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Summary.
In studying professionals for two decades, the author has found a predictable pattern where well-adjusted and purposeful people with diverse interests go off track. They become unidimensional, focusing solely on work success as providing the money, status, and meaning they think they’ll achieve through it. Often this is done with the best intentions by people who identify themselves as choosing this path in order to be providers to their families. Often it goes wrong, and they end up unhealthy, possibly divorced, and with limited friends or activities to help them get out of the trap. But the same studies reveal a small portion of people who manage to succeed at work while reporting stronger wellbeing overall. These people maintain social connections and outside activities in spiritual, civic, personal, and family pursuits. If you are thinking about living a purposeful life, or getting out of the trap many find themselves in at work to get back to a more purposeful life, there are several activities you can do. First, shift one activity away from work to something that will provide meaning to you outside that realm. Second, be more intentional in small moments with others to make lasting social connections. And third, lean into transitions and commit to forcing change in those times even when it feels uncomfortable.“I had a business trip cancelled and free time out of nowhere. I went home on a beautiful summer day and as I pulled into my driveway realized my family was scattered doing their things and that I had no friends to reach out to or hobbies that I had once loved. I sat in the car for more than an hour thinking about how I had gotten to that point.”