Does this sound familiar? You’ve spent decades diligently building your career, achieving one promotion after another until one day, you’ve made it. You’ve secured that c-suite role that you’ve been working for your entire professional life. You’ve done it. You’ve reached the “top of the mountain.” Yes!
Now what?
While achieving a life-long goal can be incredibly gratifying, that feeling can also be exceedingly fleeting. Many of the successful executives we work with at AEI report that this sense of accomplishment lasts a few days at best. It’s quickly replaced with a craving for the next challenge, but often with no easy answer on how to satisfy that craving. It can leave leaders feeling stagnant and unfulfilled.
The good news is that renewing a sense of purpose and meaning in your work doesn’t require a 180-degree career change. Rather, reframing your mindset around success and how you approach your day-to-day work can rekindle that feeling of purpose, reinvigorating you to take on the opportunities that are still very much in front of you.
Redefine what success means to you
It can be so easy (and tempting) to define professional success by a title, company size, the closing of a deal or a salary figure. However, in doing so, we set ourselves up for inevitable disappointment when we achieve that arbitrary success metric. Success defined by a specific milestone is short-lived. Instead, celebrate and enjoy the process of achieving that goal.
It might sound a bit hackneyed, but it’s all about the journey. In lieu of myopically focusing on a professional “destination,” take the time to reflect and appreciate what you’ve built — and are still building — for yourself and your team. As Penny Locaso, author of “Hacking Happiness,” states: “Happiness should not be your goal, nor an end state, but a way of being.” Create a habit of expressing gratitude for all you are accomplishing as it happens. It takes work, but it can be powerful in redefining your definition of success.
Reframe what it means to be “busy”
Every executive is busy. We all know that. But I’ve found that the perpetual state of “busyness” prevents many executives from realigning with their sense of purpose. Now, an executive is never going to “stop” being busy. That’s unrealistic. However, we can reframe how we think about and approach that state of busyness. When someone checks in, rather than responding with, “It’s been crazy!” consider sharing what you’re most excited about right now. Focusing on the positive and what’s keeping you engaged will help you pivot your mindset to view what’s on your plate as an opportunity to do something truly impactful and beneficial.
To go one step further, try actually eliminating your use of the word “busy” for a while. I believe you’ll find that it can be incredibly powerful in reframing how you approach your work, making it more exciting and engaging, which in itself can reinvigorate a feeling of purpose.
Carve out the time and space to reflect on what inspires you … and what doesn’t
Beyond reframing how we think about being busy, it’s critical for executives to make the time and space to reflect on what truly inspires and energizes them. That can’t happen if you are forever “busy” or feel you must own every task at hand. Organizational and social psychologist Rebecca Newton makes the case that we “haven’t always been able to play to our strengths: We’ve had the pressure of just doing what needs to be done and getting on with it as efficiently and practically as possible. This has disconnected us from the joy we’ve naturally found in our vocations.”
Instead, trust your team to take on those elements of your role that you don’t enjoy or that can be handled by someone other than you. Lean on those people. Only by doing so will you open up the time and space needed to deeply explore where you find meaning in your work.
Invest in your relationships at work
Loneliness at work when you make it to the top is a real challenge for many leaders. In fact, half of CEOs report loneliness at work. This loneliness isn’t tied to physical loneliness — no one is in more meetings than a c-suite leader — rather, it is related to the lack of deep connections with colleagues. Humans are hardwired to build connections with others, and those personal relationships can make our work more purposeful.
As an executive, forging deeper personal relationships can feel challenging or too time-consuming, but it is worth the effort. Having friends at work can directly improve your engagement and connection to your professional purpose.
Broaden your circle of perspectives
So, you’ve taken the actions needed to allow the time and space to reflect on what brings you meaning in your work. Excellent. Now write it down. Research shows that journaling about our aspirations makes it much more likely for one’s vision to become a reality.
The next step is to socialize your thoughts and ideas. Talk about it with those you trust. Family members. Friends. Colleagues. Internalize their feedback. Socializing your thoughts leads to affirmation and reinforcement, which in turn leads to action and ultimately fulfillment.
