By Angelica Ribeiro, Ph.D.

Being aware of our professional purpose can play an important role in leading us to a happier life at work. That’s because our purpose can reveal elements of our identity that encourage us to live up to our values and create meaningful habits. Let me explain.

My professional purpose is to contribute to (a) language learners’ education by teaching, researching, and sharing knowledge with educators and (b) other people’s happiness by writing books and sharing positivity. After identifying my professional purpose, I realized that it revealed three main elements of my identity: a professor, a researcher, and a writer.

As Gretchen Rubin reminds us in her book Better Than Before, it is important to identify our identity because it can help us live up to our own values. For example, empathy is one of my values. I know what it is like when people feel powerless because they don’t speak the language of the country where they live. That’s how I felt when I came to the United States at the age of 16.

Based on that value, I am someone who has empathy for English learners and wants to help them have the language they need to be successful in life. Therefore, as a researcher, I focus on investigating topics that teachers can apply in the classroom to support English learners in acquiring their second language.

Rubin also points out that our habits reflect our identity. Therefore, identifying our identity helps us create habits. For instance, I identify as a writer and a researcher, and as part of my identity, I have developed the habit of writing every day. That habit requires me to get up very early to make time for it. But that’s okay because that’s what writers and researchers do: They write every day, and many of them are up early to cultivate their writing habit. I also identify as a professor, and as part of that identity, I have created the habit of making time every day to prepare my classes, grade assignments, and answer emails from students, because that’s what professors do.

In short, being aware of our professional purpose can reveal elements of our identity, leading us to live up to our values and create meaningful habits. As a result, we will increase our happiness at work because we will do what we love and love what we do.

Reference:
Rubin, G. (2015). Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives. Crown.

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Angelica Ribeiro is a writer, researcher, and professor. She is the author of How to Create Happiness at Work, Running into Happiness, and My Happiness Habit Journal. She holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction with a focus on English as a second language from Texas A&M University. She has taught English learners and preservice teachers in the United States and Brazil for over 25 years. Angelica has several publications on second language acquisition. She works as a professor in higher education and helps others benefit from her happiness research. When she was a Ph.D. student, Angelica struggled with balancing her academic commitments and personal life, which motivated her to embark on a journey to increase happiness. Her journey was so successful that now she encourages others to create happiness in their busy lives by sharing science-based strategies. Visit https://www.creatinghappiness.today