How much does “purpose” matter in a job?

Question

I am at a point in my career where I don&rsquo;t really care about my work that much. I am successful, have full autonomy, get recognition, make more money than I need, I work on things that are intellectually stimulating, in a field that has some direct benefit to humanity. But still feel unsatisfied&hellip;Many others in my field (aerospace) have a lifelong passion for it, but I don&rsquo;t particularly care for it either way. I am envious of the enthusiasm they have for our work, that I cannot muster up.There are other areas outside of my chosen profession that I feel more strongly about, and wondering if I should pursue those.I feel like I have ascended up Maslow&rsquo;s hierarchy of job needs, and now am faced with a lack of purpose in my work. So I am curious, has anyone changed jobs/careers to align with a greater sense of purpose? How has that gone for you?

kleer001 · Accepted Answer

> I have ascended up Maslow&rsquo;s hierarchy of job needs...Then it's time to investigate other models of human personality, behaviour, and priorities for inspiration.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traitshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HEXACO_model_of_personality_st...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_five_model_of_pers...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_foundations_theoryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communicationhttps://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/why-you-are-who-you-...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-factor_theoryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-factor_theory_of_emotion

aristofun · Answer

Chances are this is not about &ldquo;purpose&rdquo; and has nothing to do with the job itself, this is only about you.Probably your motivation is/was not to fulfill your needs, but to get external approval (of parents, friends, important people etc), to reach some ideal picture you created for yourself etc.Even now you&rsquo;re asking for different pictures of other people in similar circumstances - to get external validation of possible solutions.This is not the way to find internal drive.Work this out with a good therapist. It&rsquo;s helping me so far.

WhisperingShiba · Answer

Its the only thing that matters to me. I am convinced that money is optimizing a quantity which is increasingly becoming irrelevant.If you have a rich understanding of 'meaning' you should be maximizing that, and if that includes the accumulation of economic free energy (money), then do that. I urge people to make sure they are taking the proper time to analyze what they want out of life, and not just defaulting to dollar-maxxing because its what your parents told you to do.

PaulHoule · Answer

Non-profit organizations are frequently hotbeds of pathology.
If you work for, say, a for-profit restaurant, you might be working for a rich person but you are satisfying a real need in an ordinary person.
In a non-profit you might be working for
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/buffett-kin...

passivate · Answer

I think it matters quite a bit as a quality-of-life factor. I changed careers pretty late in life and I couldn't have been happier in terms of satisfaction and being excited to come in to work. It was a pay-cut for me. Tech still pays very very well.At the same time, you have to find what makes you tick. If you want to keep making lots of money, I believe you don't get a lot of do-overs when it comes to switching careers. If you simply don't care about money, then you can keep switching and starting again from a junior position and work up to a senior/IC type role. That gets sorta tough when you have a family/mortgage (yada yada). If you have the freedom to explore alternate paths then go for it. Be sure to build a few bridges before you leave your industry though!

jimmyvalmer · Answer

Unless you pull a Bezos (leaving an awesome job to win the biggest lottery of all time), you will regret leaving money on the table. When asked about the regret, you will say it was all worth it for some nebulous notion of fulfillment, which is all you can do dull the pain.

pg_1234 · Answer

If you have the financial luxury to do so, start by spending some time doing nothing.You are unlikely to discover what you truly want if you are in a position where you can't help but define it in terms of what you a moving away from.

nickd2001 · Answer

Given that you're in aerospace, could you get to work on electric or hydrogen planes, and re-frame your work as trying to save the planet? ( Since people just refuse to stop flying, we need non fossil-fuelled planes ASAP IMHO). I mean, we're in a desperate situation with the climate, would working on this crisis transcend the lack of motivation you have?

2snakes · Answer

I'm right there with you null_shift. I am considering a career change that might have more interaction with people than hiding behind a computer all day.

armchairhacker · Answer

You need to make money or &ldquo;purpose&rdquo; won&rsquo;t matter. If you have to have a boring job to make money, do that and find purpose in your free time.Unless the job is too boring or too long. A job you don&rsquo;t love or even like is acceptable, but a job you hate isn&rsquo;t worth it. Or you really think you have a better opportunity.