Why is what you are doing important?

Why do you do what you do?

1)self-fulfillment

2)impressing others

3)accomplishing societal goals

4)flavor-of-the-month

5)making a difference to your profession

6)doing what you need to do to achieve your next career move

7)making a difference to folks you know

8)making a difference to folks you’ve never yet met

9)bragging rights

10)keeping your boss happy,.. and so forth.

Wake up call here. I’m not proposing that you walk around with an “Importance Meter” in your head, constantly self-assessing and rating yourself. You know, it just may not be all about you.

Yet we all get up each day and do something important. Whether it’s for our Selves or for Others.

What is it that you, personally and professionally, bring to the table, time after time? Are you in a personal as well as professional environment that will allow you to feel what you are doing is important? Because that’s really what it’s all about. Making a difference. And a difference that extends beyond the tip of your own nose.

We all have something to contribute to our profession. It may not be Nobel-prize worthy. But what we have to contribute just may mean the difference in a company’s remaining solvent or not. Or a village having running water. That’s probably worth more than a Nobel-prize to that company.Or that village. And to you.

There is a humanity to our professionalism. So what do you do each day, professionally, that is important?You know, there’s nothing wrong in being motivated by that thought. That you do make a difference. No matter how small.

Your insight, your perspective, your innovation – yes even doing your job is innovative – can bring light to dark places. We all get jaded by performing what we feel are repetitive functions that no one seems to take notice of. We all get a bit disillusioned by the economy’s impact on our ability to achieve our personal and professional goals.

Yet we all continue to pursue our careers. And it’s not because we have nothing better to do. Our professions are our passions. Our professions are the conduit for how we can bring “our selves” to others. And while we are not our jobs or our professions, our skills do allow us to communicate, innovate and contribute in specific and special ways with society. And with others.

What we all bring to the table, personally and professionally, is important. Taken individually, there must be a system of self-belief in place.We must recognize that the small contributions we make are additive. And combined with the contributions of others, there is synergy.

What you do is important. It’s up to you to determine what that is and why it is important. Sitting around the workplace feeling unrecognized and uncompensated is not an option. Understanding that what you do is important is the fulcrum for moving forward in this life, both personally and professionally.

Opportunities will be presented to us that we need to recognize and embrace. By understanding why what we do is important, we can contribute via these opportunities. So what if it doesn’t fit into your self-created career path? How rock solid is that career path, anyway? The constant throughout everything is you, yourself. Opportunities can open doors. All you need to do is recognize them and walk through them.

Even if it’s something as basic as stewardship. Even if it’s something as out-of-the-box as blogging. Even if it’s talking to the person in the neighboring cubicle.

Why is what you are doing important? Now that’s something to think about.