The Nobility of Work

Noble work occurs when a person applies their values, talents and passions toward what they consider to be a meaningful purpose. In other words, they do what trips their life's trigger.

Notice there are three parts to noble work:

1. Identify your values, talents and passions
2. Decide what you consider to be a meaningful purpose
3. Apply the former toward the latter

Notice further that "noble work" is a personal matter. What is noble work for one person may not be for someone else. Also, notice that by definition noble work has nothing to do with income, title, industry, media recognition, acclaim, glamour and so on. It is based completely on your internal perspective.

The two most influential women in my life are my wife, Barb, and my mom. They are classic examples of the nobility of work. They apply their considerable values, talents and passions toward what they consider to be a meaningful purpose. And they do a magnificent job in the process. They both happen to be "stay-at-home moms."

Does this mean that if you're not a stay-at-home parent that you're not doing noble work? Of course not. Again, it's based on what you think is a meaningful purpose.

I used to be a high school math teacher. Clearly, I had colleagues who would apply their enormous reservoirs of passions, values and talents toward what they thought was a meaningful purpose. Did that mean I was automatically doing noble work as well? Nope, because I wasn't passionate about the math and soccer that I was teaching. I was far more interested in focusing on teaching leadership, teamwork, management, creativity and innovation. Some people argued with me that I was doing that indirectly, but it certainly didn't feel like it to me as I ran soccer drills and explained the quadratic equation. Today I believe I am doing noble work: applying my values, talents and passions toward working with other people to achieve whatever they want to achieve. That trips my life's trigger.

What are your values (the behaviors you believe are important), talents (the things you have the capacity to do well) and passions (the things you get excited doing)?

What do you consider to be a meaningful purpose?

How can you apply the former to achieve the latter?

Ok, one more question. What's the big deal about doing noble work? What's in it for you?

The benefit is that at the end of the day, week, month or lifetime, you can look back and say, "I mattered."

That's it. That is the big benefit of doing noble work. You will know that you mattered!

The night before he was shot, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "All I want to do is leave a committed life behind." When he died, he had accomplished what he set out to do. He had left a committed life behind.

An extraordinary career, a career of enduring greatness, is always built on doing noble work.

For a more in-depth and far better explained description of noble work, I encourage you to read, "Authentic Happiness" (The Free Press, New York, 2002) by Martin Seligman. One of my favorite quotes from this book is "The positive feeling that arises from the exercise of strengths and virtues is authentic… Positive emotions alienated from the exercise of character leads to emptiness, to inauthenticity, to depression, and, as we age, to the gnawing realization that we are fidgeting until we die."

Republishing Articles

Each month my e-newsletter gets republished in approximately 20 blogs, on-line publications, and internal publications for businesses, universities, and not-for-profit organizations. If you would like to republish all or part of my monthly articles, please send me an e-mail at dan@thecoughlincompany.com with "Republishing Article" in the subject heading. I will send you the article in a word document. All I ask is that you include my name as the author of the article and a short paragraph at the end of the article about me with a link to my website.

Take care and have a great month!

Dan Coughlin

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