by Wright
what you might
want to do.
Think about what
energizes you,
what problems
you want to solve
and dream freely.
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Dream | Test | Revise | Choose | Evolve Test
All of life is an
experiment. The
more experiments
you make the better.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Harvard Psychology professor and
Want to know what it’s actual y like to be a vet? Or a photographer? Or an entrepreneur? It’s al there.
best-sel ing author Daniel Gilbert
has done some eye-opening research
on your imagination.
He found that when we dream about something like a job or career, the picture we paint in our minds is a poor representation of reality. That picture glosses over all the important, real-world details of what that job or career is actual y like.
Take as much time as you need to do research on all the different Visit our website at
In the Dream step, you chose three career paths that represent three career paths that might be of interest to you. Hopefully, you’ll discover hiwright.com/aday-different hypotheses on the type of work you might love. Now that inthelife
new paths along the way that you didn’t even know existed. That’s part we’ve let your imagination run wild, it’s time to expose your dreams to reality.
of the fun.
A Day In The Life
Before you design an experiment, you want to gather as much information as possible about what other people have already figured out.
The same thing holds true for finding a job you will love. Every single day, there are mil ions of people conducting real-life experiments on every type of job you can imagine (in the form of their everyday lives).
If you know where to look, you will be the beneficiary of an amazing amount of data.
Think you might want to spend four years and $200,000 in veterinary school to become a vet? Let’s start by meeting a few current students and vets to learn about their real-life experiences. Veterinary school may be the perfect path for you. Or not. The best way to inform that decision is to learn from people who are currently living a version of this life.
To get you started, we’ve compiled a treasure trove of intel igence cal ed A Day in the Life. Our website contains stories from a host of different occupations. We searched for stories that were as raw as possible – the good, the bad and the ugly.
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Curiosity Conversations
Famed Hol ywood producer Brian Grazer has an unusual habit. He cites Every time you want to test a new dream career,
this special practice as the key to his hit successes in shows like Arrested Development and 24 and films like Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind.
write down a list of all the people you can think of
who are currently living a version of this life.
Every two weeks, Brian has a “curiosity conversation.” For these conversations, Brian seeks out the smartest and most interesting people he can possibly find.
These are people who, every day, are living a version of the job, This list should
He started this practice as a lowly intern at Warner Bros with no career or life you think you want.
include people
in your extended
connections, no power and no money. Over time, Brian has convinced network – friends,
the likes of Princess Diana, Michael Jackson, Barack Obama and dozens Write down any and all people who come to mind who could be interesting to family, friends of
of Nobel laureates to indulge his curiosity.
meet and learn from.
friends, colleagues,
acquaintances, etc.
A question about hip hop led to a curiosity conversation with rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard. This led to a conversation with Chuck D, which led to a conversation with Jimmy Iovine, which led to a conversation with Eminem, which led to the creation of the film 8 Mile.
Brian has been having curiosity conversations every two weeks for the last 35 years.
Once you start to hone in on which career paths you are most excited by, it’s time to learn more about what those lives are actual y like. The best way to do that? Curiosity conversations.
While you’re at it, write down a list of any famous people or role models who have lived, or are living, one of your dream lives.
Now go back through the names you wrote and circle the ones you think might have the most valuable information or connections.
This is your curiosity conversations priority list.
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One of the most important papers ever published in the social sciences is cal ed “The Strength of Weak Ties.”
Your strong ties are the people you know the best, your friends and family. Because of the closeness of these connections, your networks share a strong overlap. The strength of these ties is wonderful for meaningful relationships, but terrible if you’re trying to branch out to discover new people or new opportunities.
Weak ties are all the people you are connected to, but either haven’t met or don’t know very wel . They are the people you’ve met once or twice, or the people you’ve heard your friends mention in passing conversation. They are your 2nd degree connections on Linkedin and friends of friends on Facebook or Instagram. By definition, you have many more weak ties in your network than you do strong ties.
“The Strength of Weak Ties” found that most novel information —
knowledge, people, jobs, etc. — reaches individuals through weak ties. This means that if you’re trying to meet new people, expand your horizons and discover unique opportunities, weak ties hold the keys to the kingdom.
Research on LinkedIn supports this idea, finding that 70% of jobs are landed through personal relationships and up to 80% of jobs are never publicly listed. The best way to expand your personal relationships and gain access to these hidden opportunities? Curiosity conversations.
Starting with the curiosity conversations priority list you just made, find a way to get in touch with these people and treat them to a cup of coffee.
Ask them anything you want to know, but here are a few thought starters: How did you get to where you are?
What do you enjoy most (and least) about your job?
What skil s did you need to develop?
What obstacles did you encounter along the way?
Is there any way I can be useful to you?
Do you have any advice for me?
Are there any other people you think I should meet?
Some people’s stories will feel exhilarating while others will feel less exciting. The realities of their lives will often be different from the way you imagined. In all cases, these conversations will help you make better decisions on which path you ultimately want to pursue.
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The people you meet will be valuable sources of knowledge and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
opportunities. You wil learn more about what a particular job or career is like in the same conversation as you learn whether there are any openings or projects that could be a good fit. And you don’t have the What type of people should I choose?
pressure or constraints that come with a formal interview.
You’re looking for people who are currently living a version of the life you think you might want for yourself.
For the role models or people outside of your network, find a way to Let’s say you want to be a technology entrepreneur because you think learn more about their story. Read biographies, lis
ten to podcasts or Elon Musk seems pretty cool. You can learn a lot from an entrepreneur watch interviews. Pay extra attention to details about the early parts of who is in any field, not just technology. There are certain shared their careers…and especial y the part of their journey that is closest to elements of the entrepreneurial journey – fundraising, hiring people, where you are now.
dealing with an uncertain and rapidly changing environment, etc. –
that al entrepreneurs face.
You should also pick up a biography on Elon Musk while you’re at it. Be sure to read about what he was doing at your age to set himself up for success…many, many years before the magazine covers.
How should I reach them?
Try to find people who are motivated to help you. Start with your own friends, family and personal network. Then consider friends-of-friends, alumni networks, affinity groups, etc.
Don’t be afraid to reach out to people in senior roles. They are often the people who have the power to help you most quickly. Be respectful of their time but don’t be bashful. It wasn’t so long ago they were a young, hungry, less accomplished version of themselves and they may see a bit of themselves in you.
Anything else?
Yes. Make it as easy as possible for them to help you. Everybody is busy and you’ll be competing against higher-value uses of their time.
Keep your communication short and to the point. Provide relevant information (e.g. blurb about yourself, resume, etc.) that makes it easy for them to share. Be clear about your objectives and make scheduling as easy as possible.
Show appreciation for their time and make them look good by
impressing everyone you meet.
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Real-World Experiments
Curiosity conversations are a practice you can use as a powerful tool The word hustle comes from the Dutch word husselen, which means “to throughout your life. There’s no better time to start that practice obtain by energetic activity.”
than now.
In the 1950s, a modifier was added and the concept of a side hustle With your priority list in hand, reach out to your weak ties and was born. Now that you’ve used A Day in the Life and curiosity schedule at least three curiosity conversations for the upcoming week.
conversations to refine your dreams, it’s time to embrace the spirit of the side hustle and start bringing your interests to life.
Connecting with new, interesting people is one of the best parts of life.
The goal is to create small experiments that generate high quality Take your time with it and enjoy it. Ideally, this will become a regular feedback in a short amount of time and, ideal y, before you have to part of your weekly routine.
make a significant commitment of time or money to one particular path.
The more hands-on, real-world feedback you can get, the better. You’l develop useful skil s, meet relevant new people and get a feel for what this type of work is actual y like. Think of these experiments as small stepping stones that represent the first step on a path you might want to take. If that step doesn’t feel right, that’s great (you’ll want to know sooner rather than later). If it does feel right, you’ll be even better positioned to take the next step.
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Test, in a nutshell...
Once you’ve started to hone in on your most
exciting dreams, how can you get real-world,
hands-on experience doing them?
Test your
What side projects can you do? Can you volunteer or intern for a EXAMPLES:
person or organization? Can you build a prototype? Write down any design a logo, produce
dreams.
ideas that come to mind.
video content for a
friend or organization,
contribute to an
open-source project,
do a free project for
somebody you admire,
volunteer at an
Learn from
organization, etc.)
others.
Meet interesting
people.
Do your own
experiments.
Review your list and choose one project that you’re most excited to QUESTIONS?
begin. Try to distill this project down into its most simple form. What is Email [email protected]
the first step you would need to take to get started on this project? Can or text 415-993-3943
you take this step today? How about right now?
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Dream | Test | Revise | Choose | Evolve Your work is
going to fill a
large part of your
life, and the only
way to be truly
satisfied is to do
what you believe
Revise
is great work.
And the only way
to do great work
is to love what
you do. If you
haven’t found it
yet, keep looking.
Steve Jobs
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One of the challenges with reading
The Principles of Meaningful Work
books that help you do things is
that it takes much longer to actually
You’ve probably gathered by now that this isn’t a “get rich quick” book.
2
If anything, it’s a “get fulfil ed now” guide. But that doesn’t mean money
do the thing than it takes to read
isn’t important.
$75,000 in 2010
U.S. household
income is equal to
the book.
Money is real y important – it provides a means to securing financial roughly $87,000
freedom, nourishment for our bodies and a home for our loved ones.
in 2018 in U.S.
As a society, it also helps us build bridges, cure diseases and educate household income.
See bibliography for
our children.
Ideal y, you will put The Lifework Method into practice over the course more details.
of several months. You can do it while you have a job, while you’re in But does money provide happiness? Wel …it depends.
school or while you’re trying to decide what to do next. But to honor the process and to honor yourself, it takes time. The good news is that every According to Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton, minute you put in is an investment in yourself that will pay dividends the relationship between money and life satisfaction looks like this2: over the rest of your life. The process itself is the work and the reward.
As you take the time to gather information about the jobs you’re interested in, schedule curiosity conversations and design experiments, there are a few real y important concepts you should be aware of. In the Revise section, we’ll explain what these concepts are and why they matter.
As you move through these pages, you are encouraged to go back to the Dream and Test steps along the way. Going back to revisit these sections isn’t moving backward – it’s moving forward. This is the iter-ative process that is at the very heart of the scientific method and The Lifework Method. Every cycle gets you a step closer to discovering work you wil love.
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In short, money matters a lot if you don’t have enough of it – enough to The Principles of Meaningful Work
cover your needs, your household and the cost of living in your area. But beyond a certain threshold, increases in income lead to a diminishing return in happiness and overall life satisfaction. In other words, more money doesn’t always mean more happiness.
Which begs the
question…what does lead to happiness?
1. Engagement
COGNITIVE CHALLENGE, FLOW,
INTELLECTUAL STIMULATION,
To answer this question, we’ve explored the defining research on hap-SKILL VARIETY
piness, wellbeing, positive psychology, job satisfaction and motivation.
The Principles of Meaningful Work are a distil ation of everything we’ve learned and how you can bring them to life.
2. Interests
PASSIONS, ENJOYMENT, WHAT
YOU LOVE
You may remember that in the Dream section, we asked you to rate each potential career path on a list of six questions. These questions are based on the six key principles and are designed to help you evaluate any job or career. You can use these questions to diagnose what’s 3. Competence
WHAT YOU’RE GOOD AT, ASSETS,
wrong with your current job or assess the new options you’re considering.
MASTERY, STRENGTHS
If you want to love your work, these are the things that truly matter.
4. Autonomy
FREEDOM, INDEPENDENCE,
CONTROL
5. Relationships
LOVE, BELONGING, RELATEDNESS,
CONNECTION, COMMUNITY, TRIBE
6. Purpose
AIM, INTENTION, GOAL, MISSION,
MEANING, OBJECTIVE, YOUR WHY,
IKIGAI, RAISON D’ETRE
2
*people often use
different words to
describe similar
concepts, so we’ve
included synonyms
for each principle
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1. Engagement
The “job characteristics theory” was born out of some of the most ex-ENGAGEMENT
tensive research ever conducted on job satisfaction. The findings are as a.k.a. cognitive
HOW TO ENTER
surprising as they are important for anyone who wants to love their work.
challenge, intellectual
stimulation, flow,
A FLOW STATE
skill variety
The research found that the single strongest predictor of job satisfaction (WHILE COOKING)
