To that end, a lot of people will structure their entire careers specifically around the question of how best to help others, and it’s that kind of altruistic drive that plays a big role in the fact that doctors and nurses exist as distinguished and prominent professional classes.
But what if you aren’t necessarily angling to save people’s lives on a daily basis, but nonetheless want to figure out how to adapt your career to help make other people’s lives better?
Here are some suggestions.
Rein in your ambitions, and begin by taking care of yourself
There’s a certain danger in being too ambitious and utopian when pondering questions of how to “make the world a better place,” or “help other people out,” et cetera. For one thing, the more ambitious and lofty your aims, the more difficult they’ll be to apply, logistically.For another thing, however, ask yourself this – are you particularly good at helping yourself out, or making your life better?
If the answer is “well, not really” then you shouldn’t be spending a lot of your energy trying to externalise things and figuring out how to change other people’s lives for the better. For starters, you might get it wrong.
Begin by reining in your loftiest ambitions, and taking care of yourself, first. Only when you manage to get your own life pretty well organised, should you cast your gaze much further afield.
Earn qualifications that expand your understanding of public and community work
As mentioned in the previous point here; improving people’s lives is typically a fairly complicated process, and one that takes a fair degree of finesse and understanding.If you want to specifically help others in your career, consider investigating and earning qualifications that expand your understanding of public and community work, and make you better able to participate in that way.
If, for example, you are a dental hygienist, earning a Master of Public Health degree might give you the specific know-how you need to leverage that skillset more broadly and in a more philanthropic manner.
Always take your work seriously, and give it your best effort
All jobs (with few possible exceptions) essentially do something useful for someone else. Otherwise payment would not be forthcoming.One implication of this, is that you don’t need to be in a specific industry to make other people’s lives somewhat better through your career. Simply focusing on doing your job as well as possible, and with a high degree of integrity, will make people’s lives better in some sense.
Taking your work seriously and giving it your best effort means the customer will have a better experience, and you’ll be contributing to making the lives of individuals a bit less stressful and irritating, at the very least. Failing to take your job seriously enough, on the other hand, causes unnecessary stress and mayhem.
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