Finding meaning and purpose in career transitions

I’ve been working a lot lately with clients who are in a career transition. For some it is involuntary — they were downsized or their employer shut down. For others, they are choosing to make a change, to explore what they want the next chapter of their lives to look like. As I help people navigate these transitions, I’ve noticed two main patterns.

First, almost everyone lands in a role that is better for them than the one they had before. This happens whether the transition is voluntary or involuntary. The transition is often scary and difficult, but the outcome is usually very good.

Finding meaning is what makes a transition work

Second, one of the most important elements in making a good transition is finding meaning and purpose in your new role. People who are miserable after a transition have almost always made a choice that is empty for them. It may be fun, but it doesn’t seem to matter. As I think about my own future, I want the fact that I get out of bed in the morning to matter to someone else besides me.

I recently re-read a wonderful book, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok. One of my favorite passages is an elderly father talking to his son about why the father is working so hard. He says:

“Human beings do not live forever, Reuven. We live less than the time it takes to blink an eye, if we measure our lives against eternity. So it may be asked what value is there to a human life. …

I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that span, he is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant. Do you understand what I am saying? A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life. 

It is hard work to fill one’s life with meaning. … A life filled with meaning is worthy of rest. I want to be worthy of rest when I am no longer here.”

I recognize that the gendered language is outdated, but the message of this passage resonates nonetheless. My passionate wish for all my clients is that they create a life for themselves that is full of meaning.

If you would like to talk about how to make the next chapter of your life filled with meaning, contact me at ggolden@gailgoldenconsulting.com.