Martin Luther King, Jr. and Career Happiness

I thought it would be an interesting challenge to connect today's holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to my blog on finding career happiness.

Hmm..on the one hand you have a legendary leader of the civil rights movement, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who dedicated his brief life to ensuring equality, justice and peace for all. The lessons of his life and death are dramatic, historical symbols, taught to schoolchildren and paid tribute to across the country every year on this day.

On the other hand, you have going to a job you really love.

Clearly we'll have to get creative to make a connection. But I believe that if we focus on the essence of the man and put aside for this exercise the particulars of his life's work, we can get there.

Last night my second-grader asked me to read a book to her called Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King. It's a simple picture book by Jean Marzollo, one that my daughter has no trouble reading on her own but wanted to share with me last night on King's birthday. A passage from that book got me thinking:

"Martin Luther King had a special talent for leadership. When he spoke, people listened."

Dr. King was a man who took his natural-born talents as far as possible. He used his gifts of leadership and oration to serve others. He tenaciously pursued a magnificent dream in the face of great odds. He was courageous and took many risks when he could have chosen to play it safer.

Dr. King lived his life with great passion and was an activist who seemed to waste few opportunities.

Whether or not we aspire to impact others at a national or historical level, we all possess talents and gifts. And when we tenaciously seek opportunities to apply those talents and gifts full-bore, the possibilities for greatness are limitless.

Our life's work is often our most concentrated opportunity to impact the world with our natural-born talents. When we are happy in our life's work it is often because we are using many of our talents and skills in ways that bring a sense of deep fulfillment and contribution.

It doesn't matter whether we are leading the civil rights movement, teaching children how to do math, helping a customer or cleaning garbage off the streets, finding work that we feel in some ways we are  meant to do (or finding unpaid work that we feel we are meant to do) is good for us and good for the world.

The life of Martin Luther King Jr. has a lot for us to reflect on regarding the history of civil rights and our current role in fulfilling his dreams for equality and justice. But it also has a lot to teach us about living our lives with passion, persistence and courage.

Heather Mundell
Dream Big Coaching Services
www.dreambigcoaching.com
heather@dreambigcoaching.com