There are many ways to do fine work. Some people who have a sense of duty start by doing what they see as their obligations. They then focus on their further options and sometimes aim to do outstanding work.
Imagine that you want to follow elements of this approach in your own way. This can involve focusing on the following themes.
Obligations
Different people feel they have different obligations. These may be practical, psychological or philosophical.
Some may feel an obligation to care for their loved ones. Some may aim to follow their moral compass or faith. Some may aim to make full use of their talents. Some may aim to care for both present and future generations. Some may feel an obligation to care for the planet.
Different people fulfil their obligations in different ways. The following section describes how one person followed this approach before then focusing on their options.
Donna was a former athlete who felt ambivalent about her role as a psychologist in a state school. She enjoyed helping the individual students but worried about the school system.
She had reached her mid-thirties and felt at a critical point in her life. This was compounded by the need to care for her partner who was recovering from cancer.
Donna felt she had certain obligations regarding her relationships and vocation. She explained these in the following way.
Obligations
The obligations I have are:
To be the wage earner in the relationship with my partner and support her during her recovery from chemotherapy;
To support my parents as they get older – this will be emotionally, financially and practically;
To use my knowledge to help people – such as working with students and former athletes who have asked me to mentor them in their careers.
We looked at how Donna could follow what she believed to be her obligations. This involved finding a way to balance doing good work, earning a salary and caring for her loved ones.
She also needed to build in time for her own rest and recovery. Doing activities in which she could revitalise herself would give her more energy to give to other people.
Imagine that you want to follow elements of this approach. What do you believe to be your obligations? How do you want to do your best to fulfil these obligations?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
Options
Imagine that you are doing your best to fulfil your obligations. It can then be useful to explore your future options. These can include the possible routes you can follow in your life and work.
Different people will have different options. Much will depend on their situation and the possible opportunities they have in their personal and professional lives.
Donna chose to take this approach but before going further it was important to know more about her background. This involved focusing on her strengths and successful style of working.
She had always been good at sports. Donna excelled at football, tennis and fencing. Whilst being able to compete at a high level, she became disillusioned with the ruthless cultures in some sports academies.
Continuing with her sporting career until her late-twenties, Donna then decided to qualify as a physical education teacher. She also developed an interest in coaching. This led to her coaching junior teams in football, hockey and individual sports.
Donna believed sport gave some young people a chance to flourish, but many others never got a chance to shine. Bearing this in mind, Donna decided to specialise in psychology.
She went on to take a series of jobs as a psychologist helping students in schools. The individual work was rewarding, but she found aspects of the educational culture to be troubling.
Donna had reached her mid-thirties and felt at a critical point in her life. The road she took in the future might define the rest of her career. What were her options?
We explored the routes she could pursue in the future. After some encouragement, she explored many possibilities she had not previously considered.
Options
The options that I have in my personal
and professional life include the following:
I can stay in my present work … I can do a similar role in another organisation … I can try to influence the educational system by producing a blog or articles about how to help students who are different.
I can move to another country … I can return to the US where I was on a sporting scholarship … I can take a bigger role in sports coaching … I can pursue a career in sports administration.
I can set up a business with my partner … I can apply what I learned from sport in other fields … I can use these skills to help people in business to achieve peak performance.
Let’s return to your own life and work. Looking ahead, what may be the possible options you could pursue? If you wish, try brainstorming all these possibilities.
Later we can focus on the route – or the combination of routes – you may want to follow. Here is the exercise on this theme.
Outstanding Results
Imagine that you have explored your obligations and the options going forwards. The next step will be to focus on how to follow your chosen option.
Different people pursue this part of the approach in different ways. When doing so, they sometimes aim:
To continue to fulfil their personal and professional obligations;
To follow the option – or combination of options – that gives them positive energy;
To then do their best to perform outstanding work.
Donna aimed to build what some people call a portfolio career. This involved bringing in enough income to support her loved ones and combining the following elements. She aimed:
To continue with her school psychologist role but eventually move to doing this three days a week;
To use her sports background to do peak performance coaching with some of the people she knew in businesses;
To provide support services for young people who were released from sports academies.
Donna worked on the plan for doing the coaching in business. It proved relatively simple to do such work on a complementary basis but it took longer to generate funding. This eventually happened, however, when she enable people to produce positive results.
Drawing on her work with sports, she helped sales people and others to set achievable goals. She then helped them to follow their chosen disciplines, manage setbacks and do their best to achieve peak performance.
Donna’s journey is still a work in progress. Like many people in today’s world, she is trying to fulfil what she sees as her obligations. She is also following her chosen option and aiming to do superb work.
Let’s return to your own life. Imagine that you have clarified the option – or combination of options – that you want to follow in the future. If appropriate, how can you pursue this route and do your best to perform outstanding work?
If you wish, try tackling the final exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
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