From Impossible To Inevitable

Chapter 24Combining Money and Meaning

Fulfillment comes from applying your “full self.” Are you treating work as something completely separate from life? Or is life interfering with your work? Combine them to make the most of both. Work can enhance life, and life can enhance work.

Meaning Gone Wrong

It's cool now for people to expect their work to be purposeful, to be meaningful. As it should be. And Meaning Snobs can go on and on about how meaning is more important than money, or how impactful their gigs are … and that's great.

The truth is, putting meaning first, second, and third on your list of priorities won't make you money. For Avanoo's Daniel Jacobs, building a meaningful business didn't take off until he put money first, realizing that without being able to create predictable revenue or funding, nothing he created—however inspiring or meaningful—would last.

Putting meaning first, second, and third on your list of priorities won't make you money.

Luckily, there are many ways to make money meaningful. There's nothing like the fear of seeing your kids go hungry—or a payroll date coming up, or visiting people in dire need, or struggling to raise money for your nonprofit project—to get you over your hesitation in bringing in sales in new ways and see new meaning in money.

Here's one test you can run to see if someone's using “meaning” as an excuse to stay comfortable and avoid growing.

Imagine one of your friends, for example, one who means well and wants to help ...