How to Find Fulfilling Work

What man actually needs is not some tension-less state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him.

Rather than hoping to create a harmonious union between the pursuit of money and values, we might have better luck trying to combine values with talents. This idea comes courtesy of Aristotle, who is attributed with saying, ‘Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation.’

Instead we should take action and endeavor to grow it like Marie Curie. How? Simply by devoting ourselves to work that gives us deep fulfillment through meaning, flow and freedom . … Over time, a tangible and inspiring goal may quietly germinate, grow larger, and eventually flower into life.

A vocation is a career that not only gives you fulfillment — meaning, flow, freedom — but that also has a definitive goal or a clear purpose to strive for attached to it, which drives your life and motivates you to get up in the morning.

Moreover, our culture of specialization conflicts with something most of us intuitively recognize, but which career advisers are only beginning to understand: we each have multiple selves. … We have complex, multi-faceted experiences, interests, values and talents, which might mean that we could also find fulfillment as a web designer, or a communi... See more

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himse... See more

The lack of any clear positive relationship between rising income and rising happiness has become one of the most powerful findings in the modern social sciences. Once our income reaches an amount that covers our basic needs, further increases add little, if anything, to our levels of life satisfaction.

The way that education can lock us into careers, or at least substantially direct the route we travel, would not be so problematic if we were excellent judges of our future interests and characters.

Never have so many people felt so unfulfilled in their career roles, and been so unsure what to do about it... This is a book for those who are looking for a job that is big enough for their spirit , something more than a ‘day job’ whose main function is to pay the bills.