What can you do if coronavirus has made your job feel meaningless?
How crises can affect the personal relevance of one's own work is the topic at the heart of an article by two Aalto University researchers: Frank Martela (Department of Industrial Engineering & Management), and Derin Kent (Department of Management Studies). The article was published as a Digital Article at Harvard Business Review on June 3.
If you are feeling like the current crisis has made your job feel meaningless, the researchers urge you to identify the little things you can still influence. In this way, you can find ways to improve your own situation or that of your work community. Everyone can also consider how their own unique skills and resources can be used as effectively as possible to help those affected by the crisis, and this effect can be strengthened by joining forces with others. What’s more, crises can provide an opportunity to stop and look to the future: ‘Is this the job I want to do and what my own dream job could look like in ten years?’
The researchers emphasize that while we are unable to choose the conditions we are given, we should try to influence what novel opportunities could arise in our lives from the changing situations.
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Harvard Business Review – What to Do When Work Feels Meaningless
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