😃 Axios Finish Line: Happy hours

Plus: Stunner in nature | Thursday, November 03, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Meta   Axios Finish Line By Mike Allen, Erica Pandey and Jim VandeHei ·Nov 03, 2022 Nov 03, 2022 🧀 Axios CEO Jim VandeHei is here with his weekly lessons on life, business and leadership. Send him your take: jim@axios.com. Or hit the whole team: finishline@axios.com. Smart Brevity™ count: 487 words ... < 2 mins.     1 big thing: Perpetual pursuit of professional happiness Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios   The piece of advice I offer any college grad hitting the job market: Persistently pursue work so personally satisfying that you would do it for free. Why it matters: We spend more than half our adult life at work, getting to work, thinking about work or whining about work. So hunt for deep, meaningful professional happiness until the moment you need to work simply to survive or provide for others. The harsh reality: I'm writing this after reading some depressing data from Gallup global polling: Gallup found that only 20% of us say we're thriving at work. 62% are indifferent to their work lives. 18% are downright miserable. No wonder Gallup found people are sadder than ever in its worldwide survey of happiness. 🔭 Zoom out: Millions of Americans, including many people I know, have little choice about their work for a variety of reasons. But millions of young college graduates and knowledge workers have more choices than at any time in the history of the planet. The puzzle is that so many don't act on that and get stuck in a totally unnecessary rut of their own making. 💡 Here are a few things I tell my kids: Study yourself. Yes, do your homework and get good grades. But study more closely what electrifies your mind and lights up your heart. These two signals tell you what you love. Don't listen to your parents. So many kids simply do what mom or dad did, or what mom or dad wants them to do. Parents can guide and love — but they can't impose passion or joy. Meaning, not money. A clear, well-worn path to indifference or misery is seeking a profession simply because it pays well. A lower-income teacher who loves her job will live a far better life than a rich financier who hates hers. Quit until you hit. This one will elicit hate mail. But setting artificial obligations to stay in soul-sucking jobs or majors is silly. You will have bad days. Suck it up. But if you have bad months, mix it up. Fight back. You should never settle unless you have no choice. We get one lap around life. So perpetually pursue jobs, bosses, colleagues and work that bring maximum growth, fulfillment and happiness. The big picture: Happy work alone does not a happy life make. But it sure as hell helps when other parts of your life are sagging or sucking. Go deeper with "Blind Spot: The Global Rise of Unhappiness and How Leaders Missed It," by Gallup CEO Jon Clifton. Share this story.     A message from Meta Students will be able to explore outer space in the metaverse     With the metaverse, students in a classroom will be able to travel to the depths of our galaxy, helping them get up close to the planets and gain a deeper understanding of how our solar system works. The metaverse may be virtual, but the impact will be real. See how Meta is helping build the metaverse.     👽 Not a UFO! Photo courtesy of Bryan S. Feast your eyes on this incredible picture of a lenticular cloud, taken by reader Bryan S. near Mount Shasta in California.   Are you a fan of this email format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 300 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: