Mainstream career advice tells us to “follow our passion”, but this advice is dead wrong.
Research shows that people who take this approach are ultimately no more likely to enjoy or excel at their jobs.
Instead, if you’re looking for a fulfilling career, here’s a new slogan to live by: Do what’s valuable. Benjamin Todd is the co-founder and Executive Director of 80,000 Hours, an Oxford-based charity dedicated to helping people find fulfilling careers that make a real difference.
In three years, 80,000 Hours has grown from a student society to a thriving charity featured on the BBC, the Washington Post, NPR and more, and whose online careers guide has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.
Conor Neill discusses both the decision-making process of Warren Buffett and the unnerving accuracy of “the marshmallow test”, an experiment given to toddlers that can predict their future quality of life. ...
We believe we should work hard in order to be happy, but could we be thinking about things backwards? In this fast-moving and very funny talk, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that, actually, happiness inspires us to be more productive. ...
What does make us change our actions? Tali Sharot reveals three ingredients to doing what's good for yourself. Dr. Tali Sharot is a neuroscientist at University College London and the director of the Affective Brain Lab. She is a faculty member of the Department of Experimental Psychology, a Wellcome Trust Fellow, and currently a visiting Professor at Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on how emotion, motivation, and social factors influence our expectations, decisions, and memories. ...
