Greetings from the Last Homely House! Mmm… donuts! I made donuts for breakfast on Saturday. It was only the second time I’ve made donuts, but this recipe is so easy to make. All you need are some donut pans. I was given these silicon pans for Christmas and love them. Definitely recommended - the recipe, the pan, eating warm donuts. It’s all good.
So, as it turns out, I identify as a rocket launcher. Check out this awesome video produced by SpinLaunch, a rocket launcher firm that is maybe just a Palo Alto money sink, but they did use investor money to make this inspiring video that made me realize I was a rocket launcher:
Now, I mean this metaphorically of course. I do not actually think I am a giant, spinning arm that throws rockets into space. What I think I am is someone who gives people a boost in pursuing their dreams. I don’t really care if someone is going to work in healthcare or not - I try to push my students to learn critical skills while helping them develop the confidence that they can indeed be successful in their next endeavor. Then I try to connect them to every opportunity I can create for them. Here at UNH I work intensely with the students for about 18 months - all of junior year I teach them finance and economics, and begin preparing them for their summer internships. Then I monitor their internships over the summer, and finally we have our last class (post-practicum) together in the fall and I try to help prepare them for their post-college futures. Of course I am still around during the spring semester of senior year, but I don’t have any classes with them at that point. I just keep trying to help them, connecting them to alumni or other people in my network so that they get as many opportunities as possible. That’s the rocket launcher part. Then I watch as they fire off on their own, and I get ready to launch the next batch of kids.
There are other parts of my job that I do because I have to, but it’s working with the students that lights my fire. Finding this passion in my work is what makes it a calling rather than just a job.
My research is focused on people finding meaning in their work. A part of finding meaning in your work is identifying the parts that most resonate with you. Every job has parts that no one gets a lot of joy out of. But (almost) every job has some component that can give you meaning. I remember reading an article that studied hospital custodians. The custodians in the study who thought of themselves as just cleaning up did not find much meaning in their work. But there were a group of custodians who saw their work as more than just cleaning. They focused especially on their interactions with the patients, and how they visited with each patient and how they tried to make sure the patients had everything they needed. They even talked about communicating patient issues to the nursing staff. When asked what they do, their response was they were caregivers. These custodians reported feeling high levels of meaning in their work, whereas the custodians who did not emphasize interactions felt their work was just a job. The job was the same for both groups, the difference was what the second group chose to focus on. They identified as caregivers, not custodians.
How we experience our work, and our lives in a bigger sense, depends on what we choose to focus on and what meaning we imbue it with. If you don’t have work that you consider a calling, is there some aspect of it that you do identify with that does give you meaning? Is there a way you could do more of that, or enhance that part of your work? If none of that works, maybe it’s time to think about doing something else if you can. Life is too short to work a bullshit job. There is a rocket launcher role out there for you, too!
And that’s it from me. I’ll be back Wednesday with the links. As usual, willing good for all of you!
Thanks for reading and see you next week! If you come across any interesting stories, won't you send them my way? I'd love to hear what you think of these suggestions, and I'd love to get suggestions from you. Feel free to drop me a line at mark.bonica@unh.edu , or you can tweet to me at @mbonica .
If you’re looking for a searchable archive, you can see my draft folder here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jwGLdjsb1WKtgH_2C-_3VvrYCtqLplFO?usp=sharing
Finally, if you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://markbonica.substack.com/welcome
See you next week!
Mark
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – Pablo Picaso