Dedicate your work to what you stand “for”
My mom worked as a banker for over 40 years. For almost two decades of her career, she had the role of business account manager. Over that time, she provided counsel to and approved loans for thousands of business owners, novice and experienced alike. In terms of having a job that would allow you to “see behind the curtain” of a company’s intimate business dealings, she assures me she’s “seen it all”. When I was much younger, I remember asking her, “Mom, there are so many businesses, how do they all make money?” Her reply was matter-of-fact, “They don’t.” (If from this you surmise I entered into my own business carrying some familial beliefs about finances that I would have to unravel, you would be correct.)
On top of motherly advice, her profession meant that over the years, she also gave me a lot of well-meaning business advice. And of course, I did what many children do with parental advice – I ignored it. One of the simpler pieces of advice she offered was when it came to naming my business. She encouraged me to come up with a short business name. There’s all kinds of reasons why this is sage advice, but I disregarded her wisdom and came up with one of the longest business names you will ever find:
The New School for Inspired Work
Despite my nonconformist nature, I did not do it to be contrary. I just couldn’t find a way to elegantly condense the expansiveness of my idea into fewer words. The name is so long, it usually exceeds the maximum character count allowed in data fields, which is why you won’t see the word “The” in my business name in your email inbox or on my social accounts. This wasn’t something I accounted for when I chose the name because when I started this business all those years ago, most online platforms were barely yet a thing. But that doesn’t mean I picked the name haphazardly. In fact, I spent months coming up with it and I chose every word with great care.
What’s in a name
When I first started this business, I knew the “gap” I wanted to fulfill, which was to help people align what they do in the world with who they are within. However, I didn’t yet know what form my offerings were going to take. In fact, it was the process of naming the business itself that informed the entire concept of my own work, quite literally.
First off, I explored all kinds of different “containers” until I landed on the idea of it being a school. It made sense as the role I felt most identified with at the time was “teacher”. Once I chose the container to be a school, it was obvious that my approach to learning would align with my vision of a new paradigm for humanity. With that set, then I had to determine what I was going to teach at this school. That question was what led to me receiving the most significant piece of clarity of my life. It was when I realized the concept of “inspired work”, which has since reshaped my entire existence in ways I could have never even imagined.
If I break down my business name, every word was chosen with intention:
- The: Because it is the only one of its kind
- New: Because it is based in the principles of the new paradigm
- School: Because it is a space dedicated to exploration and growth
- For: Because it stands “for” the unfolding of a possibility
- Inspired: Because it is consciousness expressing through our human experience
- Work: Because it is all-encompassing, broader than just a job, career, or business
Out of the six words in my business name, the one that might seem most insignificant is actually one of the most important. I am referring to the word “for”. When naming the business, I considered whether this was a school “of” inspired work or “for” inspired work. In the end, the choice was simple.
The word “of” indicates possession as if the school was the keeper of the knowledge and people had to come to “get the answers”. That is most certainly not what my work is about. Whereas, the word “for” points to a possibility to live into. I created the school with the intention of supporting people in the ever-unfolding realization of their own inspired work. Everything I do in my business – in my life, actually – is toward that intended outcome.
This means I stand for all humans who want to:
- Utilize their inherent strengths, gifts, and talents in service to others
- Connect with their life-giving source of energy
- Embrace their creator nature
- Express their whole selves in their work
- Stand in their sovereignty
- Create work that moves humanity forward
- Claim their valuable contribution
- Live joyfully and revel in the unfolding of their life
- Remember that their existence matters
- Build the beautiful world our hearts know is possible
Ultimately, I would come to understand that my work is about helping others to identify what it is that they stand for, which then becomes the work they joyfully commit to living, as well.
Determine what you stand for
To embark on the journey of discovering, creating, and living your inspired work can be a challenging path, but one that is chosen quite intentionally by those who take it. One of the things that helps to endure the inevitable bruises caused by the bumps in the road is to be closely connected with what matters to you more than your own identity. When you stand for something it means you will breathe your life-force energy into it and birth it into being. You will tend to it with your heart and soul. You will dedicate yourself to its survival. Its existence becomes as important as your own, if not more.
When you stand for something, it matters to you more than your own identity.
To know what would make your work this meaningful requires you to be in relationship with your heart. It knows. Ask your heart to tell you what stokes its fire. What ignites its passion? What opens it so wide that the whole universe can pour itself through your being?
If at this point, your heart remains stubbornly closed in service to protecting you, then the way to access its wisdom is by allowing your heart to be broken. In the words of Bono, “a heart that is broken is a heart that is open.” Our pain points us to what wants to be healed within us. So, ask yourself what breaks your heart and then explore the deeper reasons as to why. Your answers will typically expose what truly matters to you.
Ask yourself what breaks your heart and then explore the deeper reasons as to why.
As an example, say you saw a bunny lying dead on the side of the road (like I did yesterday). Would the experience evoke heartache? If yes, what are the reasons why? For me, when I saw that poor dear creature left for dead on the side of the road, instinctively I smacked my hand on the steering wheel, yelled out “No!”, and then cried. My tears were real. I felt sorrow for a once vibrant being whose life was taken from them. I felt the deep pang of abandonment from whoever ran it over and then left the body on the side of the road to rot. I felt anger about the lack of care for that tender being’s dignity.
I feel similarly for those humans whose life-force is being slowly depleted by their work. For those who are trapped in meaningless jobs, being used and discarded once their energy is spent. I know this pain. It was also what I once lived – and vowed to never again. My pain is why now I stand for inspired work. My work has become a pathway to realizing the aliveness that is my true birthright and for that of everyone. And I will stand for this until my own last breath.
