Work and Resilience: Meaning
June 8, 2022
Give Yourself a Gold Star
June 22, 2022
This is the sixth and final blog in a series on how your work, paid or unpaid, affects your resilience. Previous posts include: “Work and Resilience,” “Doable,” “Connections,” ”Direction & Autonomy,” and “Meaning.”
In what ways does your work contribute to or detract from your resilience? No job is perfect. And every job is more than the paycheck or results of the work. This series provides you with a different lens to use to consider your work.
We looked at several factors that impact resilience:
How doable is your job?
Do you have the time, resources and authority to accomplish the tasks and challenges of your job? In an ideal world you would have enough, which builds your sense of competence and leaves you with some energy at the end of the workday.
What is the nature of your work connections?
Do you experience mutual respect, shared purpose and camaraderie with your co-workers? When your job provides healthy connections, harder jobs are easier, creativity is encouraged, and others help you see your own self-worth.
What is the balance between direction and autonomy?
Do you have clear communication, and direction at your job with autonomy around how things get done? When priorities are spelled out and flexibility is encouraged, self-determination and creativity are increased.
How does work impact your sense of meaning?
Does your work contribute to your community or allow you to engage in your passion? Is there recognition that your part makes a difference to the larger whole? Feeling a sense of meaning or contribution adds to resilience.
Considering these factors allows you to assess work from different angles. Your awareness provides you the opportunity to live your life more intentionally.
At its most basic, work provides income that allows you to purchase the things you need and want for the life you live. Unpaid work contributes to your family or community in ways that matter. Beyond this, work impacts our lives, self-value, and resilience in many ways.
How does your work contribute to your resilience? In what ways does it fall short? No job is perfect. Evaluating your job in light of resilience gives you the chance to think about changes you might like to see in your current or future work. If you are a supervisor, you may be able to make changes that contribute to the resilience of your work community.
Be sure to share this with others and sign up for our emails. We will be sending an invitation to join a live Zoom conversation Tuesday, June 21, at 7pm about your insights. Join us!
Peace,
Laura A. Gaines
