Tattoo of the Company

There was a long time when I did not know what I wanted to do with my life. Unfortunately, the internet does not make it any easier. For one, everybody on social media seems fully content with whatever it is they’re doing. Two, every article that gives career advice seems to contradict the one before it.

One will tell you to follow your passion. The next will tell you there is no money in most passions, and being broke does not make for a happy life. Then you read an article about taking off to travel the world. Then you read about terror going on in other countries directed at America. Then you read about the job market shriveling up and you should be happy you have a job. Then you read that millennials don’t understand the concept of ‘real work.’ Then you read about the joys of starting your own business. Then you read about how many businesses fail every day.

Where do you even start? Is everybody going through the same thing? What is happening?

That was basically what ran through my head day after day as I sat in front of a computer staring at a task list that made me want to eat brownies and drink beer, not necessarily in that order.

I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t know who to talk to, and even if I did, I didn’t know what to ask them.

I floated from job to job. Each time I changed it was a combination of hope that the next job would be different and also knowing I was not doing a good job and wanting to leave before it all caught up to me.

For me, change came in a couple forms. The first was a supportive woman that changed my life. The second was redefining what ‘meaning’ meant in a career. I knew I was on a search for meaning, but never really took the time to find out what meaning meant for me. I always assigned other people’s definitions to the word and tried to find a job/career that matched their definition. When it didn’t work out, I figured there must be something wrong with me.

Then I defined ‘meaning.’ It wasn’t that I found the right definition that matched what I was looking for in the word. I realized that I had the ability and power to decide exactly what it meant to me. I had the ability to decide what meaning I wanted. Once I did that, I could apply it to just about anything.

For me, ‘meaning’ is changing the live of young people impacted by foster care. So my partner and I started a business selling business cards, branded pens, and mugs with logos on them. Probably one of the more boring occupations I could have ever thought of in my search for a great career. But I know now that every pen I sell rewrites the outcomes for those young people in foster care. Each sale is another dollar that goes to training and resources for those young people. And sales calls rarely focus on the pens or mugs, they focus on how those products can change lives and why we should change those lives. That’s all I really wanted to talk about on sales calls anyway.

About six months ago, I wanted to find a trigger to remind myself to bring that meaning into every part of my life. I wanted to find a way to create meaning everyday. So I tattooed an abbreviated form of our company name on my arm (Our company is called Doing Good Works). Every time I look at it, I know whatever problems, issues or concerns I have that day are more than worth it.

I believe we all have this power to create our own definition of meaning and then see our current situation as the ingredients to a meal that fulfills that meaning. That can be a job in corporate America, a living condition that is less than ideal, or a family that drives you crazy. If you’re focused on what meaning means to you, you are in the right situation!