We have become obsessed with finding purpose.
We ask young people to discover it before choosing a career and professionals whether their jobs align with it. Organizations craft purpose statements hoping employees will feel connected to something bigger. But perhaps we have made purpose too grand. What if purpose is not always discovered in a dramatic moment of clarity? What if meaning is closer, like in the work already sitting on our desks?
After more than two decades of leading people and organizations, I believe we may be asking the wrong question. Perhaps we should ask: “What is the purpose of what I am doing today?”
We can refer to this as the Micro-Purpose Method: the deliberate practice of finding the meaning, contribution or value embedded in the task immediately before us. It is not a
replacement for “discovering” our broader life purpose. Rather, it brings purpose down from
the abstract and into everyday life.
Consider some of the jobs we encounter every day in Nigeria. There are occupations we
instinctively classify as “dirty jobs.” Think about the people who sweep our streets, clear
drainage, collect refuse or clean public spaces.
We may appreciate the result of their work
without appreciating the work itself. Sometimes, we attach social status to the occupation,
treating the person doing it as though the perceived dirtiness of the job somehow transfers to them.
Yet consider what happens when that work is not done. The environment becomes less healthy, less livable, and flood becomes a stark reminder that the work we dismiss as “dirty” is actually part of the infrastructure that keeps society functioning. In countries with more formalized sanitation systems, such workers are often viewed primarily as performing an essential public service. The task has not changed, but the meaning attached to it has.
The same applies within organizations. Consider the employee processing transactions,
preparing reports, responding to customers or reconciling accounts. The work may feel
mundane, but the task is rarely the whole story.
A transaction may protect someone’s livelihood. A report may inform a critical decision. A customer-service interaction may restore
someone’s trust. The seemingly routine task may be one small link in a much larger chain of
value.
Research supports this connection. A Havard Business review of meaningful work found that meaningfulness can matter as much as, and sometimes more than, conventional job
attributes such as pay, promotion and working conditions, with meaningful work associated
with greater engagement, commitment and satisfaction. The important word is experience.
Meaning is not contained in a job title but in the impact of the execution of the job and the
relationships built in the course of doing the work.
Daniel Pink, in Drive , identifies autonomy, mastery and purpose as important elements of
intrinsic motivation. Mastery, the desire to become better at something worthwhile, is
particularly relevant. Sometimes meaning emerges not because we have found our “dream
job,” but because we have become good enough to appreciate the value we create. James
Clear’s Atomic habits offers another useful lens. His work demonstrates how small, repeated
behaviours can shape both our outcomes and our identity. Together, these ideas present
something interesting: Purpose gives direction.
Habits give consistency. Mastery gives
competence. And Meaning gives significance to the journey.
This is where Micro-Purpose becomes useful. Ask three questions about the task before you:
Who benefits from this? What value does it create? What does doing it well help me become?
The first takes us beyond ourselves. The second shifts our attention from activity to contribution.
There is a difference between saying, “ I am preparing a report ,” and “ I am preparing information that will help the business make better decisions.”
The task has not changed, only our relationship with it has. And the third connects work back to personal growth, helping you recognize how the task develops your competence, whether in analysis, empathy, or leadership. This matters particularly in Nigeria, where professionals navigate demanding workplaces, economic pressures and limited resources while trying to build meaningful careers. The answer is not always to resign and start again. Sometimes, the
opportunity is to understand the value of what we already do and become better at it.
That does not mean romanticizing bad work. Purpose cannot excuse poor pay, unsafe
conditions, toxic leadership or unreasonable workloads. Telling a sanitation worker to “find
purpose” while denying them dignity and fair compensation completely misses the point.
Meaningful work requires personal perspective, but it also requires systems that respect the
person doing the work. This is where leaders have a responsibility. An organization cannot
simply declare, “ We exist to change lives,” and expect employees to feel purposeful. Leaders
must help people see the connection between everyday responsibilities and the customers,
communities and outcomes their work ultimately affects.
A cleaner contributes to safety and dignity. A security officer protects people and assets. An
analyst informs decisions. A customer-service professional shapes someone’s experience of the
organization. When people can see the consequence of their contribution, the ordinary begins to carry significance.
We may not always get to choose every task. But we can often choose the excellence with which we approach it, the impact of our contribution, and the meaning and the joy we derive from doing it well.
’Kunbi Adeoti is a highly accomplished Strategic HR and Business Leader with more than 24 years of experience driving transformation across startups, multinationals, and large conglomerates in Sub-Saharan Africa. She has a proven track record in building future-ready organizations through restructuring, mergers & acquisitions integration, digital transformation, and leadership development.
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