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Why Sparking your Whynapse will be the second most important hole you fill in your whole life!
Most people have a
hole in their life where their Whynapse© would sit. If
only they knew what and where their Whynapse©was. So, how do
I know?
Obviously, I am
borrowing the basis of my term from the scientific origins of synapse; which is
the minute gap in the brain’s communication system which transmits nerve impulses
to achieve thoughts, reactions, movements and memories. The word
"synapse" is derived from the Greek words "syn" and
"haptein" that mean "together" and "to clasp,"
respectively.
In my Career Dovetail
Formula™, I define the anatomy of ‘The Ahah Moment’ when a person 'clasps' what work they were born to do. This is achieved by bridging that
elusive gap between our vocational identity and marrying this to a destination
in the World of Work which complements these ingredients. The Career Dovetail process implies a journey of docking the two sides of the career decision together.
In the same way, that ‘love at first sight’ is a rare occurrence. This rarely,
if ever, happens in an instant. Hence, I use the pieces of a jigsaw to denote
self-awareness because the picture is not always revealed until we piece each
ingredient together. There is a viscerality to it.
However, the falling
in love metaphor works really well in this instance. Before we meet our ‘life-partner’,
there is a period of, inevitably, being apart. When we become aware of a person
who is receptive and accepts us for who we are, completely. Then we experience
the union of the two separate halves. People frequently liken this as, meeting
our match, realising my better half, instant attraction, passionate chemistry,
to mention a few phrases related to this sparks flying moment. I once heard a
helpful definition of this love of a life-partner; which went something along
the lines of: a person who makes that significant other person complete by enabling the
fulfilment of their potential. And so it is with the notion of finding one’s
calling to do a particular occupation.
Before we encounter
our better half, we know there is a hole deep-down inside each of us which
could be said is a yearning, a longing, a void in our lives which compels so
many of us to quest for the answer. With the answer, in the context of love-matching,
being a person.
Does the same dynamic exist in the world of work? Unless
we inherit a fortune and literally never have to work in our lives, the vast majority
of the population will need to construct
some form of livelihood / work / employment / vocation. In essence, each of us supplies
our ‘talent’ to a market need. In the last twenty years, I have written
extensively on this dynamic of supply and demand. Back in 2004 I started to recognise
that what folks were questing for was their purpose in life.
The biggest obstacle to finding matches such as these, is
their intangibility: Perhaps not quite so portentous as finding our life-partner,
discovering our purpose in life is important, nonetheless. Equally so, is appreciating
our mission. Our purpose is over overarching guiding star; which, we must
accept, will never be held in our hand. Whereas, the skills of learning to
navigate towards it forms the palpability of our mission. Thus, we sculpt our mission
around our character traits, skills, competencies. Our purpose derives from our
values, aspirations, attitudes and dreams.
For example, my favourite
architect, American Frank
Lloyd Wright’s purpose was designing structures that sit in harmony with
humanity and the environment. As such, he pioneered whole architectural movements
and schools of thinking, such as ‘The
Prairie School’. Although he achieved far more than this in his remarkable lifetime,
I love his work because he took an holistic approach. Underpinning his unique
purpose, were the ingredients forming his mission. As a game-changing
innovator, among his repertoire of skills (verbs), he mastered drawing, designing, harmonising,
envisioning, sympathising, researching, synthesising and leading, in accomplishing
the widely acknowledged greatness we recognise as his legacy still.
Much like another of
my all-time favourite innovators and design pioneers, Charles Rennie Mackintosh,
he based much of his inspiration in the organic structures found in nature. In
doing so, he built a reputation for blending ingredients in the blurring of architecture’s
usual delineation points between structure and situation. His designs typify
the bridging of synapse into… as I say in my book… “Work Aesthetics©, …the delight-filled fusion of fabric, function, form
and ‘flow’.”
The Whynapse©
is a phrase I coin to define that space in your life which you yearn
to fill with a sense of mission, purpose and one’s ability to contribute. In
Maslovian thinking, it is defined as one’s ability to individuate, self-actualise
and grow through time in such a way that implies progress. Put simply,
to build traction between the Self and the society of which we are all parts.
Ahead of docking the two-sides of the purpose equation
together, there is a divide: The chemistry of
love and passion has yet to occur. We know this deep-down in our souls because
there are forces which instinctually tell us there are things are still to
happen. This sense of anticipation fuels our quest. We all have it. I experienced this longing to identify
my purpose, to satisfy the longing to maximise my innate potential throughout
the course of my teens and twenties. For me, it was not until I had torn through
35 jobs in the first 32 years of my life that I experienced my epiphany. (#Gratitude!)
People have met me after
a long gap of 25 years and asked what on earth happened. What happened was, I
plugged the hole where once there was the void of my Whynapse©. More
via trial and error than good judgement, I fell upon my calling. Beyond blunder,
I built belief. My purpose, to help as many people as I could in my lifetime to
avoid the toxic pitfalls of not knowing. The holes leading to low self-esteem,
confusion, vicious circles, self-doubt, distraction, frustration and reactivity.
Yet, much like the ‘before and after’ version of a person who
has found their love-match, so it is for the person who decodes their occupational
DNA in the alchemy of epiphany. Tuning-in to their raison d'être. Sparking
knowingness. The most interesting reaction to which is always, “Of course! It’s obvious what I am going to
do with my life! How come I didn’t realise this before now?!”
It would be unrealistic
of me to completely define the notion of Whynapse© here in this
short post. Frankly, because it is such a fresh thought and such a subjective topic,
I feel it would be insincere of me to even try. My task right now, is to get it
out there so that you, the reader, can use it as soon as possible to diagnose
that career itch that you have been trying to scratch for such a long time. The
trick in life is knowing what the holes are and where they are; if ever we are
going to be able to take action. Hence, Whynapse© leapt from deep
instinct. Designed as an umbrella-term covering a multitude of malfunctioning working-lives;
with so many slaves to the mundane. It is the word which defines a hole that so
many people in the population endure day-to-day.
With the result being
so utterly enticing, the point of this post is, ultimately, what are you going
to do about interpreting your Whynapse©? How big is the
gap between you and meaningful work? How in control are you over the direction
of travel of your work-day? Do you value your career attributes? Are there
better-fitting opportunities in the labour market that match your skill-set,
experience, insight, passions, interests, values, qualifications, drive, traits
and work-preferences? Have you been inspired to complete the self-inventory? Are
you career ‘fit’? Above all else, what is your mission, your how? And what is your purpose – your why?
What difference would it make?
Should you need any
guidance in deciphering your Whynapse©, please get in
touch.
(NB: For a FREE career
strategy workshop on: ‘Decoding
the Power of Your Occupational DNA’, here in Brighton, click the link. **Usual price £75.00**)
Duncan Bolam ©1997-2019
Career Dovetail® purposeful propulsion -
strengthening wellbeing by dovetailing more people into sustainable careers ©
1996-2019
