A former student messaged me two months ago and casually asked, “Zach, what is the meaning of life?” To which I responded, “Which one? Your life has thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of meanings.” As a purpose and meaningfulness researcher and consultant, such a question is fairly routine. Some popular variations include: “Zach, what’s my … Read more
Toward the end of a workshop I facilitated on purpose-driven work, a regional manager of a large electronics supplier tentatively raised her hand. “About a year ago, I figured out why I do my job,” she said. “As I was sitting in the hospital waiting for the CT scan that could save my life, I remember thinking, ‘my … Read more
It felt as if my brain jumped out of my skull and started walking down the street. I stood in front of my colleague who droned on about the same political workplace pettiness as last week, but I was nowhere to be found. I didn’t care and I couldn’t fake it anymore. Then, I recognized … Read more