What makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning? I’ve asked myself this same question for a long, long time. What truly drives me? I’ve always wondered why I haven’t felt fully fulfilled in my job and career. For the past few years, I’ve been searching for what really excites me. In order to accomplish my goals, I have to feel fulfilled.
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Some people are lucky enough to discover early on what makes them happy. However, every individual has some underlying force that drives them forward. Something that helps you to feel satisfied or settled. We cannot only rely on avoiding pain or nuisances to drive us. We need something more.
So, how do you find out what fulfills you?
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I did a little exercise to try and discover what makes me tick.
What provides me with joy and fulfillment.Â
It was a tricky thing to do, but I think I finally found it, and I’d love to share with you the method, and the result. I used to find it difficult to talk about myself, I spend a lot of my time worrying about others, or things besides myself, so it was a little strange to sit and consider – what makes me happy?
What makes me happy?
I took a look over what I had done over the past few years. (If you don’t keep a gratitude journal, I wholeheartedly recommend if you have the energy to keep one!)
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I reviewed moments of happiness and accomplishment and sorted them into a few headings so that I could easily review what I felt gave me a feeling of deep satisfaction or reward.
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I took moments in the past from my work and personal life that stood out as moments where I felt most authentically myself, and considered what made those moments special? What had I done? Were there any common themes?Â
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Your answers may be different from mine, and that is to be expected! We are all individuals and what drives me may look very different from what drives you.
Challenge
- Variety & Challenge in my activities to prevent boredom.
- Being pushed to be my best self, so that I can feel authentic achievement.
Building & Teamwork
- A culture of support and understanding.
- An open and communicative environment.
- Ability to fail, and fail fast, and subsequently learn – together.
Knowledge & Development
- Sharing knowledge with others.
- Helping others understand and learn.
- Provoking meaningful growth and thought.
- Inspiring others.
Facilitating Growth
- Supporting others in their journey.
- Being in a position to help others succeed.
- Empowering others.
- Sharing in success.
Helping Others
- Helping others achieve.
- Supporting others.
- Being a trusted individual.
- Making meaningful relationships.
Problem Solving
- Being a ‘Fixer’.
- Overcoming challenges.
- Creating solutions.
Purpose
- Being part of something bigger than myself.
- Having access to others who will push me to be better.
- Having exposure to diverse ways of thinking.
- Making a difference in the community.
I spend an hour figuring out what really makes me tick, and what gives me the greatest sense of achievement and fulfillment.Â
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It doesn’t need to be perfect – my little diagram is full of spelling errors, doodles, and writing that is more stream-of-conscious than anything else. But that doesn’t matter. What is important is defining what gives you that sense of purpose and fulfillment. We’ll be using it later to fuel us when motivation fails us.
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Having trouble? There are plenty of questions that can get the ball rolling,Â
The Ladders has a really lovely post on this topic.
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I hope you have as much fun discovering what gives you a sense of fulfillment.
If you’re wondering why I’m on this journey, you can read why on my very first blog post. Share your thoughts below, what motivates you? Do we have similarities? Let’s conquer 2021 by filling it with activities that bring us joy!
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