Why I’m no longer “busy”…MEANINGFUL WORK and how to prioritise it

In a previous blog, I wrote about productivity myths and how busting them is key to keeping the Burnout wolves away. In that blog I introduced the concept of “meaningful work” and that doing as much “meaningful work” as possible is the Productivity Nirvana. I also said we’d unpick what “meaningful work” really means. That’s what we’re going to do today. By the end of this blog, you’ll be Today Years Old when you learnt what meaningful work actually is, why it should be your number one priority and how to identify it. What are you waiting for?

My perspective on meaningful work has been profoundly shaped by the first two books I read in Burnout recovery: ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck’ by Mark Manson and ‘The 4 Hour Work Week’ by Tim Ferris. These books have had such an influence on me that I’m currently filming a “Burnout Bookclub” for my YouTube channel which you can check out here. This channel also has content on topics not covered in the blog so be Today Years Old when you watched it (and liked, commented and subscribed please 😉)!

Thank you for reading beyond that shameless plug; I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. Meaningful work is any action that takes you closer to fulfilling your values. Let’s unpack that.

It’s no secret that I used to set rubbish values based on material things and salary numbers. **spoiler alert** chasing these things will not make you happy in the long term. In fact, the happiness is so short term it barely lasts a day. The first thing I learnt was to set better values so I could identify better actions that means my work is now consistently more meaningful to me. As a result, I’m happier, more productive, and not chasing my tail like a dog in the park. The advice on how you can do this too is already in “Three Things I Learnt from Burnout” so you can read the extended version there, but here’s a quick recap: write down all the stuff you want, now assume you have all that…what will get you out of bed? What excites you?

Let me give you an example. One of my values is helping people achieve things beyond what they realised possible. I know that sounds cliché but it’s true. In a professional context, this means I have no problem getting up for team meetings or mentor sessions. Similarly, as Consultants, we’re often brought in to help answer the question “how might we achieve XYZ” and for me this challenge also fits into the “helping people” value. Probably explains why I love my job! What this means is, when I’m crafting my to-do list or looking for my next project, I’m sure to prioritise actions and projects that actively align with those values. In fact, I review my “done” list weekly to hold myself accountable for keeping at least 80% of my actions aligned to my values. This way, I ensure I’m investing most of my time in meaningful work that I feel genuine satisfaction from.

This has been the single most important concept in liberating me from Burnout and I preach it to my team, friends, family, and even the cat.

I don’t have different personal and professional values I just have values. For me, who I am at work and who I am in my personal life are very similar and I feel I need this to be authentic. It might be different for you, don’t be afraid to explore.

Values are different to goals. I’ll do a separate piece breaking this down but the way I think of it is that your values are the principles you live by whereas goals are the things have to show for it. For example, if my value is “prioritising physical and mental wellbeing”, my goal might be “run a marathon” and the meaningful work is training, stretching, and eating well.

Values don’t have to be selfless. For example, another one of my values is financial freedom. Contrary to what I believed before Burnout, this isn’t a numbers game of chasing the next salary hike or big investment return. The value “financial freedom” is more about your relationship with money. For me, this looks like not fearing money or hoarding it in case it disappears and even more importantly, not tying my self-worth to the number on my payslip. Meaningful work in this context looks like scheduling specific meetings with myself to review my finances (rather than low-level worry about it all the time), educating myself on investing and keeping up to speed on financial news.

Knowing your values is the hard bit. Once you know those, identifying “meaningful work” is just a case of listing and living the specific actions you need to bring those values to life. You need both parts to really feel fulfilled: if you know your values but don’t do any meaningful work to enact those, you’ll never feel you achieved anything. Likewise, if you don’t know your values but try to chase meaningful work, you’ll be forever chasing superficial tasks and pile those up in the hope that at least one might be meaningful. Both of those, if left unmanaged for long enough, will lead you to Burnout. Both of those, if managed consistently, will ensure you beat the Burnout once and for all, or never even experience it in the first place. Which do you choose?