One day I was reading about James Cook’s expedition. I felt excited imagining that I’m there, filling blank spots on the map. It particularly resonated with me, because I’m also a cartographer by trade. I thought, how amazing would it be if my work had such a huge impact on humanity. And out of the sudden, I felt bad about myself thinking that my work actually doesn’t mean that much.
At that time I was mainly implementing the backend for the app to conform to the new german e-commerce law (with a lot of edge cases to cover 😬) as well as managing accounts of B2B relationships. That didn’t feel important and innovative to me. The only benefit it could bring would be money.
And then something happened. I work fully remote. But once a year a company organizes an event where the whole company meets in person. There are workshops, strategy meetings and team building activities. The company works in an education field.
During the strategy meeting I realized something. I knew the company’s vision was to “educate the world”. I totally agree with that statement. But the founders mentioned how important are B2B relationships to the company’s growth. By improving the B2B part of the product, we can grow as a company and as a result get closer to achieving the vision of making learning accessible to EVERYONE (and not only B2B customers).
Nothing really changed afterwards. I’m still fighting with things similar to the e-commerce law, I’m still managing B2B accounts. But now I feel intrinsic motivation, because my work has some input into bringing the company closer to its vision. And I feel I also take part in educating the world. It’s all about the story that we tell to ourselves that can drive us. But it works for me.
