First, Figure Out Who You Help
We quit our jobs to follow our dreams. Until we figure out how those dreams help others, we’ll continue to be miserable.
People are terrible at knowing what is good for them. I’m no exception to that, as confirmed by how quickly a package of Oreos will disappear in my house.
When it comes to work, we’re similarly terrible at knowing what will make us happy. We’re miserable at our job, we resign, have our entrepreneurial fit and try to start our own efforts…often ending up still miserable, just with more responsibilities and a less reliable source of income.
One common problem is that we have our priorities backwards. We leave the job to make OUR lives better, to follow OUR dreams. What we should actually be doing is figuring out how our efforts will help others.
Tom Rath is one of my favorite living business writers. He has a million memorable quotes in his latest book Life’s Great Question, but I’ll stick with the most practical one:
A growing body of evidence suggests that the single greatest driver of both achievement and wellbeing is understanding how your daily efforts enhance the lives of others. —Tom Rath
A chef, Rath notes, simply SEEING the customer increases customer satisfaction by 10%. That small act of allowing the chef to put a face to the meal, rather than tirelessly working away in the back, drives the chef to make better food.
It improves even more when the customers can see the chef back.
We’re prosocial creatures. Knowing how you’re helping others isn’t going to make all the other logistical issues go away, but it will make them much easier to bare. More importantly, it will make your success much more sustainable.
A few years ago, I was working ridiculously long hours at my firm. I was tired and stressed, yet found satisfaction in knowing that my efforts were helping others.
Staff would come in regularly and ask for guidance on projects, which I was usually able to give. We were both better off when they left my office.
Clients would call or email directly and ask for help, and I was usually able to provide it. We were both better off when we hung up the phone.
No, it wasn’t charity work, and yes, I was paid pretty well do it. The money didn’t make my contribution any less meaningful. What I was doing mattered because I was helping others. Plus the cash allowed me to help others on my own dime.
Then I made a stupid mistake. An old colleague offered me a back office position at a large, publicly traded company at a significant raise. I was hesitant, but I thought I couldn’t turn down the pay.
I should have.
For two years I was absolutely miserable. Simply a cog in a massive machine. I couldn’t connect my efforts with helping anybody. If I saved the company a few hundred thousand dollars? Nobody cared, it was immaterial. If I got my work done timely? Whatever, that’s what they paid me for.
I was either working as expected or just another cog they’d have to replace.
Only once in that whole period can I think of a sincere, unprompted word of appreciation. It took me completely by surprise. My work, helping somebody? I nearly had a breakdown it was so unexpected.
I left shortly after that, trying to find a way to help people, and, yes, get paid while I do it.
One of the standard pieces of advice given to start ups is to create an avatar of your ideal client. There interests, likes, wants, needs, etc. Hold that figure in your mind as you create your product.
This is absolutely something you should do. But when you’re putting together that avatar, take it a step farther. Make sure you consider how your efforts will help that person succeed.
It doesn’t have to be in a big, life changing way. Just a good meal or a short laugh can make someone’s life better.
But how you make their life better should be your mantra with your hypothetical avatar. It should especially be your goal with your flesh and blood clients.
Because if you’re not helping other people, it doesn’t matter how much you’re following your dreams. You’re never truly going to be happy with the work that you do.
If you want to learn more about helping others, things I’ve learned as a CPA, along with my own entrepreneurial journey, I’d appreciate it if you subscribed to my newsletter.
