When I wrote Bring Work to Life by Bringing Life to Work, I was living the dream. I was wife, mother, student, working professional, and participant in my community – all of that and more. It was a full life. It still is. But it didn’t lend itself to the limited containers of ‘work’ and ‘life’. Balancing work and life connotes a zero-sum game where we’re always in that precarious spot of trying to find the equilibrium between two sides of a scale. It’s really more about living fully and not having to make trade-offs at all.

Work is part of a full life, and work and life always come together. I was reminded of this yet again lately. Our daughter is a senior in high school which means it’s college application time. One of her college application includes this question: What is your favorite word and why? Hmmm…that’s an interesting one. It made me ponder my own answer to that question. I’m geeky enough to have been an English major in undergrad. I love words – so it made me think.

Words matter, they shape how we perceive the world and therefore the experience we create. They matter to how we integrate (not balance!) work and life. Ultimately, they are instructive in how we Bring Work to Life! Here are some of my favorites:

Bringing Work to Life is Perspective – Karoshi is a Japanese word meaning ‘death from overwork’. We are stressed and we experience a tremendous amount of spillover from work to life and life to work. As a society, we just don’t have this work-life thing figured out. But I think we can bring meaning to our work and take ownership for it. Let’s assume that we can have it all and that we can take ownership for creating meaning no matter what kind of work we do. Arbejdsglæde is a Danish word meaning ‘happiness at work’. Let’s start with the assumption that we can create this kind of experience for ourselves. We have the power to create our own meaning and fulfillment versus waiting for the just-right conditions to present themselves to us.

Bringing Work to Life is Purpose – Ikigai is a Japanese word meaning ‘a reason to wake up in the morning’. We all want to build cathedrals, not just lay bricks. Let’s think of our work and how it ladders up to something important. The heating and cooling company that isn’t just installing air conditioners or fixing furnaces, but creating warmth and comfort for families. Or consider the person on the manufacturing line making the screw which goes into the mechanism which goes into crank which goes into the hospital bed which is used to regularly turn patients so they don’t get bedsores or gangrene. Now that’s purpose. All work has dignity and connecting to this broader purpose contributes to a sense of fulfillment.

Bringing Work to Life is Passion – Yada is a Hebrew word meaning ‘to know and to do’. It’s the idea that we are known by our actions and that we must live what we know – and if we’re not living something, then we don’t really know it afterall. I knew a leader years ago who used to say ‘You’re behaving so loudly, I can’t hear what you’re saying’. Finding fulfilment involves living our passion and doing what we love. Figuring out what we should do can feel big and overwhelming, but really it’s just determining what we’re good at and doing that. We serve the world by being our best selves and doing our best at whatever we like best to do.

Bringing Work to Life is People – Avodah is another Hebrew word meaning ‘work, service, and worship’. We are neurologically wired for belonging. Fulfillment comes from feeling connected with people and knowing how our work serves others and matters to others. This service is a form of worship. It’s not enough to simply serve some esoteric corporate mission statement. What we do has to matter to people and our community. Statistically, those who serve others are happier and more fulfilled. And even when we make contributions outside of our paid employment, we tend to report more fulfillment in our jobs. There is a positive spillover effect. Find a way to have your gifts serve others – focus on how you give, serve, and contribute.

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is today. Bringing Work to Life by taking action now and planting trees. Challenge your perspective. Focus on the bigger picture of your purpose. Follow your passion. Serve people. Plant some trees!