I've been noticing that WORK and WORTH are connected.
As I listen to people talk about their careers, I've observed that when people love their work, they tend to be less caught up about their salaries. People who really love their work often say things like "I'd even do this for free." They receive so much positive energy from their work that they are nurtured and nourished by it. Yes, of course, they need some form of compensation to pay the bills. But once their basic needs for food, water, and shelter are taken care of, people really need little more. Good, positive, life-affirming work can connect a person with others, so that they have meaningful relationships. It can allow them to express their creativity. It can help them to know that they are doing something valuable, so that they feel their worth from the inside-out.
But when people are dissatisfied with their work, they tend to feel angry and resentful towards their employers. They want more money. Actually, this phenomenon seems to occur with people who are self-employed, too.
It's as though they believe that money can compensate for dissatisfaction. But can money really fill the void? What are people wanting underneath? Money can buy things. But can it buy happiness and fulfillment?
I think that fulfillment (a sense of feeling "full," really -- full of life, that joie-de-vivre) does not come directly from money. Instead, I believe fulfillment comes a blend of three elements:
(1) Outward Self-Expression: Each of us is in the world because we have something uniquely our own to express. But when we don't know what it is or how to express it, we feel unfulfilled. When we do know what we want to express and how to express it, we feel engaged, alive, and fulfilled. We experience our true abundance When you create a livelihood that that truly fits, you put yourself in a role that maximizes your life energy. You appropriately leverage your life assets.
(2) Right Livelihood: When we translate the most meaningful expressions of our life energies into our livelihood, we become richer financially, emotionally, and in our relationships.
(3) Leveraging Inner Prosperity: We are each given tremendous inner assets. We can leverage our skills, talents, and knowledge into creating a meaningful and energizing livelihood. When we harvest our inner wealth, we automatically feel prosperous.
When we find the right combination of these three elements, I believe we see the returns expressed in positive life energy. Call it verve, vim, vigor, qi, chi, ruach, spirit, elan vital, life force...whatever name you give it, you know it when you feel it. It's like being in the flow. You just feel more alive. You get an inner sense that things are right. That you are expressing your true essence.
And, when you are expressing your true essence, you just feel good -- plain and simple. It's like an inner payment, so that you know your own worth. Money is still important, but you tend to be less drawn to money for money's sake. So our job is to notice how we are spending our life energy, and focus on ways to increase it, rather than draining it. As we do that, we increase our inner and outer worth.
I've been healing my own relationship between worth and work. Part of my own personal growth in this worth + work equation has included training as a money coach.
If you could benefit from a healthier relationship between your career and your compensation, I'm very excited to be offering Worth from Within coaching. I invite you to contact me for a complimentary 30-minute "get acquainted" session. We'll set up a mutually agreeable time where I'll ask you a few questions and introduce you to the step-by-step Worth from Within coaching process.
With Worth from Within coaching, you can discover the ways in which money coaching can give you a deeper understanding of unconscious beliefs and patterns that hold you back. When you can clearly and compassionately see these habits, you can transform your relationship with money and lead a more purposeful and prosperous life.
Is it time to heal your relationship between worth and work? Let's schedule a time to talk!
Susan Bernstein, MBA MA
Life, Career & Money CoachWork from Within, LLC
Create the life you want, from the inside out!
http://www.workfromwithin.com
