Jan Jachimowicz

Doing this interview is one of the few times that it... This is actually inherently enjoyable, so thank you, Shankar, for that.

But the vast majority of time, it really isn't.

But there is a second reason that I think is really helpful.

There's research on what's called construal level theory.

Construal level theory suggests that we can think of a task at two different levels of analysis.

We can think of a task just in and of a task itself.

What is a task that I'm doing concretely?

What does it require from me?

What does this task help me accomplish?

Just by looking very narrowly at the task.

But at a more abstract level, if I were to zoom out, where does this task fit in with all the other things that I am working on, that my coworkers are working on, that the organization is trying to accomplish when I'm thinking of the broader mission of what we're trying to accomplish?

Andrew Carton and others have done research showing that when people see the broader vision of something and they're able to connect what they do day to day to the broader vision of what it is that they actually care about, that can also be a real source of meaningfulness.

But doing that connection can be really challenging and it's something that we often depend on other people like our leaders to do for us explicitly.

What do you make of Reem's question, Jan?

Yeah, that's a great question, Reem, and thank you for submitting that.

I think that there's a way of thinking about it that could be helpful for Reem and maybe for others who are struggling with that as well.

Is what you're working on a sprint or a marathon?

Because if it's a sprint, then it doesn't have to be sustainable.

It is totally fine if for a very short time period when you feel really passionate about something that you truly do give it your all and where perhaps life feels a little unbalanced, where the famous work-life balance doesn't exist and it fully tilts toward what it is that you're working on.

But I would argue that more often than not, for many of us, the things that we are passionate about are not like sprints, but they're more like marathons.