by Wright
was not your level of passion for the work or even how you felt about the people you were doing the work with. The single strongest predictor of job satisfaction was the level of mental challenge in the work itself.
No distractions
e.g leave your phone in the other room
Mentally challenging work is engaging work. Engagement is the state of your attention being ful y absorbed by an activity. The sweet spot Set a clear goal
lives at the edge of your comfort zone where you are forced to ful y e.g have dinner ready by 8 PM
engage your abilities to solve a problem or achieve a goal. Amazingly, you can find satisfaction in virtual y any type of activity as long as it Have a feedback mechanism
challenges you at the edge of your abilities.
e.g. the sight and smell of the food being cooked
One of the strongest forms of engagement is often referred to as a Fully engage your abilities
state of flow. A flow state is one of those things you’ve experienced but e.g. managing heat, time and different
never real y known what to call it. It’s when you’re in the zone – when ingredients at the edge of your comfort zone
something that is difficult feels effortless. Some feel it while ski ng a difficult chute, reading a great book or creating something new. Others feel it when making music, cooking, building a spreadsheet, cleaning, organizing, dancing, painting, running, teaching, playing video games or coding.
Flow states can be created in all aspects of life and represent one of the Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defines flow as a state in which you’re com-most gratifying parts of fulfil ing work. The more your work engages pletely immersed in an activity. It’s when you’re so focused on some-the full range of your abilities, the deeper the sense of satisfaction you thing that everything else melts away. You can enter a flow state doing will experience as a result.
just about any activity, as long as it has the following conditions: Do one activity today where you deliberately put yourself into a flow state. It can be anything – cooking, cleaning, creating, building, designing, exercising, etc.
The only rule is to reference the Flow Checklist above.
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2. Interests
to his newspaper route. And he uses his annual shareholders letter to teach mil ions of people worldwide about his investing philosophy.
Paul Graham is a legend among entrepreneurs. The British-born “hack-INTERESTS
er philosopher” is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, a.k.a. passions,
In today’s world there are many, many ways to bring your interests to life.
author and painter.
enjoyment, what
you love
It all ties back to a central theme — what are the things that energize Graham uses a simple heuristic to plumb for unique interests that may you? If you fol ow your energy, you’ll love what you do and have the be worth exploring.
natural fuel you need to do great work.
He asks, “what seems like work to other people that doesn’t seem like work to you?”
For Graham, this list includes peculiar things like debugging computer programs. He argues that the stranger your tastes seem to others, the stronger the evidence that this is something you should probably do.
What seems like work to other people that
doesn’t seem like work to you?
Let’s consider the example of a young Midwestern boy who showed signs of certain interests at an early age.
He was an avid col ector — obsessively col ecting stamps, baseball cards As Paul Graham says, unusual interests can be a great place to start.
and any other trinkets he thought would become more valuable in Building on the Dream section, write down these interests and the future.
brainstorm all the different ways you could possibly bring them to life.
He was a hustler — sel ing packs of gum, sodas and pinball machines to make a few extra bucks on the side.
He was an optimizer — chal enging himself to come up with creative ways to deliver papers more quickly on his morning newspaper route.
He was a teacher — leading a course on finance when he was barely older than the students.
How would he choose to bring these interests to life?
Warren Buffett is still a col ector, hustler, optimizer and teacher. He could have chosen to fol ow these interests in many different ways. He could have been a merchant, an art dealer, an engineer or a finance professor. He just happened to become an investor because he was also fasci-nated with the stock market. But he brought all of his interests with him.
Buffett collects valuable businesses with the same scrutiny he applied to his stamp col ections. He hustles energetical y to discover Berkshire Hathaway’s next acquisition opportunity. He works with his managers to optimize their company’s earning power with the same zeal he brought 56
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3. Competence
Now that we know what you’re interested in, let’s figure out what COMPETENCE
you’re good at.
a.k.a. what you’re
What do your friends say you’re really good at?
good at, assets,
An asset is a useful or valuable thing. Your assets are comprised of your mastery, strengths
talents, knowledge, skills and network.
Ask them and write down what they say. Sometimes we can take our greatest strengths for granted.
TALENTS
KNOWLEDGE
SKILLS
NETWORK
your natural
information
your ability to do
all the relationships
abilities
gained through
something well
and interconnec-
education
tions you have with
other people
The key output related to assets is value, which can be measured by money or by the extent to which you improve other people’s lives. How much value can you create? How much revenue can you generate?
How much societal benefit can you be responsible for? The difficult truth is that most people – and especial y young people – aren’t ready to create much value yet. The potential is there – it just takes time to cultivate your talents, knowledge, skills and network.
As you develop your assets, you’ll become more valuable and feel a growing sense of competence develop along the way. Competence is the ability to do something successful y or efficiently. As humans, we have a deep-rooted need for competence. You know the sense of pride you feel when you’ve done something wel ? That’s competence.
What are the most valuable assets you have, today? In other words, EXAMPLES
Fol owing your interests is a great way to get real y good at your craft, what are the talents, knowledge, skills and/or relationships that a com-but you can also approach it from the other direction. A true sense of pany or customer would pay you the most for?
sales, leadership
abilities, graphic
competence often leads to passion. There are countless examples of design skills, social
entrepreneurs who run businesses that have nothing to do with their Write them down in priority order. In the sections to come, we’ll explore how you media audience,
passions, yet they love what they do because they are challenged by can get deliberate about which assets you want to develop over time.
project management,
their work, they are good at it and they do it with great people.
computer program-
ming, etc.)
If you focus on deepening your knowledge, learning new skills and expanding your relationships, you’ll be rewarded in more ways than one.
You’ll feel more competent, become more valuable and notice your c
onfidence steadily grow along the way.
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4. Autonomy
Autonomy is the freedom from external control or influence. Inde-AUTONOMY
pendence. The research on positive psychology and job satisfaction a.k.a. freedom,
The ability for large numbers of people to work
consistently shows that autonomy is critical to intrinsic motivation and independence,
together, in cooperation, to achieve big goals is one
fulfil ing work.
control
of humanity’s greatest achievements. Yet all it takes is
It is important to note that you definitely don’t need to start your own one bad boss to ruin the fun.
company or work as a freelancer to realize the benefits of autonomy.
The key condition of autonomy – the extent to which you get to decide, on your own, how to go about doing the work – can be created at Reflect back on jobs you’ve had or organizations you’ve been a part of.
virtual y any level of any organization.
When did you feel like your autonomy was compromised? What could you, or your manager, have done differently to give you more freedom in getting the job done?
But there’s a catch. In most fields, autonomy needs to be earned. You need to have the requisite skil s to do the job before you get to enjoy the freedoms of autonomy. Think of autonomy as an essential ingredient over time, but not one you should expect on day one.
If you manage other people, reflect on the environment you’re creating for your team.
Are you training people properly, setting clear goals and letting them decide how to do the work? Write down any ideas on how you might improve as a leader and empower your team.
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5. Relationships
The quest for meaningful work is real y no different than the quest for RELATIONSHIPS
a meaningful life. There is not a “work” version of you and a “non-work”
a.k.a. love,
Reflect on people you’ve worked with or
version. There is just you.
belonging,
learned from in the past, at work or at school.
relatedness,
Relationships refer to the need to feel connected to others — to be part connection,
community, tribe
of a group, to love and care for, and to be loved and cared for.
Who did you enjoy and learn from the most?
Relationships refer to the need to feel connected to others – to be part Write down their names and the reasons why you enjoyed working with them so of a group, to love and care for, and to be loved and cared for. As hu-much. Are there any patterns that emerge?
mans we need a minimum amount of close, intimate relationships with others. We need frequent, positive interactions with other people in a stable, ongoing setting.
It’s worth noting that all of these conditions must be present – if your interactions are infrequent, inauthentic or negative it will take a tol .
So relationships in the workplace matter…a lot.
The need to authentical y connect with others is every bit as strong at work as it is outside of work. If you feel like you’re not being seen for who you are, not being heard or not being appreciated, it’s a problem.
While mental chal enge is the most important driver of job satisfaction, close relationships are the most important component of overall life satisfaction. If this was ever in question, Harvard University conducted the longest longitudinal study in human history. The study director summed up the results of the 80-year research project in two sentences. “The secret to happiness is love. Full stop.”
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6. Purpose
safe births for mothers in need, anti-bul ying programs and clean drink-ing water for communities around the world. The company’s focus on It’s a bit unpleasant to think about, but the universe is neither hostile nor giving never changed, but the expression of that purpose grows and PURPOSE
supportive to our existence.
evolves over time.
a.k.a. aim, intention,
goal, mission,
It’s indifferent.
meaning, objective,
Like TOMS, it helps to start with a general sense of direction for the type your why, ikigai,
of impact you want to have. Then your task is to decide what you want The world operates according to a set of natural laws that,
raison d’etre
to focus on, now, to bring these intentions to life.
unfortunately, are not particularly concerned with whether we feel a sense of “meaning” in our existence.
It looks something like this:
It may sound harsh but it’s precisely this indifference that makes purpose so important. If you don’t create purpose for your own life, who wil ?
Purpose is the aim, intention or goal of something.
So your purpose is the aim(s), intention(s) or goal(s) of your life.
Any aim, intention or goal can create motivation, but the highest form of purpose has one added ingredient – it helps other people.
Other people can mean your family, friends, teammates, students, patients, customers, fans, constituents, community or society at large.
Many people’s purpose revolves around their family or faith. They do what they do to support their loved ones or beliefs. For others it is a meaningful project, a business goal, an athletic pursuit, a creative en-deavor or a cause that serves the community.
Nurses and firefighters have among the highest job satisfaction rates because every day they directly impact the wel being of others. Oprah Winfrey creates a deep sense of purpose by inspiring her audience to be more than they thought they could be. Richard Branson creates a strong sense of purpose by using entrepreneurship as a force for good.
There are virtual y limitless ways to create purpose in your life, so long as you have the chance to improve the lives and wel being of others.
Your purpose will evolve as you move through different chapters of life, but it helps to have a general sense of direction. In 2006, Blake Mycoskie started TOMS around the idea of “One for One” — for every purchase of shoes, the company would give away a pair of shoes to a child in need. Over time, the company’s mission evolved to include glasses, bags, backpacks and coffee to support the vision-impaired, 64
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What might yours look like?
Your purpose is the aim(s), intention(s) or
goal(s) of your life.
It helps to start with the end in mind and think about the most important goals you have for your life. Once you have an idea of those, you can set short-term goals that will help you move in that direction.
Here are two examples of what it could look like:
If you’re not sure what your life goals are, imagine yourself at the end of your life, with no more days to live. From that perspective, what do you hope you’ve done in your life? What constitutes a life well-lived?
Your life goals can be high-level goals for your life and work. They may include things like family, friends, travel, work and community.
While your life goals can be general, your short-term goals should be specific. They should be clear, time-bound and measurable.
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Purpose is born
Skill/Market Fit
Now that we know a bit more about the true drivers of happiness, let’s from something
turn our attention back to money.
Even though more money doesn’t always lead to more happiness, there that inspires
are plenty of good reasons to want to make a lot of it. The Bill & Melinda Ga
tes Foundation is perhaps the best example in history of how making money can lead to making a big difference.
you and helps
What real y matters is alignment – finding the right balance between what gives you meaning, what you’re good at and what people are wil ing to pay for. To do that, you’ll want to know about skil /market fit.
others.
The term product/market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market. The same principle also holds true at the individual level.
Skil /market fit means being in a good market with skil s that can satisfy that market.
SKILLS
are the ability to do
something well
A GOOD MARKET
has a large, valuable
and/or fast-growing
number of customers
or users
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In today’s world, machine learning is one of the fastest growing markets will determine the type of impact you’re able to have and the amount for skil s. If you happen to be the type of person who is interested in of income you’re able to earn. If you want to make money and make this field and has relevant expertise, you are being richly rewarded. A a difference, it pays to be in a good market with skil s that can satisfy recent New York Times article carried the following headline – “A.I.
that market.
Researchers Are Making More Than $1 Mil ion, Even at a Nonprofit.”
The world’s most valuable technology companies are aggressively pursuing the small number of people with skil s in machine learning and artificial intel igence. As the NYT article states, “there is a mountain of demand and a trickle of supply.”
A similar dynamic is playing out across other industries. As professional sports teams become more data-driven, they are scrambling to hire talented data scientists. As the business of music evolves, more value is shifting to artists who can deliver moving live performances. As the field of marketing becomes more digital, media mavens that leverage new tools to create value for brands are in high demand. The type of people who have, or can develop, these skil s are being rewarded accordingly.
The opposite is also true — there are many examples of extremely skil ed individuals whose abilities are not well aligned with what the market values. The American Olympic team boasts some of the best decathletes in the world, but there aren’t many people wil ing to pay them for those skil s. Decathletes are just one of many examples of world-class athletes in obscure sports that need to work a side job to make ends meet. Your skil s are only as valuable as the market they serve.