I recently had a call with a former student who secured a dream job with a global brand after graduation. He’s been at the company for five years, taken on more responsibility, and enjoys the work he is doing. However, he says he doesn’t find the work to be fulfilling. His experience echoes that of many early-career professionals I speak with who, for most of their life, found their identity in being a student and are now forming a new post-university identity.
The conversation also reminded me of my own experience. I worked a variety of interesting jobs when I was in my twenties that allowed me to develop new skills, but I never felt like I found work that I wanted to make a career. It wasn’t until I went back to school and started teaching full-time that I felt like I had found my calling.
The experiences of my students—and my own—made me wonder: When did people start looking for fulfillment at work? How do different people find meaning at work? And what does fulfillment look like for each of us?
Explore the Shift Toward Fulfillment at Work
The expectation of finding fulfillment in work is a relatively modern idea. (I indirectly explored this point when I traced my ancestor’s relationship with work here). Historically, work was seen as a means of survival or a duty within a community. The shift toward viewing work as a source of identity and purpose could be tied to several cultural and historical changes:
Industrial Revolution: The Industrial Revolution introduced specialized urban jobs and a structured workday, which may have planted the seeds for viewing work as a path for personal advancement. As historian E. P. Thompson (1967) noted, this period fundamentally reshaped how people related to time and labor.
Professionalization: The rise of professions like medicine and law in the 19th century linked work to status and personal achievement. As Bellah et al. (1985) observed in Habits of the Heart, professional roles became tied to notions of identity and moral purpose.
Individualism: In the 20th century, Western cultures emphasized individualism and self-expression, encouraging people to align work with their passions. Sociologist Max Weber explored this connection in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1930), highlighting how cultural values influenced attitudes toward work.
Humanistic Psychology: The mid-20th century brought a focus on self-actualization, with Abraham Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy of needs suggesting that work could be a key avenue for realizing one’s potential. This idea further solidified the belief that work should provide not just income, but meaning.
Today, the expectation for fulfillment in work reflects a blend of privilege, societal values, and changes in the nature of work. This expectation is perhaps more common among those with financial security and access to higher education.
Understand Your Relationship with Work
The following thought experiment may help you better understand your own relationship with work and what fulfillment might mean for you. Read all three paragraphs below and after each one, pause and ask yourself, “How much does this description sound like me (e.g., ‘very much,’ ‘somewhat,’ ‘a little,’ or ‘not at all like me’)?”
Person A works primarily to earn enough money to support their life outside of their job. If they were financially secure, they would no longer continue with their current line of work but would rather do something else. Person A’s job is basically a necessity of life, much like breathing or sleeping. They often wish the time would pass more quickly at work and greatly look forward to weekends and vacations. If Person A lived their life over again, they probably would not go into the same line of work. They would not encourage their friends or children to enter their line of work. Person A is very eager to retire.
Person B basically enjoys their work but does not expect to be in their current job five years from now. Instead, they plan to move on to a better, higher-level job. They have several goals for their future pertaining to the positions they would eventually like to hold. Sometimes their work seems like a waste of time, but they know they must do sufficiently well in their current position in order to move on. Person B can’t wait to get a promotion. For them, a promotion means recognition of their good work and is a sign of success in competition with their coworkers.
Person C’s work is one of the most important parts of their life. They are very pleased to be in this line of work. Because what they do for a living is a vital part of who they are, it is one of the first things they tell people about themselves. They tend to take their work home with them and on vacations, too. The majority of their friends are from their place of employment, and they belong to several organizations and clubs related to their work. Person C feels good about their work because they love it and believe it makes the world a better place. They would encourage their friends and children to enter their line of work. Person C would be pretty upset if they were forced to stop working, and they are not particularly looking forward to retirement.
Each of these descriptions, adapted from the work of Bellah et al. (1985) and Schwartz (1986, 1994), aligns with one of the three orientations toward work: Jobs, Careers, and Callings. Take a moment to consider: How much are you like Person A (Job), Person B (Career), and Person C (Calling)?
Job: People with jobs work primarily for financial gain, seeing work as a means to support life outside of it. They don’t find personal satisfaction or express major ambitions through their work.
Career: People with careers are personally invested in their work and measure success through advancement, higher social standing, and recognition. Career progress brings both personal and professional fulfillment.
Calling: People with callings see work as an integral part of their identity and life purpose. They work for fulfillment and meaning, often in ways that contribute to society. Financial gain or advancement is secondary to the intrinsic value of the work itself.
These orientations are not fixed. Over the course of a lifetime, circumstances, values, and experiences can lead people to shift between these orientations. For example, someone who views their work as “just a job” early in their career might later discover a sense of calling through new opportunities or personal growth. Conversely, a job once felt like a calling might begin to feel like a career—or even a job—due to burnout, changing priorities, or external pressures.
Research suggests that such transitions are influenced by several factors, including:
Life stages: Early in a career, people may prioritize financial security or skill-building, aligning with a “job” or “career” mindset. Later, they might seek greater fulfillment or legacy, leaning toward a calling.
Opportunities and environment: Workplace culture, mentorship, or access to meaningful projects can help someone transition from seeing their work as a job to finding it as a career or calling.
Personal reflection: Aligning work with personal values or passions often plays a key role in reorienting how one relates to work.
Understanding these categories—and knowing that they can evolve—offers a lens for evaluating your current relationship with work and identifying what might bring you closer to fulfillment.
Find Fulfillment Beyond Work
Not everyone finds—or seeks—fulfillment through their job, career, or calling. For those who resonate more with Person A or feel unfulfilled in their work, it’s important to remember that a meaningful life can be built in many other ways. Fulfillment is not limited to professional identity; it can be cultivated across different dimensions of life.
The Wheel of Life model, popularized by Paul J. Meyer, provides a helpful framework for exploring and balancing different areas that contribute to overall well-being. Imagine your life as a wheel divided into sections, each representing a key domain. Together, these domains form a holistic picture of your life satisfaction:
Career: This includes your work, professional growth, and how you feel about your job. For some, this area may overlap with a sense of calling or career advancement, but for others, it might simply represent financial stability.
Finances: Financial health and security are foundational for many people’s sense of stability and freedom. This doesn’t necessarily mean wealth but feeling in control of your financial situation.
Health: This domain encompasses your physical and mental well-being. It includes activities and habits related to fitness, nutrition, stress management, and adequate rest.
Relationships: Strong, supportive connections with family, friends, romantic partners, or children can play a significant role in personal fulfillment. Nurturing these relationships often leads to a greater sense of belonging.
Personal Growth: This domain focuses on learning, self-improvement, and pursuing new skills or knowledge. It might include hobbies, education, or stepping out of your comfort zone to grow as a person.
Fun and Recreation: Many people find that having time for hobbies, entertainment, and relaxation are central to enjoying life.
Physical Environment: The spaces where you live and work—your home, neighborhood, or office—can significantly impact your well-being.
Community and Contribution: For many, giving back to their community or engaging in acts of service brings a deep sense of purpose and fulfillment.
Life isn’t one-dimensional, and neither is personal fulfillment; it varies from person to person. Research suggests that investing in various areas of one’s life can create a support system that sustains them when one area isn’t going well. If work doesn’t feel fulfilling, that’s okay. Look for meaning in other places: nurture your relationships, explore your hobbies, or engage in your community. Fulfillment is deeply personal; finding it starts with understanding what matters most to you.
Questions for Reflection
What small activities consistently bring you joy or peace? How can you create more space for them in your life?
When was the last time you felt completely absorbed in something? How can you incorporate more of those activities into your routine?
Are there relationships in your life that could benefit from more time and attention? How might you strengthen them?
What causes or values matter most to you? How can you align more of your time and energy with them?
What personal goals excite you right now? How can you break them into actionable steps?
References
Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. M. (1985). Habits of
the heart. New York: Harper & Row.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346
Schwartz, B. (1986). The battle for human nature: Science, morality, and modern life. New
York: Norton.
Schwartz, B. (1994). The costs of living: How market freedom erodes the best things in life.
New York: Norton.
Thompson, E. P. (1967). The making of the English working class. Pantheon Books.
Weber, M. (1930). The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism (T. Parsons, Trans.). Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Wrzesniewski, A., McCauley, C., Rozin, P., & Schwartz, B. (1997). Jobs, careers, and callings: People’s relations to their work. Journal of research in personality, 31(1), 21-33.
Comments