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A conversation in Great Britain, frozen in time for over 400 years.

The Bard’s been resting at that Holy Trinity Church for a while now. Stratford-upon-Avon needs to be visited to experience it’s historical importance.

In this interview, Tim Ferriss has the following to say:

“Converting your own passions into a job is the fastest method for eliminating any passion you once had.”

I think the above is true when you define a job as something that Michael Gerber talks about: one that you have to keep doing it, doing it, doing it day in and day out, with all the other associated chores that go with it. You don’t have a job, the job has you. And it has you trapped and bored.

So, what do you do?

Po Bronson might help us a bit. He says “…avoiding crap shouldn’t be the objective in finding the right work. The right question is, How can I find something that moves my heart, so that the inevitable crap storm is bearable?”

And, how do you make it bearable?

Umair Haque may have the answer. In his post on How to Build a Next-Gen Business Now, he lays out five steps to build such a business. The final step is:

“This final step - rediscovering meaning in the work we do – isn’t just the most difficult to come to grips with. It’s also the most critical – because though the other steps are necessary, they’re not sufficient. Without a deeply felt – and a powerfully lived – sense of meaning, every business will devolve to what the investment banks became: machines engineered with relentless precision to destroy long-run value, often implosively so.”

So, that’s that then. It’s the meaning one derives from one’s work that’s the source of fulfillment. A job that’s satisfying and fulfilling is the thing we need to strive for.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has written a book about the topic. Guy Kawasaki too says the same thing in his famous book, “The Art of the Start“:

“There really is only one question you should ask yourself before starting any new venture:

Do I want to make meaning?

Meaning is not about money, power, or prestige. It’s not even about creating a fun place to work. Among the meanings of “meaning” are to

• Make the world a better place.
• Increase the quality of life.
• Right a terrible wrong.
• Prevent the end of something good.”

So, let’s all go into the world and make some meaning.