Fulfilment can be found in many aspects of life, such as in our personal lives and in our work lives. It’s the feeling of satisfaction and understanding our value and influence in any given scenario. This is not something that people often reflect on, asking themselves, “Do I truly feel fulfilled?”
In order to understand how we can reflect on our own fulfilment, we need to break down the components that make up that feeling. This will provide us with more specific questions that can help us answer the overarching question. Those components are Satisfaction, Complexity, and Autonomy.
Satisfaction
When we achieve something that we set ourselves out to do and we have a sense of accomplishment, we can call that satisfaction. We can monitor our own efforts and personal experience to measure how we feel.
We can ask ourselves questions like, “Did I accomplish what I set out to do?”, and “Did I do my best?”. Answering these simple Yes or No questions can help us to reinforce the idea that we do (or do not) feel satisfied.
Complexity
When a successful outcome of a certain task or situation is dependent on multiple factors and challenges, we can call that complexity. We can monitor our ability to use deeper levels of critical thinking and to make strategic decisions to measure our influence and effectiveness.
We can ask ourselves questions like, “Does this feel challenging?” and “Do I influence the outcome?”. Answering these simple Yes or No questions can help us to reinforce the idea that we are (or are not) completing challenging work that requires our expertise.
Autonomy
When we are able to make informed decisions using our own judgement and based on our own values, we can call that autonomy. We can monitor the control we have over our own choices to determine our independence.
We can ask ourselves questions like, “Do I have freedom?” and “Can I take responsibility?”. Answering these simple Yes or No questions can help us to reinforce the idea that we can (or cannot) take initiative and express our opinions.
Conclusion
Now that we understand the components that make up the feeling of fulfilment, we can begin to reflect on them individually to build up our understanding of whether we feel fulfilled, or not.
Once we have a clear Yes or No answer, we can start to consider changes that we can make in the different aspects or our lives to help us get closer to that feeling of fulfilment.
Let us know if you would like some further advice on how we can start thinking about changes in these three areas or in certain aspects of life
And, as always, take it easy,
Nathan 🌱
Technal Squared 