accept any government assistance. That is step number one. Once you can cover those bases, you are ready to pursue higher goals of job satisfaction and emotional fulfillment. Ideally, we should all find work that makes us happy and feels worthwhile, that we are truly doing something important. But we also need people to empty trashcans and mow lawns and serve sandwiches. These jobs are very important, though they may feel, in the moment, less impactful. Do not ignore opportunities for self-reliance simply because they may not, at a particular moment in time, satisfy your lifelong dreams. I've had plenty of jobs that were pure drudgery. And each one I did to the best of my ability during that time, while I also continued to look for more meaningful paths to pursue. To the surprise of many, these two types of work can co-exist at necessary times. And there's no way to learn about what really matters unless you've tried a variety of other experiences.
Let the world work on you for a while. Don't expect your dream job that satisfies your passion to fall in your lap at age 22. There is actually plenty of evidence demonstrating that "pursuing your passion," a similarly harmful twin to "making an impact," is exactly the wrong way to go about finding work fulfillment. (See Cal Newport's great book, So Good They Can't Ignore You, for more on this.) Yes, by the time you are in your 30s or 40s, you should probably be in a field that is personally important to you and allows for some self-actualization of your life purpose as a worker. But don't let your 20s go by waiting around for it to find you. You may need to have a decade-worth of mindless inanity keeping yourself afloat, and there's nothing wrong with that if you allow yourself to gain valuable life lessons along the way. Learning to be on time, to be accountable to bosses, to work with difficult to colleagues, to solve problems--these may not be sexy, but they are incredibly useful skills that can only be acquired by actually working in any job, not just ones that satisfy you. And it is only when you have these skills that someone in your dream career will ultimately be willing to hire you.
Only picking jobs where you think you are "making an impact" will most likely turn you lazy, picky, and unreliable. No one will want to work with you because they will see that you aren't committed to anything but yourself, and that you'll soon ditch them to find something more fulfilling. Embrace every opportunity in which the world can impact you. And then you can impact it, in return, when you are more ready for that type of responsibility.
We hear a lot these days about privilege for certain groups, but I can think of nothing more privileged than being able to say, "I only want to take a job where I am making an impact on the world." I'd be willing to bet farmers who toiled in the sandstorms of 1930s didn't get out of bed each day thinking, "I'm going to hoe my field with my donkey because I feel like I'm impacting the world." There's no way early 20th century coal miners in Kentucky or factory workers in Michigan headed to work optimistic about their influence on humanity and their grand purpose in life. They went to their jobs because that's what people do to support themselves and their families. And our country succeeded because of those back-breaking and emotionally unfulfilling efforts. Try telling one of your grandparents that you are holding out for a job that makes you feel special inside and see what kind of look they give you.
We all want careers that offer us more than a paycheck. In fact, research shows us that money is not a primary motivator. Your purpose is extremely important--we know that. But at age 22, that can't be your only aim. Your aim should first be self-sufficiency. Live on your own, pay your own bills, and don't accept any government assistance. That is step number one. Once you can cover those bases, you are ready to pursue higher goals of job satisfaction and emotional fulfillment. Ideally, we should all find work that makes us happy and feels worthwhile, that we are truly doing something important. But we also need people to empty trashcans and mow lawns and serve sandwiches. These jobs are very important, though they may feel, in the moment, less impactful. Do not ignore opportunities for self-reliance simply because they may not, at a particular moment in time, satisfy your lifelong dreams. I've had plenty of jobs that were pure drudgery. And each one I did to the best of my ability during that time, while I also continued to look for more meaningful paths to pursue. To the surprise of many, these two types of work can co-exist at necessary times. And there's no way to learn about what really matters unless you've tried a variety of other experiences.
Let the world work on you for a while. Don't expect your dream job that satisfies your passion to fall in your lap at age 22. There is actually plenty of evidence demonstrating that "pursuing your passion," a similarly harmful twin to "making an impact," is exactly the wrong way to go about finding work fulfillment. (See Cal Newport's great book, So Good They Can't Ignore You, for more on this.) Yes, by the time you are in your 30s or 40s, you should probably be in a field that is personally important to you and allows for some self-actualization of your life purpose as a worker. But don't let your 20s go by waiting around for it to find you. You may need to have a decade-worth of mindless inanity keeping yourself afloat, and there's nothing wrong with that if you allow yourself to gain valuable life lessons along the way. Learning to be on time, to be accountable to bosses, to work with difficult to colleagues, to solve problems--these may not be sexy, but they are incredibly useful skills that can only be acquired by actually working in any job, not just ones that satisfy you. And it is only when you have these skills that someone in your dream career will ultimately be willing to hire you.
Only picking jobs where you think you are "making an impact" will most likely turn you lazy, picky, and unreliable. No one will want to work with you because they will see that you aren't committed to anything but yourself, and that you'll soon ditch them to find something more fulfilling. Embrace every opportunity in which the world can impact you. And then you can impact it, in return, when you are more ready for that type of responsibility.