#470 Squiggly Short: Why ‘Finding Your Purpose’ Might Be Holding You Back

Summary

Squiggly Careers #470 Squiggly Short: Why ‘Finding Your Purpose’ Might Be Holding You Back

Release Date: March 27, 2025
Hosts: Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis (The Squiggly Career)

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Episode Overview

In this Squiggly Short, Helen and Sarah challenge the pressure to “find your purpose” at work and offer a more approachable, actionable framework for connecting with what makes work meaningful. Rather than obsessively searching for a singular, all-defining purpose, they advocate for a focus on “purposeful work” and finding your unique “Squiggly Career Sweet Spot.” The episode provides practical reflections and questions to help listeners make better career decisions, boost motivation, and remove anxiety around purpose.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Problem with the “Purpose Pressure”

• Research Context: McKinsey reports that while 85% of people feel some connection to purpose at work, only 65% can clearly articulate it.
  ([00:02])

• Hosts Highlight Anxiety and Guilt:

  • Many listeners worry they should have a clear purpose—even after years in the workplace.
  • People feel unsure if their curiosity about diverse topics is “wrong” or if it’s a problem when their purpose differs from their company's.
  • “There’s this like, purpose pressure.” — Sarah ([01:41])

• Helen and Sarah’s alternative view:

  • It’s common, normal—and even refreshing—not to have a perfectly clear purpose.
  • “No and no. I feel like we’re really the exception to the rule.” — Sarah ([00:37])
  • It can feel abstract or disconnected from daily work; having a shared company purpose doesn’t always align with personal purpose.
  • “Where’s my individual take on that? It doesn’t feel quite unique to me...” — Helen ([01:30])

Why Aim for “Purposeful Work?”

• Reframing Purpose:

  • Focus on what purposeful work means to you, not just ticking a purpose box.

• Three Reasons Purposeful Work Matters: ([02:19])

  1. Better Career Decisions: Acts as a filter for future choices.
  2. Motivation on Bad Days: Helps you remember why your work matters, even when it’s tough.
  3. Deeper Commitment: Provides a sense of care, motivation, and commitment beyond just “enjoying your job.”
     “If we don’t go beyond that, I wonder if we are missing a bit of a trick.” — Helen ([02:56])

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The Squiggly Career Sweet Spot Framework

A tool to reflect on what makes work feel meaningful to you – rooted in both internal and external factors.

Internal Elements ([03:05])

• 1. Values:

  • What motivates and drives you? What matters most?
  • Example values: freedom (“being unconstrained about my choices”), achievement (“lots of wins along the way”).
  • “If you have not done work on your values, do not worry. We have a free toolkit... we will link that in our pod sheet.” — Helen ([03:30])

• 2. Strengths:

  • What work gives you energy? What do you want to be known for?
  • If unclear, ask colleagues: “When do you see me at my best?”
  • “Just remember, strengths are your choice. So it is your decision about what you want to be known for. Just take their answers as some data for your development.” — Helen ([04:13])

External Elements ([04:23])

• 3. Improvement:

  • What do you want to make better through your work?
  • No right or wrong answer; it could be making processes efficient, improving writing, making things more useful, etc.
  • “I am really driven by what we do, being used and useful.” — Sarah ([04:40])

• 4. Impact:

  • What do you care about that is bigger than you?
  • Could relate to your organization, your industry, a group, or the wider world.
  • If it’s something neither you nor your company can achieve alone, you’re thinking big enough.
  • “A good question here, I think to think about is like this is something that you can’t achieve alone and probably your company can’t achieve alone.” — Sarah ([05:43])

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Practical Experiment & Resources

• Helen mentions testing the “squiggly sweet spot” as a guinea pig in their full-length episode, using ChatGPT to turn insights into a concise statement.
  • “If you want to learn a little bit more about what that told us... give it a go, make sure you listen to that full episode.” — Helen ([06:21])
• Listeners are encouraged to check the podcast notes for the free toolkit on values.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “No and no. I feel like we’re really the exception to the rule.” — Sarah ([00:37])
• “There’s this like, purpose pressure.” — Sarah ([01:41])
• “Purpose becomes a problem rather than something that helps us progress in our career, which is what we really want.” — Helen ([02:12])
• “If we don’t go beyond [enjoying your job], I wonder if we are missing a bit of a trick.” — Helen ([02:56])
• “Just remember, strengths are your choice. So it is your decision about what you want to be known for.” — Helen ([04:13])
• “A good question here... is this is something that you can’t achieve alone and probably your company can’t achieve alone.” — Sarah ([05:43])
• “We hope you found that useful and that maybe you’re a bit more purposeful at work as a result.” — Sarah ([06:39])

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Episode Structure & Timestamps

• 00:02 – Introduction to topic & McKinsey statistic on purpose
• 00:37 – 01:41 – Personal reflections on why purpose feels abstract or pressured
• 01:41 – 02:19 – Listener questions and the “purpose pressure” in the workplace
• 02:19 – 03:05 – The value of focusing on purposeful work (why it’s useful)
• 03:05 – 04:23 – Internal elements: values and strengths with practical tips
• 04:23 – 06:21 – External elements: improvement and impact
• 06:21 – 06:39 – Reference to further resources and sign-off

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Summary

This episode challenges the conventional wisdom that everyone should have a clear, grand “purpose” at work. Helen and Sarah normalize uncertainty, encourage a broader, more personal sense of “purposeful work,” and empower listeners to use the “Squiggly Sweet Spot” framework to discover what really energizes and motivates them. The tone is practical, reassuring, and refreshingly anti-perfectionist—a must-listen for anyone feeling stuck or anxious about “finding their purpose.”

Transcript

[A]

Do you need a purpose at work? That is a topic that we have been talking about this week. So we've been diving into the world of purpose and thinking about what do we really think and what is actually really helpful. So there's some research that's been done by McKinsey which says that 85% of people have this kind of connection, understanding of having a purpose at work. But actually only 65% of people could articulate it completely clearly so that they know it for themselves or could share it with other people. So, Sarah, where do you sit on your purpose? Can you clearly articulate it to other people? Do you think we need one?

[B]

So, no and no. I feel like here we're really the exception to the rule. I've read quite a lot about kind of purpose and passion. I think those two kind of phrases get kind of woven together. And my conclusion is, what's more useful is. Is to think about what does purposeful work mean to me. And I think the reason for that is when you say purpose, I find it a bit abstract, not that connected to my day to day. We have a purpose at. Amazing, if that. I feel very connected to. To kind of make careers better for everyone. But then I don't go, oh, but that's my personal.

[A]

That's what I live for, that's what I work for.

[B]

I sort of do live for it quite a lot of the time. But even then, even though that's like our company and that's something we came up with together, even then I sort of go, oh, I don't feel that comfortable. Or I just. I would kind of question the usefulness of going, I'm going to keep coming back to that as like a filter for my decisions.

[A]

Well, also, I feel like we're different people with different motivations. And so if that's our company purpose, I'm like, well, where's my individual take on that? It doesn't feel quite unique to me if we've got the same thing and.

[B]

It'S a popular topic. So I think that then has prompted lots of questions from our listeners and kind of viewers. So people saying things like, well, I've worked for 20 years, but I feel like I don't have a purpose. Am I getting something wrong? So there's this like, purpose pressure. There's some people saying, oh, but I'm interested and curious about loads of stuff and is that a problem? You know, I want to develop in different directions. And then some other people saying they feel like their purpose is not the same as their company's purpose and is that a problem? So I sort of wonder if sometimes we're getting distracted by some of the wrong questions.

[A]

Purpose becomes a problem rather than something that helps us progress in our career, which is what we really want. We want purpose to be a guide.

[B]

So we think purposeful work is useful for three reasons. One, you'll make better decisions and choices for your career. They're a great filter for your future. When you sort of know what purposeful work looks like, you can aim to do more of it. Two, on a busy or a bad day, I think reminding yourself of what purposeful work looks and feels like, sort of why you're doing what you're doing, can be really helpful. And I do think it gives you a sense of care, motivation and commitment that isn't there if you just go, oh yeah, like I enjoy my job. If we don't go beyond that, I wonder if we are kind of missing a bit of a trick.

[A]

So the exercise that we think is really useful to connect you to your purposeful work is to start to discover your squiggly career sweet spot. And there are two aspects to finding your squiggly career sweet spot. There's some reflections on some internal elements and then some external elements. So I'll do the internal and Sarah can do the external. So on the internal front, first thing for you to think about is what are your values? These the things that motivate and drive you. You might have done some work on this, so you might already know them. So for example, some of mine are freedom, which means being unconstrained about my choices and achievement, which means lots of wins along the way. If you have not done work on your values, do not worry. We have a free toolkit which will work you through the steps and we will link that in our pod sheet so you can download that and do that after today. So that's the values bit, what motivates and drives you. The second bit on the internal side is about strength. So what work gives you energy and what do you want to be known for? Again, you might know this, you might be really clear. So I can say, one of the things I want to be known for is making things happen. Or you might be starting from scratch with your strengths and thinking, I don't know what my strengths are, don't worry. We'd suggest go and get some strengths based feedback. It's the easiest way sometimes to know what your strengths are is to see the kind of what other people see when they work with you. So just ask a couple of people, when do you see me at my best? But just remember, strengths are your choice. So it is your decision about what you want to be known for. Just take their answers as some data for your development.

[B]

So now thinking more outward looking and sort of external to you. Starting by asking a question around improvement. What do you want to make better from the work that you do? So that could be better in terms of I want to do better writing, I want processes to be more efficient, I want our operations to be even better for our customers. What, whatever that sounds like for you is the right answer. So again, there's no sort of, oh, it must look like this if I was answering it. I would probably start with something around just, I want everything to be more useful. I think I am really driven by what we do, being used and useful. And so everything that is kind of my filter. So is this going to be useful for somebody in a meeting, in their day job, in a team meeting? So that's kind of things I want to make better learning and career development every day. And the last area of your squiggly sweet spot is about the impact that you want to have. And this is more about what do you care about that is bigger than you? So this could be a sense of connection that you feel to the organization that you work for. Not always, but maybe you work for a company where they want to make understanding money more transparent or more open to everyone and you actually might really feel that that's very purposeful. Maybe it's more about a kind of cause that could be outside of your organization, could be more about your industry, or it could be more about a group of people or your community or in the wider world. So however you want to answer that question is sort of right for you. When I think about what I care about, that's bigger than me. A good question here, I think to think about is like this is something that you can't achieve alone and probably your company can't achieve alone. So I think about making learning and development available to everyone, whatever career stage you're at and kind of wherever you come from. Now, that's part of what we tried to do at Amazing if. But we are not all of the answer to that. So if you and your company are all of the answer to this last one, you might not be zooming out enough, you might not be thinking big enough.

[A]

And so we took all of the insights from the squiggly sweet spot because I was the guinea pig in our full episode that we released earlier this week and we put it through ChatGPT, which is a good way of taking all this detail and creating something that's simple, simple, succinct and memorable. So if you want to learn a little bit more about what that told us so that you can give it a go, make sure you listen to that full episode.

[B]

So that's the end of this Squiggly career short. We hope you found that useful and that maybe you're a bit more purposeful at work as a result. We love any fast feedback that you might have for us. We're Helen and sarahquigglycareers.com but that's everything for today, and we'll see you soon.