Po Bronson has a brilliant article (and book apparently) that describes “work-life balance”, “job satisfaction”, and a million other descriptors for productive satisfying use of your time.
It’s not about finding the perfect job, or the perfect company. There’s no such thing.
Even if you could find the perfect job or the perfect company, PSUT (Productive Satisfying Use of your Time) is not about doing the perfect job every day.
It’s about doing something because the end product is worth it. The thing that you do might be small, or it might be large, it could be totally thrilling or it could be crappy. But you’re doing it because you want that end product, that end goal. And you want it bad.
So, figure what you want your life to be like and do what you need to do to get there.
I’m not convinced that Bronson’s suggestion that you have to imagine what you want then do the shit work to get somewhere is The Way. He doesn’t say it’s the only way, but it’s a kinda pull-yourself-up-the-bootstrap kind a thing. A small dollop of libertarian smugness from somewhere who is at a Happy Place.
Bronson has found what he likes doing and this is his way of sharing his recipe with the world.
If you have a similar belief structure to Po, this message and method probably works for you too.
In other words, if you have an education, live in a western democracy and you believe that you’re better than your fellow human in some way, and you can work it to your advantage, then you can get somewhere – if you can figure out where it is.
If you share the same background, but you can’t learn faster (or be better in some way) than the person next to you, hey, I mean, it’s perfectly okay to be middle-of-the-road-normal, then you’re not about to be “transformed” by this method. In fact, you might stay the same ol’ dissatisfied self.
Never mind the 95% of the world that doesn’t fit the mould.
I’m not bitter. I just stand in a different place.
Scholarly Sunrise 