Today’s post is a bit of a departure. Often, I’m on this blog, telling you how it is, or finding other people to tell you how it is.
Today, like Socrates, I’ve got questions for you. Lots of questions. Consider even one of these questions, and leave a comment. I would LOVE to know if these questions sparked something in you, if you are inspired, disgusted, bored, curious, or something else entirely.
Voltaire said, “Judge a man by his questions.” Feel free to judge me by these questions, and add some of your own in the comments, or on twitter!
A string of excited, fugitive, miscellaneous pleasures is not happiness; happiness resides in imaginative reflection and judgment, when the picture of one’s life, or of human life, as it truly has been or is, satisfies the will, and is gladly accepted. -George Santayana
Is the purpose of a job to satisfy you?
Is it worth considering in this day when people are struggling just to get by?
Is this a first world problem?
Absolutely. But shouldn’t we consider it all the same? Even if we’re in the first world, don’t we deserve satisfaction too?
Who are you, really?
Why are you in the nonprofit world?
It’s more than a paycheck, but it’s more than the cause too.
What’s at the root of you being here, right now?
What made you decide, underneath all of the logic and rationalizations, that this was the right job for you?
Is it still?
If not, what is?
I’m not suggesting that your life become a string of meaningless pleasures, that you should chase a dream of being completely comfortable in a mansion or living a beach bum life.
Rather, I’m asking you, why are you really in the nonprofit world?
What drives you about what you do every day?
Do you love your job?
Do you hate your job?
If you don’t have a job, what’s the motivation for looking for a nonprofit job?
What’s the point, for you?
Are you just doing this until something better comes along?
Is this a place you’d like to stay for the next ten or even five years?
If this job doesn’t satisfy you, why not?
Is it the people you work with?
Is it the salary?
Is it the location? Would you rather work in a city, or in the country, or internationally?
What kind of job would satisfy you?
Do you want to work at a bigger nonprofit?
Do you feel like you have job security?
If not, why not?
What would job security look like, if you had it?
What would a satisfying job look like, to you?
Can you draw it? Write it? Say it? Create a song about it? Chart it? Diagram it? I challenge you to think of your most satisfying job, right now, if you don’t already have it.
After you’ve done this, ask yourself, and maybe you’re already asking yourself,
What’s the bigger picture for your life?
What kind of legacy are you going to leave behind?
What’s important to you?
Is your current job satisfying the bigger picture for your life?
If not, what WOULD satisfy the bigger picture?
Are you paid in commensurate with your experience?
What do you think of the sector?
Do you think it’s propping up the erosion of government services?
What do you think is going to happen with the sector in the next five to ten years?
Will nonprofits become more like businesses, and will that satisfy you?
Or will nonprofits become more like social entrepreneurships or hybrid nonprofits?
Will nonprofits merge and collaborate more, and will that satisfy you?
Or will nonprofits continue to float in the limbo between business and charity/volunteerism?
Your turn to bless me with your wisdom!
Please leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!