What is work to me?

What do I want out of work? And what do I want to give?
This is what I learnt about what Work means to me…

I was asked this question recently and turns out I had a poetic answer ready up my sleeve. I quickly blurted out my most important guiding 3Is that are important to me- Impact, Innovation, and Integrity.

Impact
“Legacy is built in moments, not milestones.”
Maybe it is our generation (GenZs have some great habits too apart from all the screen addictions we have, a blog for another day) that feels like we want more out of our work than a paycheck- I really want to feel like I’m making an impact and can witness meaning to the work I do.

Innovation
“The greatest innovations begin with empathy, not technology.”
I want my presence lead to an innovation that helped people. I want to feel significant to know that my presence led to some value. In an age where there are billions of people on the planet, I accept that a lot of people could do the thing that I do (maybe even AI could replace me) but not the way that I could and do it and I feel some sense of purpose in my life. It pushes me beyond the mundane, to challenge myself and to think differently. But I learnt recently that sometimes simplicity is the best innovation.

Integrity
“Character is built in the choices you think no one will notice.”
And most importantly, integrity. I want to feel like I am consistently exercising my integrity, that I am leaving the world a little bit better than I found it and that this work environment kept me in a place that was harmonious around people that have integrity as well. I want to never question the choices I made and be proud of the character I built in the thing I did for most hours of my day. Integrity is a choice and it is a habit that must be practised, encouraged and grow. I’d like to have a nice life to look back on and to feel like I made human connections that’ll miss me when I’m gone and even if a few of them are grateful for my having helped them a little- I’d be happy with the life I would have lived.

Now, this might mean differently for everyone. Not everything in everyone’s lives needs to have meaning or purpose. Some things are just about an activity that you get through as a part of your day like bathing or brushing your teeth and that’s acceptable and frankly has less weight and feels lighter. But this is my take on it, for now. Everyone and anyone can change over time anytime as well.