Once you have identified your unique genius, the challenge becomes how to find that often-elusive intersection between your genius and that “unmet need” in the world, so that someone will pay you to work in a way that uses your genius. But by identifying and labeling your genius, Richards says, you gain in confidence and in the ability to articulate just how you can contribute in those situations. Your heart gets into alignment with your work, and suddenly work looks more like play.

The Alarm-Clock Test

This, then, begs the question: What is the meaning of “meaningful?” To answer questions like that, you can apply the Alarm-Clock Test. If the alarm clock rings and you’re already out of bed getting ready for work because you are thrilled by what you’re doing and each new day on the job is certain to provide some worthy experience, then the chances are pretty good that you’re somewhere near that sweet spot—regardless of the size of the enterprise that employs you.

But if you’re failing the Alarm-Clock Test—not some of the time, but all the time—looking for a different kind of work makes sense. These days, more and more people in that situation are turning toward self-employment opportunities as the key to matching up purpose with genius. All the challenges of figuring out what to do and how best to do it come along with that change.

What Will Your Story Be?

To get a better understanding of your relationship with meaningful work, Mark Guterman, co-founder of MeaningfulCareers.com, suggests imagining a future situation in which you will be telling others your story of how work and meaning finally came together for you.

To prepare the story, he suggests reflecting on questions such as the following:

• How is your soul enriched and enlivened through your work?
• How does your work contribute to the future?
• How does your sense of God show up and inform your work?
• For whom do you work?
• How has your relationship with work changed over the course of your life?
• What role has serendipity, coincidence, luck, etc., played in your work life?
• How have fun, play, humor, etc., been a part of meaningful work?
• Do you have a philosophy, mission, vision, etc. that guides your work life? If so, what is it and how did you come to it?
• What poetry, quotes, sayings, prayers, music, spiritual writings, pictures, photographs, paintings, etc. represent and/or guide your work life? How do they inform your work?

Finding meaningful work is often a lifelong process, as we see from Po Bronson’s What Should I Do With My Life, which chronicles the lives of those who have found it, often later in life or after a life crisis or a very deliberate effort.

“Finding the ‘sweet spot’ is an iterative process,” Bronson explains. “You catalogue what you know to be your gifts and passions (i.e., your genius), research what is needed, and keep at it until you find an overlap. Then you see if the overlap is viable. If it is, you’re there. If not, you keep looking. This can be a lifetime process, but if we're diligent, we can find the sweet spot.”