Can you really do what you love?

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

They say do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. But c’mon. Is that possible in this day and age? On today’s show, we speak to a tech investor who tells us the ingredients he believes are needed to make passion pay. And we hear from an economist who’s run the numbers on luck.

Bill Gurley’s book is Runnin’ Down a Dream: How to Thrive in a Career You Actually Love.

Come see Planet Money live on stage! 12 cities. Details and tix here: planetmoneybook.com/#tour

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks so much to everybody who pre-ordered our new Planet Money book.
0:04.1	It's in stores now.
0:05.7	The poster for pre-orders will ship soon.
0:08.8	But to get it, you need to fill out a form on our book website so we know where to send it.
0:13.7	If you pre-ordered, send us an email to planetmoney at npr.org and we'll send you a link.
0:18.8	Email planetmoney at npr.org by Friday, April 17th.
0:22.7	And thanks for the support.
0:25.7	NPR.
0:25.8	NPR.
0:35.6	A lot of us have probably been in a position where we don't love our work.
0:40.6	Last year, about a third of American workers, aged 25 to 54, were not satisfied with their jobs.
0:47.6	That's according to a survey by the conference board.
0:50.6	Often, we work for a paycheck, not passion.
0:53.7	Yeah, a lot of people have a career they hate because
0:56.6	for them it was the safe option, the sure thing. Bill Gurley is a renowned former venture capitalists
1:02.5	who sees this and thinks, we've got to stop pressuring young people into chasing predictable,
1:07.5	high-paying jobs like, you know, lawyers or management consultants, just because
1:12.3	they seem secure. It is both possible and can be probable to take whatever it is you love to do
1:22.5	in your life and turn it into a career. This is The Indicator from Planet Money.
1:27.8	I'm Adrian Ma.
1:28.9	And I'm Darien Woods.
1:30.0	Today on the show, can everybody do what they love?
	...

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