Jess Ekstrom

It's like, this isn't necessarily spark joy, but like, what if I need to staple something?

And what if I need to hammer in a nail?

And she talked about, remind yourself what that thing does that gives you joy.

So this stapler helped me like hang up my kids' artwork in their room or this hammer helped me build a like bird shed, you know, for like all the birds in my yard.

And it's the same thing with our job.

We don't have to, I think like sometimes just follow your passion and do what you love is so overused.

But I think that any work can be meaningful work if you take the time to connect it to a human.

Like the thing that you're doing might not be exciting or enticing or you might not love every task, but I guarantee you can connect a task to a greater outcome for someone else.

Someone else you probably won't even meet, but it's there.

And so I think that meaningful work isn't something that's like assigned at a job where you have to leave to find it.

It's something that's created by you in your role that takes an extra effort, but is worth it in the long run.

For sure.

I mean, there are people who have the same job, same roles.

Someone thinks it's the best thing they've ever done that's so meaningful to them.

I mean, I'm speaking at the YMCA this week for employees and been like doing some research and some case studies and...

You know, it's like there are people there that, and I see, I'm a member of the Y, that their job is to clean the equipment, but they're also like counting people's reps and encouraging people on the treadmill.

And then you have other people that are just like, not at the Y, but at other gyms that are just like, when do I sign out?

I've cleaned the bathrooms.

Where do I go?

So it's like, well, what's the difference between the people who truly think that their job is meaningful and the ones that aren't?