“Hold on, Friday is approaching,” as the old saying goes when we meet a friend on the way to the office.
For most people, job satisfaction is a myth.
I was one of them and maybe still part of the system. Over the years, I’ve found myself spinning my wheels without ever addressing my deeper connections with what I do.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Job satisfaction is something you deserve.
What was the last time when you asked yourself whether you’re satisfied with what you’re doing in your daily job? Do you make a lasting contribution to the world?
I reached out to 12 experts from various professions from all around the world to answer three questions about how you can find job satisfaction and what makes a great career.
I was also interested in whether the “passion hypothesis” could be rejected, as Cal Newport suggests in his book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You. The passion hypothesis assumes that you first figure out what you’re passionate about and then find a matching career. It’s highly unlikely, Cal argues, that you’ll find a matching job to your passion.
Cal proposed a top-down approach instead: first you should build a career capital with deliberate practice so that you will be so good they can’t ignore you in your job. Passion will then follow.
Anyway, I wanted to know how people find what they excel at and what they enjoy doing, regardless of whether passion comes first.
Job satisfaction 101: introducing the experts
These people provided amazing insights into one of the most crucial questions in everyday life: how you end up doing what you love.
A big shout-out to:
- Jeff Sanders, host of The 5 AM Miracle Podcast (#1 in Apple Podcasts Self-Improvement), keynote speaker, productivity coach, author of The 5 AM Miracle and The Free-Time Formula, and founder of The Rockin’ Productivity Academy. Learn more about Jeff at Jeffsanders.com
- Gabor Papp, SEO consultant, founder of The Pitch, Hungary’s leading online marketing & SEO blog
- David Hauser, author or Unstoppable, co-founder of Delegated, and founder of Grasshopper
- Ricsipi (Richard Dosa) of Animal Cannibals (No. 1 hip hop duo in Hungary)
- Sonya Looney, World Champion Mountain Biker, podcast host, keynote speaker, mindset & plant-based nutrition coach. Learn more about Sonya at Sonyalooney.com
- Professor Jacques Demotes, founder and director general of the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN)
- Zoltan Dallos, coach, author of the book From Employee to Entrepreneur (in Hungarian). Learn more about Zoltan at Zoltandallos.com
- Paul Minors, productivity blogger & consultant. Learn more about Paul at Paulminors.com
- Dr. Levente Hufnagel, ecologist, associate professor, forensic ecology expert, founder and editor-in-chief of Applied Ecology and Environmental Research, former LDS-bishop
- Kornel Bohm, communications professional. Learn more about Kornel at Bohmkornel.hu
- Professor Nicola Curtin, professor of experimental cancer therapeutics at Newcastle University. Nicola currently received media attention when she gave away £865,000 in royalties she received for her contribution to creating a new cancer drug
- Ali Luke, writer for Awesome Motive’s WPBeginner. Learn more about Ali at Aliventures.com, where she shares articles on the art, craft, and business of writing
It’s time now to get to the heart of this blog post: job satisfaction. Here we go …
“How did you figure out what you excel at and what drives you crazy excited?”
According to Jeff Sanders, it’s all about experimentation:
“I discovered my strengths through years of experimentation. I viewed my 20s, and now half of my 30s, as an opportunity to learn more about myself by trying as many careers, hobbies, and new experiences as possible.
I started running marathons, began blogging, podcasting, speaking, coaching, trying new diets, reading hundreds of books, listening to podcasts, watching documentaries, and absorbing as much of the world as I could.
That process will undoubtedly reveal a lot about anyone if they take the process seriously and pay attention to what all that input is saying about who they are, and who they could become.”
Gabor Papp first found his passion and then developed the skills downstream to make a living as an SEO consultant:
“To me, luck and consciousness both played a key role. I was passionate about writing and acquired a business mindset during my university studies. It wasn’t until my first contribution to a blog that I fell in love with SEO (search engine optimization). I drafted a guest post with due care, but there was a plugin saying that my post was poorly optimized for search. I now know that it was an SEO plugin that helped me that time to optimize my content so that my blog post was soon ranked #3 in Google. I then crafted more blog posts and optimized my content for search engines, which eventually made me fall in love with SEO. The next step was figuring out how to make a living from all that.
I first found my passion and later developed the skills to thrive. In the meantime, I figured out how to make money from that so that I can help people. The Pitch was born with the mission to ‘launch a marketing and SEO blog that contributes to raising the next generation of marketers.’
It seems that my journey unfolded according to what the Japanese ‘Ikigai theory’ predicts. The theory says that you should do something that aligns with what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.”
[Translation by the author]
For David Hauser, it all comes down to childhood:
“Trial and error. Try lots of little things and each thing you find do more of and see where it leads you. As well as the opposite. It is just another form of testing that we have been doing since we were children. As adults we either forget or ignore this skill and then quickly lose practice. Any child can quickly tell you what they love and hate but today we think we need to do things we hate just because. I have always focused on my strengths while at the same time learning about and surrounding myself with people that bridge my weaknesses.”
Ricsipi found that acting as a sponge was central to his success:
“As a young child, I was like a sponge. Paying attention to what adults were talking about either on the streets or on the radio and TV, I focused my attention to novelty. Later on, I found myself consciously filtering content that was relevant to me. I then fell in love with rap music, which is what I’ve been a keen contributor and listener ever since.”
[Translation by the author]
Spending time doing the work, according to Sonya Looney, is what makes you excel at something:
“You have to look at what you enjoy doing with your spare time or something you would do whether you made money at it or not. If you like something, chances are you will work hard because you want to do more of it. Spending time doing the work is what makes you excel at something.”
Jacques Demotes developed a multidisciplinary mindset:
“I would say my main characteristics is multidisciplinarity, which is opposite to sharp excellence. This allows me to interface with experts on various medical specialties, on clinical research, on basic life sciences, with policymakers, science managers, etc.
What drives me excited is working in an international environment (and being independent of the national/local context), and contributing to Europe’s integration, which I’m really proud of – the more familiar I am with European colleagues the more I feel we share the same culture and values.”
Zoltan Dallos says:
“I’d suggest that you experiment a lot. Taking personality tests or doing a SWOT analysis might help you to identify your strengths. Go back to the years in school and your first job. What did you enjoy most? What’s the thing you could do all day long, even without getting paid for it? Maybe get feedback from a coach or a mastermind group.”
[Translation by the author]
Listening to what other people say is what Paul Minors believes in:
“As I was getting started in my career, I listened to what other people said I was good at. This had a natural fit with my passions and so it made perfect sense to specialize in productivity and creating efficient systems. If you’re struggling, look at what books you enjoy reading or podcasts you listen to. What topics do you like to study in your spare time?”
Levente Hufnagel believes that every human being was born to fulfill his mission:
“Success, I think, begins with finding your mission. Every human being borns with a set of individual skills and talent and develops individual interests in childhood. Happiness and success come with discovering one’s talent and developing it along with their intrinsic motivation and interest.
… Early in my childhood, it turned out, I wasn’t particularly interested in playing with toys. What made me super excited, however, was the magnifier, the globe, the telescope, and the microscope. The amusement park wasn’t my favorite place, either. I’d rather enjoy my time when visiting the local botanical garden or zoo. Whenever I was asked in the nursery what I wanna be when I grow up, my answer was straightforward: a scientist.”
[Translation by the author]
As Kornel Bohm puts it, excellence comes with deliberate practice and immersion:
“Once you find something that you are passionate about, time won’t be a limiting factor anymore. Excellence will follow with deliberate practice and immersion.
I was particularly interested in how to convey a message successfully. I then channeled my efforts into communication studies and always headed my attention to what seemed interesting.”
[Translation by the author]
Nicola Curtin about job satisfaction:
“I think I am imaginative, good at making connections between different facts and making deductions. I’m lucky to be pursuing a career in research, which utilizes these skills. I am also very tenacious, fastidious and careful to ensure that the data I generate is robust and reproducible. I get very excited when I come up with a new idea then test my hypothesis and find it’s right. I am not afraid to stand by my data even if it is different from conventional wisdom. But you have to build up a pretty sound case under such circumstances. If you are right it could be ground-breaking.”
Ali Luke got into freelancing almost by accident:
“I’ve always loved writing stories since I was really young and I always got good marks for my written work in school. It wasn’t until I started my own blog, though, that I found I really enjoyed writing non-fiction too. I got into freelancing almost by accident (a blog I guest posted for asked if I wanted a paid gig) and six months after that, I was a full-time writer. I’ve been making my living writing since the middle of 2008 and I still love it!”
“What was the single most important step you took in your career path?”
For Jeff Sanders, launching his podcast was key to his success:
“Launching my podcast, The 5 AM Miracle, was clearly the best decision I made along my journey because it leveraged my strengths and interests in a way that could be optimized in my business.
My podcast is the greatest marketing tool for what I do, but it’s also my greatest opportunity to network with high achievers, create new content on a weekly basis, and attract the right people to my business that I otherwise might never have reached.
My podcast has led to 2 book deals, as well as numerous speaking engagements, coaching clients, customers, and lifelong friends.”
Gabor Papp about risk-taking:
“Evolving from an employee into a freelancer was the single most important step to me. Being a freelancer and then founding an agency comes at a cost regards to the risk you take and the challenges you face.”
[Translation by the author]
David Hauser adds:
“Early on deciding I wanted to be an entrepreneur to create and build things. This set me out on picking my high school, college, and first jobs.”
Ricsipi took long-term risks to launch his musical career:
“Every small decision counts. The biggest risk I took was at the age of 14 when I convinced my parents to take out my savings and buy an audio mixer. This single step, it turned out, helped me to kickstart my musical career. Abandoning my studies on external trade was the second major step I took to channel my efforts to the hip hop duo Animal Cannibals.”
[Translation by the author]
Taking daily action steps toward your goals is what Sonya Looney believes in:
“I don’t believe in single steps getting people to big places. I’ve achieved success in my career by taking small single steps every single day. The key is being open to opportunities, even if they weren’t on your original path and being brave enough to step in that direction. It’s how I walked away from my electrical engineering job despite having a Master’s Degree to pursue marketing, and how I walked away from my marketing job 5 years later to start my own company. It’s how I continue to evolve. Keep moving forward with daily actions.”
Jacques Demotes adds:
“Moving from specialized research practice to a generalist science management and science policy activity.”
Zoltan Dallos believes there’s a book in all of us:
“At the age of 24, I was promoted to a leader at a big commercial bank in Hungary. It was a giant leap in my career as an employee. This was the time when I started to develop my leadership skills and learned a lot about myself.
The single most important step as an entrepreneur was writing my book, From Employee to Entrepreneur, which was published in May 2019. There’s a book, I believe, in all of us. The question is how we can synthesize our story to make a book out of it. We all have a dream to write a book, but our fears intimidate us, and we never take action.
Publishing my book opened up a lot of opportunities and granted me authority in my field. Entering the market as a published author, however, won’t make you rich. It’s rather a valuable product in your portfolio that you can build upon.”
[Translation by the author]
For Paul Minors, it’s about consistency and patience:
“I can’t really identify any one ‘most’ important step. I think it’s a combination of consistency and patience. Do the work each and every day, be patient and try new things and you’ll eventually get to where you want to be.”
Levente Hufnagel attributes his success to his parents, mentors, and wife:
“It’s always the next step ahead of me that I consider the most important. As I look back, I can see multiple milestones in my life, all of which connect to a single person, say a mentor, without whom I wasn’t the same person who am I today.
My parents were firm believers that regardless of what grades I receive in school or what opinion my teachers and classmates form about me, there’s only one thing that counts: whether I can learn something from the world out there that serves me and lasts for a lifetime. And I diligently followed their advice and ignored the subjects that I wasn’t interested in.
During my early career, I had multiple mentors supporting my journey. Now I enjoy a crystal clear direction in research and a favorable environment that supports my goals. I attribute this unprecedented fulfillment to my wife.
If there’s anything one can draw from these lessons, it’s that you seize every opportunity that comes to develop your skills. Once you identify your mission, you should watch out for those opportunities and embark on a career that aligns with your ultimate mission.”
[Translation by the author]
Kornel Bohm adds:
“I’ve passed multiple milestones in my career, and I’m soon about to reach the next one. The single most important step, I think, was when I started my own business with practically zero track record as a freelancer. Another turning point came when I exited and set up a joint venture from scratch. Writing my book about communication, beyond question, was another important landmark in my career.”
[Translation by the author]
In Nicola Curtin’s opinion, luck also plays a big role in how your future unfolds:
“I’m not sure there was one step. I focus on what I am passionate about and put a lot of effort (mostly intellectual effort) into it. For a career in research, it is as well to become an expert in a topic rather than a technique. For me, that was PARP and DNA repair. A lot of success in life is luck, particularly in research, but you have to recognize it and capitalize on it. You won’t do that unless you clear your mind. We chose to live within an easy commute from my work, which gives me time to think deeply or let my mind wander whilst on the bus or walking, without distraction (or I can just look at the sky/trees/birds/whatever). I am also lucky in that I seem to be healthy most of the time.”
Little steps paved the way for Ali Luke’s career:
“I don’t think there was really any one huge steps so much as lots of little ones. But a pretty important one, in hindsight, was deciding to use WordPress for my first attempt at a ‘pro’ blog in late 2007. I’ve worked for so many blogs that run WordPress since then, and I’m writing full-time for Awesome Motive’s site WPBeginner these days. All that WordPress experience has definitely paid off!”
“What’s your advice for those who are just starting out?”
Knowing about yourself is what Jeff Sanders believes in:
“If your career is just beginning (and assuming you’re still undecided about what to do with your life), forget about the long-term trajectory of your career for now.
Instead, focus on learning as much about yourself and the world around you as you can. Read, listen, and absorb everything like a sponge.
The more you know about yourself and what makes you tick, the more you will know about how you can leverage your natural skills and interests in a way that helps other people.”
Gabor Papp expands his thoughts on the Ikigai model:
“You might well begin with the Ikigai model:
- What do you love doing?
- What are you good at?
- What do you can be paid for?
- What does the world need?
Aim for checking as many items from the list as you can. What question you begin with is your choice and it might be inherent to your journey. If your mission is, say, fighting climate change, you begin with what the world needs and then figure out downstream how you can develop the right skills, how you might find joy, and how you can make a living from that.
Aim for addressing all four questions in the Ikigai model. If not yet sure that all questions are properly answered, make sure that what you do brings you closer to the answer.”
[Translation by the author]
Action over talking, according to David Hauser, is what makes a difference:
“Just do something. Every small step forward is a chance to learn and discover something. Action over talking is the difference between people that do and those that do not.”
The world as of today, Ricsipi adds, provides lots of opportunities for those who endure:
“There’re plenty of opportunities out there! Given the increasingly changing environment, it’s hard to plan for the long-term. I, therefore, suggest that you plan out your medium-term goals. Limit time spent on social media except for content marketing. If you were born with artistic veins, minimize the input and maximize the output.
There’s nothing to be afraid of! We live in a world that largely supports those who love what they do and face the challenges.”
[Translation by the author]
As Sonya Looney puts it, “The better you get at something the further you move the benchmark of what success means:”
“Don’t expect immediate success and do it because you love it first. Also, you’ll have this idea of what ‘success’ and ‘the top’ look like. You’ll tell yourself, ‘I’ll be happy and fulfilled when I achieve X.’ The truth is you’ll feel good for a second, but the better you get at something the further you move the benchmark of what success means. We just want to get to the top of the mountain, but you’ll just find more mountains to climb. At first, it’ll be about proving yourself and then it’ll evolve to wanting to help others.”
Jacques Demotes believes in a multidisciplinary vision:
“Whatever they do, they should promote an international career track, and accept changing research field and discipline over time to reach a multidisciplinary vision.”
Surrounding yourself with like-minded folks is what Zoltan Dallos advocates:
“Connect with people and open up your mind. You’ll find good folks at Meetup.com and Eventbrite, plus you can leverage Facebook events. Surround yourself with like-minded folks. A supportive environment is central to your success. If you’re an aspiring new entrepreneur, it’s a must. My mission is to help those folks to start out.”
[Translation by the author]
Showing up each and every day is what Paul Minors recommends:
“Do these two things above—Find your passion, go deep on it, show up each and every day to get better and help others to learn what you know.”
Habitually thinking about a scientific problem, according to Levente Hufnagel, is what makes a good scientist:
“The key to a more fulfilling life, I think, is to ignore social expectations and don’t see social recognition as proof. Just figure out what you’re good at; something that you could do with pleasure (like a hobby) and what makes the world a better place (like a profession).
Talent, in my opinion, has nothing to do with either Picasso or Einstein. Just make sure that you do your thing to the best of your abilities, better than those who could do the same thing there and then. It’s never too late to find your mission and begin the journey.
- For the young: enter into marriage only when you and your significant other established yourselves and are ready for a lifetime commitment.
- For prospective parents: have a child only when you can fully dedicate yourself to the physical and emotional wellbeing of your kid.
- For practicing parents (and for their children): over the first 18-20 years of childhood, dedicate yourself to figure out what your child excels at, what talents he or she was born with, what he or she is passionate about, and then help to develop and embark on those talents.
- For those who are just starting out with their career: approaching this question with a money-comes-first mindset is bad advice. You can establish yourself (and make a decent amount of money, by the way) when you do something that you’re skilled at and do better than your peers because you’re passionate about your job.
- A good job is a service that brings us joy because it aligns with our internal values and gives us the freedom to choose whom to serve and what to do. If we are told what to do, it’s rather a servitude and not a service.
- Scientific research, although often performed in a team, is an inherently individual activity—it’s based on your individual contribution. Whether sitting on the squatty potty, washing the dishes, or listening to the presentation of your silly boss, scientific research happens inside your head when you’re trying to solve a scientific problem. If such deep thinking isn’t part of your daily routine as a scientist, you should think about whether science is your true calling. My advice for my peers, therefore, is that you immerse yourself into a scientific problem for at least 20 minutes each and every day.”
[Translation by the author]
Kornel Bohm identifies a three-step process to job satisfaction:
“Finding your path takes a hard time and a die-hard dedication. To arrive at the right decision, you need three things: self-knowledge, a sense of purpose, and an ever-increasing awareness of the field.”
[Translation by the author]
Money, according to Nicola Curtin, isn’t a reliable indicator of success:
“Do your best. Do what interests you and what you think is right, then it won’t feel like a chore to put your heart and soul into it. Help your colleagues, you never know when you might need them. Success is feeling that you are doing something worthwhile to the best of your ability and enjoying it. Don’t let others con you that you are only successful if you earn lots of money. On the other hand, if things are not going well and you feel like you are flogging a dead horse you need to learn when it’s time to give up. Make time for your family, remember you only have one life so make the most of it.”
Don’t feel intimidated by the technical side of things, Ali Luke adds:
“Try out a few different things. Don’t be scared to branch out into something new. You might discover you love it! Also, when it comes to the technical side of things, try not to feel too daunted. You can always search for a video or a written tutorial to show you what to do. There are step by step tutorials out there for pretty much anything you can imagine. Don’t worry about trying to learn everything upfront—just figure out each new step as you come to it.”
Job satisfaction isn’t a myth
I’m incredibly thankful to those people who provided amazing insights into job satisfaction. From this very single post, I learned a lot more about the world and myself than I could ever have imagined.
The first thing we must do, I think, is to acknowledge that job satisfaction isn’t for the privileged elite. You deserve it. Everybody deserves it.
If you develop the right mindset and do something, whatever it is, literally every single day, you’ll end up light years ahead of your past self.
Let’s get back to the passion hypothesis: whether it’s a passion that comes first and leads us to make a career out of it or we develop a passion for our jobs downstream.
While I must explicitly acknowledge that this expert roundup isn’t eligible for testing a hypothesis, that was clearly out of the scope of this post. But, still, I wanted to address the issue with passion.
It seems that the passion hypothesis isn’t necessarily flawed, at least not in the context of the people surveyed—some folks begin with their passion and then build up their career.
Anyway, if there’s a list I could make from the key takeaways, I’d put it like that …
Just for fun, let’s call it The 3 x 4 Formula for Job Satisfaction. (3 x 4 equals 12, and we got 12 experts interviewed.)
Here it is:
- Awareness stage:
- Listen to the people around you and get feedback: what are your strengths?
- Immerse yourself into different activities and environments to pinpoint what makes you crazy excited
- Recall your childhood memories: something you enjoyed doing as a child can be a good candidate to address now
- Take inventory of your hobbies: what you are doing in your spare time might be turned into a career
- Implementation stage:
- Develop the necessary skills, and find out how you can make a living from what you want to do
- Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses
- Be open to opportunities and take risks: buying an audio mixer, launching a podcast or a blog, writing a book, or evolving from an employee into a freelancer all are examples given in this post
- Show up and do something every single day that moves the needle: the formula is deliberate practice & immersion
- Reinforcement stage:
- Remember:
- A good job is a mission, something that makes the world a better place
- A good job aligns with what the world needs
- Success is relative—you define it by moving the benchmark
- Surround yourself with like-minded individuals
- Educate your children so that they could absorb a great slice from the world around them
- Don’t ever settle until you find job satisfaction
- Remember:
I’ll end this post with the words of David Hauser:
Action over talking is the difference between people that do and those that do not.
If this post resonated with you, please share it with the people around you. Thank you.
A big thanks to Ali Luke (Aliventures) and Pamela Wilson (Big Brand System) who inspired Job satisfaction 101.
More about job satisfaction and career
- Working from Home Tips: The New Dad’s Guide
- 15 Smart Things to Do on Your First Day at Work
- Pain, Time, and Glory: The Liberating Truth about the Limitless Human Capacity
- From Biologist PhD to Productivity Blogger: Ambitions, Lessons & Visions
Image credit: Husna Miskandar on Unsplash