How to know if you're in the right job...

The question of whether we’re doing what we really should be doing is one of the hardest issues we’ll ever face.

Art Markman, a professor of psychology and author of the book Bring Your Brain to Work, believes that we should re-evaluate where we believe we are in life once a year.

Full-time employment adds up to about 80,000 hours of labor in a typical lifetime. That means if you’re not in the right job, you could be wasting most of your waking hours on something you don’t feel passionate about.

That said, passion may not be the best gauge of career choice as it can often lead us in the wrong direction. Instead, consider whether your livelihood aligns with your core values, e.g. altruism, innovation, patriotism, environmentalism, etc.

Spending time on this is worthwhile as studies have found that when we have a clearer picture of ourselves, we’re more confident and creative, make better decisions, and have stronger relationships both professionally and personally.

One way to map this is out is by asking questions that begin with “what” instead of “why.” So rather than trying to answer, “Why do I dread Monday mornings?” reframe it as, “What specific things am I dreading? And what connects them?”

When our life and work seem inseparable, it can have serious consequences for our self-esteem and identity. That’s why it's better to think of job titles in terms of verbs (what you do on a daily basis) rather than nouns (titles and names).

Attaching a label to something often feels definitive. But your job title does not reflect who you are as a person. It’s one small part of a bigger whole, so changing that one part won’t affect anything on a fundamental level.

Of course, careers are often dependent on other things like age, location, and financial circumstances. But no amount of wealth is going to make a horrible fit more bearable. In fact, job satisfaction can boost happiness in ways that money never will.

Bottom line: Exploring sources of fulfilment is a good exercise in letting life itself shape our career, rather than just ourselves. To do that, embrace opportunities, experiment, and remember that getting out of your comfort zone rarely costs anything.