We often read in literature, blogs, and hear in podcasts that gifted individuals are in a perpetual search for meaning, that they need it, and so on. It’s practically the prescription handed out by all the so-called experts: if you weren’t already aware, finding meaning in your work will finally set your mind free, and you’ll become fulfilled! I won’t rehash all the well-worn phrases, but you get the idea…

Something doesn’t quite add up for me. What exactly, in this need that’s been so carefully explained to you, or in this prescription, is truly specific to the gifted?

Is it really only gifted individuals who need work that has meaning?

This notion is utterly absurd. Everyone has been seeking meaning in their work for a long time now. Just ask any of your colleagues around you.

And if we broaden the question, to avoid limiting it to the context of career guidance, and instead focus not on the need but on the question of meaning in a more global sense. By examining the processes at play in perception, we realize that the creation of meaning is an uncontrollable and immutable process of the brain. Human beings create meaning at every moment from the world around them, whether they are gifted or not.

Take a simple example from everyday life: you receive a text from your child that says, "I’ll be home soon." You immediately start thinking about where they are, where they’re saying they’re returning from. Then, you’ll probably wonder what time they’ll be home since it’s not specified, and possibly whether they’ll be alone or not (depending on the context…).

Beyond any discussion of communication analysis and inferences, you’re searching for meaning, and you’re creating meaning.

No, the need for meaning in work is not something unique to the gifted. However, they do have other needs that are specific to them, and that will be the subject of another article.