What makes for a dream job? | Benjamin Todd
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey everyone, Rob here.
What defines a dream job according to Benjamin Todd?
Today on the podcast feed, we've got something a little different from our usual fare.
Where do people commonly go wrong in their career choices?
What you're about to hear is the first chapter of our glorious new book, 80,000 Hours, How to Have a Fulfilling Career That Does Good, written and also narrated by my longtime colleague, Benjamin Todd. I guess a lot of listeners, especially the new ones, they won't know this, but 80,000 Hours has actually been running since 2012. I'm getting old. And since then, we've been trying to do research and provide advice to help everyone have a much larger social impact with the work that they do, while simultaneously having a life that is really fun and fulfilling. And this book is the single most developed expression of the many, many ideas that we've been cooking up and honing since then. Chapter one here takes on follow your passion, probably the single most repeated piece of career advice in our modern individualistic era.
And drawing on decades of research takes it absolutely to pieces. And Ben then lays out what actually does predict job satisfaction. It's not especially income, though it's not totally not income at either. It's not especially low stress and it's not pursuing what you're already excited about either exactly. And he lands on a very different short slogan of career advice from follow your passion. A few facts coming up. A meta-analysis of over 100 studies found that the correlation between interest, job fit, and job satisfaction is only about 0.19, so really pretty low.
What should you really aim for in a fulfilling career?
90% of Canadian students said that their greatest passion was in music, art, or sport, but apparently only 3% of Canadian jobs are in one of those three fields. And perversely, senior leaders of difficult projects, they apparently have lower stress than the people they manage. I guess not everyone will be shocked by that, but I was a little bit surprised by that. but I won't steal all of Ben's thunder. If you like what you hear in this one, you can order the book online by searching for 80,000 hours book or go to 80,000hours.org slash book or look for it on Amazon, Audible, wherever you get books. All right, here's Ben.
Everyone wants to find a dream job that's enjoyable and meaningful, but what does that actually mean? Some people imagine that the answer will come to them in a flash of insight, while others think that what matters is that their dream job is easy and well-paid.
Why is the advice to 'follow your passion' misleading?
At 80,000 Hours, we've reviewed three decades of research into what makes for a satisfying career, drawing on hundreds of studies, and didn't find much evidence for either conclusion. Instead, we found five key ingredients of a dream job. They don't include income, and nor are they as simple as following your passion.
How can you practically apply these insights to your career?
Let's start with where we go wrong. For most of history, people tended to do the same things as their parents. Then the focus moved towards getting a stable job that would let you buy a house and a car. But my generation grew up with different advice. If you want a fulfilling career, follow your passion. From around 2005, this became a defining focus of career advice. The subtext is that finding a great career depends on identifying your greatest interest, your passion, and pursuing it full-time. It's an attractive message. Just commit to what you most enjoy and you'll have a fulfilling career. And when we look at successful people, they are often passionate about what they do. We're also fans of being passionate about your work.
As we'll discuss shortly, intrinsically motivating work makes people a lot happier than a fat paycheck. However, there are three main ways that follow your passion can be misleading advice. The first is that many people don't feel like they have a passion that could be relevant to their career. Telling them to follow their passion at best doesn't get them anywhere, and at worst makes them feel inadequate and demotivated. Second, this advice suggests that passion is all you need. But if a basketball fan works with awful colleagues, receives unfair pay, or finds the tasks they're doing meaningless, they're still going to dislike their job, even if they work for the NBA.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:01
2
What defines a dream job according to Benjamin Todd?
0:01–0:05
3
Where do people commonly go wrong in their career choices?
0:05–1:21
4
What should you really aim for in a fulfilling career?
1:21–2:18
5
Why is the advice to 'follow your passion' misleading?
2:18–2:35
6
How can you practically apply these insights to your career?
2:35–7:00
7
What are the five key ingredients of a fulfilling job?
7:00–8:18
8
How does stress impact job satisfaction?
8:18–28:15
Speakers
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