Do you love your job?
Unfortunately, not many people do. But even though there might be things about it that you don’t like, you can still take the advice of Jane Austen in Sense and Sensibility (also available on Audible):
Every qualification is raised at times, by the circumstances of the moment, to more than its real value.
For more advice, here are my favourite Seth Godin quotes from his 2023 posts, together with a recommended title from Blinkist.
Emotional labor has become a competitive advantage. Our commitment to showing up as a human, even (especially) when we don’t feel like it is precisely how we create value. And it’s this human work that helps us feel seen and valued as well. ~ Emotional labor and its consequences
Learn more: Humanity Works
Friendly is how it feels, not what it does. ~ The friendly professional
Learn more: Be Useful
If your job feels like a dead end, it might be because you’ve traded agency and responsibility for the feeling of security. But real security lies in creating value. ~ Create value
Learn more: How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job
If your job involves ripping people off, walk away. No one wants to live in hustle-world, it’s not even a good place to visit. ~ Fooled
Learn more: To Hell with Hustle
If you’d like to be more strategic or human or caring at your job, don’t wait for the boss to ask. ~ Are you doing what you said you wanted to do?
Learn more: The Courageous Follower
Just because criticism is on offer doesn’t mean you have to seek it out or even listen to it. ~ Actionable feedback
Learn more: Own Your Armour
Most of us know what enough happiness feels like. But some people are stuck in an endless cycle of seeking more money. That’s a bad trade. ~ Happiness can often be traded for money
Learn more: Awakening Your Ikigai
Our best work is scarce. We shouldn’t waste it on jerks, selfish hustlers or those that don’t appreciate it. ~ Significant work is a vote
Learn more: Influence and Impact
People don’t write like bureaucrats because it’s easy or fun. They do it because of the mistaken belief that it lets them off the hook. ~ Rewrite for humans
Learn more: Writing for Busy Readers
Speaking up is a skill, and we can only improve it with practice. ~ Speaking up
Learn more: Presentation Advantage
The pandemic didn’t create distributed work, the laptop did. Human interaction is critical, but the office isn’t actually the most effective way to create that. ~ The new way of work
Learn more: Remote, Not Distant
The persistent, generous work that happens when no one is looking is what actually makes a difference. ~ Effect vs affect
Learn more: Show the Value of What You Do
The thing you need, the road ahead, the element that will transform your project–it appears to be inconvenient. That’s terrific, because it means that most other people can’t be bothered. It’s valuable because the very inconvenience of it makes it scarce. ~ Inconvenient!
Learn more: The Squiggly Career
We come out ahead when we put our energy into the projects that reward our effort and choose to meet spec with the others. ~ 99 vs 0
Learn more: Standout 2.0
Working with people who want to work with us is a privilege and a delight. ~ But it matters a lot to them…
Learn more: Relationships at Work
You’re more likely to find a job doing something that seems a lot less mechanized. But that too will be programmatic soon enough. ~ Typist/Hypist
Learn more: The Human Edge
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