For some time, an Instagram account called ”Balance ta startup” has been in the news.
The purpose of it is to free the speech around the drifts at work by sharing testimonies of people who have encountered difficult working conditions in start-ups.
Recently a question posed in a post queried me:
« In your opinion, can passion justify more “intense” working conditions? »
Being someone passionate about my work and able to work intensely, I felt concerned about the point. I had some ups and downs during my career, and also went through some burnouts.
It led me to write about what is bringing me satisfaction by doing a professional passion.
Being in phase with the company
Finding a job that suits us is important knowing that we spend around one-third of our life at work.
Now think about how do you feel when you have to wake up knowing you are going to do something exciting. Like when you are going on a trip or to see someone you love. And imaging getting the same motivation when you start your workday. Finding this excitement in a job you love is something priceless.
To get this, it is important to understand WHY the company you’re working with exist, and what they are trying to solve. Then find what are your intrinsic values: What makes you fulfill in life? Finally, aligned this WHY with your intrinsic values. This is a great way to lead you to fulfillment in your work.
Finding personal meaning in the work that we do allows us to work harder without feeling cheated. I have always found greater satisfaction in carrying out a project whose ins and outs make sense to me.
This can be embodied by:
- Doing a job that touches on a passion you have in life.
- Having a real concern for the company mission.
For example:
- Working in a company that produces a meditation app because you love meditating.
- Working in an organization that takes care of the climate when you care about the environment.
💡 Tip: To find an area that you care about, you can think about what do you want to be when you grow up?
Learning and growing
Startups can provide a conducive environment to learn and grow. Methods are varied, and when they are combined, the satisfaction is even greater.
For example, being able to propose and lead projects in a company is a way to be a driver and to feel useful and valued in the organization.
Having a good level of ownership without too much supervision lets people succeed or fail, and thus learn.
Then feeling that you belong to a group and being supported in your mission allows you to grow and enjoy working towards the same goal. There is great satisfaction in sharing achievements and learning from others. Being surrounded by talented people can inspire you to succeed in your objectives.
Finally, having a competent coach can also help you to work on yourself by defining goals that help you grow and succeed. I am convinced that a good coach is a coach who empathizes with his coachees and helps them find the right ways to overcome their problems. This builds their self-confidence by succeeding on their own.
Investing in your knowledge and experience will help you to demonstrate what you’re capable of.
💡 Tip: Write down and record every day the impacts you have to follow your progression and success.
Having a fair compensation
It is legitimate to be fairly compensated for a work you participate in intensively. However, I found it acceptable to have a salary lower than the desired one when it can be compensated by other means (training, opportunity…).
I’ve always been satisfied by receiving a pay raise, but I always ended up getting used to the new salary, and my satisfaction with it diminished.
I see retribution as a nice consequence of passion. And it should be. Because passion is a driver to make things going better, faster, stronger.
Equity is also a way to be compensated by your effort. If the company is rocketing 🚀, you can get back your investment converted into money. But be careful, getting back your investment by getting equities is a long way and this process can be illusive.
Above all, I think that recognition of dedication is atheist best and a long-term solution to be rewarded. Gratitude can save you money eventually.
Having said, being underpaid is certainly a way of not being satisfied with the return on the effort.
💡 Tip: You can have an idea of what is the average salary for a position you’re looking for by looking at payscale or glassdoor.
Conclusion
In my opinion, having at least two of the above reasons is a reasonable way to find satisfaction.
Being passionate about a job is a chance. We should not let a bad environment and routine ruin it.
We should find a company that respects us and that maintains a balance between our work and our personal space.
We can decide on our career, what we are doing and where. The sooner we are working on it by checking company’s, contacting and meeting people or companies that can raise your interest, the sooner you’ll find fulfillment in your job.
And when you’ve found it, keep it up by asking yourself every month, “Is it still worth waking up every morning for this job?“.
At Alan, I found these 3 ways at the same time :
- We are working to improve people’s health.
- The company is made up of talented people which are motivating and inspiring.
- It is well compensated 🇫🇷 (salary + equity + gratitude 💚).
We’re hiring. If you’re interested to work with us, keep me in touch 🙂