How to Craft a Job You Love

With books, movies, or music, I’m a tough customer. If I’m not jazzed in minutes, I’m moving onto the next. There are too many choices for me to stick with something that's not lighting me up. A job, however, is not a song. It’s not so easy to change. But unlike a book or a movie, which you only see as a finished product, a job is malleable. You can bend and shape it to your will. The way you do this is through job crafting. A term coined by Jane Dutton and Amy Wrzesniewski, job crafting is the act of customizing your job to better fit your motives, strengths, and passions.

Your job, presumably, has a formal description. But that description’s purpose is to capture what you need to deliver – client outcomes, financial reports, HR processes, etc. But how you get that done – the tasks, activities, and interactions you engage in – is up to you to mold. As long as you deliver that outcome.

I used to work in Operations Management for a logistics company. I had to ensure thousands of items made it onto shelves daily. Many of my peers did this through a focus on technology and process efficiency. But my strengths and passions aligned better to people. And so I achieved success by focusing on talent – hiring, training, and rewarding them – to ensure the same outcomes were achieved.

So if your job has you dreading Monday mornings, here are 5 steps you can take to craft a job you love without having to update your resume:

Step #1: Decide to act

Job crafting begins with a choice. You must choose to recognize that jobs are not jail. You are not a prisoner to the description on the page. Every job can be bent, twisted, or molded within its boundaries.

“Crafting” is an action verb. So don’t sit back and wait for something to happen. Choose to take action. Begin with a commitment to yourself. Repeat after me: “I will take responsibility for crafting this job into something I love.”

Look at you – already making things happen!

You are not a prisoner to the description on the page. Every job can be bent, twisted, or molded within its boundaries.

Step #2: Choose what to chase

Job crafting isn’t about changing your title, function, or salary. It's about infusing more joy into your days. And to infuse joy, you must first know what brings you joy – the tasks, actions, projects, conversations, interactions, challenges, etc. that fuel your energy tank. It’s about finding the things you love, you’re good at, you want to be known for.

So start by asking yourself some reflective questions:

• When do I find...

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