Jodi Kantor

What I discovered is that the way you have to judge a career is really based on the tasks that make up every day.

The stuff that attorneys do hour by hour, like I felt deadened inside.

It was so slow.

It felt tedious to me.

It involved so much process.

And I realized I hadn't paid enough attention to myself.

Like in college, I had been everybody's editor.

Debbie, I think I fixed people's papers even without them asking me to.

I had this like...

Bossy desire to make text good, if that makes any sense.

I began to like finally see, faced with the prospect of an unhappy life in the law.

I began to see that, and I began to see that being in the text of copy and talking to people and learning things about the world, that was actually how I wanted to spend my time.

And that's what I tell young people now.

The way to judge a career is pop quiz.

It's 11.30 on a Thursday morning.

Do you feel connected to the task before you?

Yeah.

So, yeah, people thought I was nuts.

You know, like the Harvard thing I mentioned, not to sound like a jerk, but to show that it was a big deal to leave.

There was concern around me that I was giving something up.