Business Building Corner

Cultivating meaningful lives


The majority of adults spend the highest percentage of time per day, working. So what is the end result of all this work? Of course there is the earnings aspect, but beyond that, does work help cultivate meaningful lives?

Social psychologist Jennifer Aaker, together with colleagues at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, published in the Journal of Positive Pyschology, research about how people spend their time and what experiences they cultivate.

"Happiness was linked to being a taker rather than a giver, whereas meaningfulness went with being a giver rather than a taker," Aaker wrote. In a survey of 397 people over a month-long period, the researchers found five key differences between meaningfulness and happiness.

  1. Getting what you want and need may produce happiness but not necessarily, meaning.
  2. Happiness is connected to the present, while meaningfulness involves the past, present and future. When people think a lot about the past or the future, they find more meaning but are less happy. When people think about the present, they are happier.
  3. Deep relationships increase meaningfulness. Time with loved ones may require problem solving, while time with friends may simply be fun.
  1. Meaningful lives hold lots of stressful events and issues, which can actually produce unhappiness. Even though lack of stress may produce more happiness, meaningfulness decreases.
  2. A meaningful life is tied more deeply to a valued sense of self and purpose in the context of community. It is about expressing and defining your role in relation to others. A happy life may simply be full of what you want.

Taking these five points into consideration, let’s examine the work life of an LPGN IBO.

  1. When an LPGN IBO gets what is desired, it generally means signing up a new IBO or at minimum, selling products, especially Packs. This produces happiness but also meaning, because the new enrollee now has the chance to improve health, and the LPGN IBO is the one who enabled this possibility.
  2. When an LPGN IBO links past, present and future, there is no reason to be less happy than when thinking only about the present. No matter how unpleasant the past was, the present with LPGN is a vehicle to a happy future—as success is achieved, increasing numbers of people are helped and who can refute the meaningfulness of that?
  3. Many LPGN IBOs become lifelong friends. In fact, that is precisely why IBOs are included as part of the extensive LPGN Family. When work revolves around friends, there is happiness. When work relationships deepen, there is meaningfulness.
  1. Being an LPGN IBO holds its share of stress. Every IBO needs to learn to deal with rejection, as not everyone is going to be interested in building a business. Then when you hit the jackpot with a committed, dedicated new enrollee who wants to build with you, doesn’t that give meaning to your hard work?
  2. All jobs produce some kind of income. Many are not meaningful, which is fine when work is simply about survival. However, when work allows you to give back to the community, it gives you a sense of purpose. When an LPGN IBO sees more and more people regain health, come out of depression, be able to support themselves for the first time, or feel happiness, there is a wonderful sense of purpose and meaning. When an LPGN IBO makes enough money to donate to a personal cause, happiness and meaningfulness come together.

How do you cultivate meaningfulness in your life?