The Great Resignation Is Here: How To Find Purpose In The Next Stage Of Your Career

Amina AlTai — Holistic Leadership & Mindset Coach. Helping authentic executives lead well, feel great and do good.

By now, you’ve likely heard about the Great Resignation. Due to the pandemic, changes in work-life balance, childcare and other factors, an estimated 40% of the global workforce is considering changing jobs in 2021. In April 2021, 4 million people quit their jobs in the United States, which is the highest level since December 2000.

Anecdotal evidence and data suggest that it has much to do with our values and feeling aligned with our purpose. The pandemic has been a moment of significant reflection. It has highlighted what we care about most and invited a great deal of us to reevaluate our day jobs, asking ourselves if they are aligned with what we value and how we want to impact the world.  

In his book The Great Work of Your Life, author Stephen Cope says that when we miss our calling by a millimeter, we miss it by a mile. I believe this moment in history is asking us to shift that millimeter and allow work to be a space that nourishes us in a deeper way. If you’re part of the 40% of the workforce considering a change, you may be asking yourself, "How do we shift that millimeter?"

Get clear on your values.

If you want to know what someone values in this world, just take a look at their bank account and their calendar. What we prioritize, based on our time and wallet share, reflects our values and informs our happiness — and our happiness could use a bit of a boost right now. Just 14% of Americans said they were very happy in 2020. Gen Z is one generation that is choosing to prioritize their values when it comes to work, with 77% of them choosing workplaces that are values-aligned. Not all previous generations felt they could make such choices; many feeling like they had to choose financial security over values. But in doing so, we compromise our own experience and erode our happiness.  

Ask yourself: What are my top five values? Do the organizations I’m considering embody those values?

Shift any limiting beliefs.

Our brains generate up to 50,000 thoughts per day. Of those 50,000, 95% of them are on repeat. We need to get clear on the beliefs that are driving those repetitive thoughts. Deep in our subconscious lie the beliefs that shape our reality, inform our success and frame our feelings of worthiness. The beliefs we hold about ourselves and what’s possible for us make up our core beliefs. Those core beliefs are often unconscious and unexamined. As we consider shifting roles, it’s important to examine your beliefs about your career, salary, title, leadership and ambition. More often than not, there is an underlying belief there that could be intercepting your success.  

Ask yourself: Do I feel worthy of a more advanced title? A higher salary and a job I love? If not, why?

Identify and honor your brilliance.

I believe we all have unique forms of brilliance that we are just waiting to unearth and embody in our work. Many clients that I’ve worked with believe that brilliance is reserved for the select few; that couldn’t be further from the truth. We each have distinct forms of brilliance. Most of us discount this brilliance because it comes so readily and thus spend an abundance of time cultivating skills outside of it. That is precisely the belief that keeps us embedded in hustle culture versus flowing with the currents of our own exceptionality.  

Ask yourself: What am I most exceptional at? What do people uniquely seek me out for?

Choose joy. 

Joy is a feel-good fuel that uplifts our work and is a signpost for what really lights us up. Studies in positive psychology and neuroscience underscore that joy is a prerequisite for and main ingredient in success. When we feel joyful in our work, our whole system works more harmoniously and efficiently. Those feelings produce more serotonin and dopamine (the happy chemicals) which lead to greater motivation, focus and problem solving.

Ask yourself: In my work, what really brings me the most joy? If I were to follow my joy, what would I do?

Live your purpose.

We live in a world that tends to value performance over purpose. That, too, eats away at our happiness. I believe that each and every one of us came here to have an impact, whether it be to impact our immediate families, our communities or the greater good. When we orient our compass toward that mission versus performance, we discover that inner purpose at the core of our being and its interdependence with the rest of the world. Therein lies our "why," and perpetually coming back to that "why" gives us the energy to stay in our work for the duration and not just a season.

Ask yourself: What do I deeply want to impact in this world? What area of life do I want to leave better than I found it?

Honor your needs.

As you reimagine what work might look and feel like for you, I invite you to think deeply about your needs. In my coaching practice, I work with high-achieving leaders committed to doing great work that shifts culture. However, that often came at the expense of their balance and vitality. But we do not have to exchange our well-being for success. I believe that the new paradigm of leadership underscores that well-being is a prerequisite for success.  

Ask yourself: What do I need to feel well and whole in my work? Think about compensation, vacation time and what honoring your needs daily might look like.

If you are one of the 40% of Americans shifting roles in the Great Resignation, I invite you to take the time to explore the above and get abundantly clear on what alignment really feels like for the next phase of your career.

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