If you would would you walk us through a typical day for you?

This is Hidden Brain I'm Shankar Vidantin today. We're talking about finding meaning in our work. I generally come in at least 15 minutes late

I use the side door that way lumber can't see me and

After that I just sort of space out for about an hour

To my house

Space out. Yeah, I just stare at my desk

But it looks like I'm working

This clip from the movie office space describes what work feels like to many people not the stuff of poetry

But now imagine something that feels more than just a job something that feels like a calling

What we learned is people who see their work as a calling are

Significantly more satisfied with their jobs. They're significantly more satisfied with their lives

They're more engaged in what it is that they're doing and tend to be better performers regardless of what the work is

This week on Hidden Brain a conversation with Amy Riznowski professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management

Amy studies work and something that she calls job crafting

Job crafting can help you make the job that you have right now more meaningful and more satisfying

Amy Riznowski welcome to Hidden Brain. Thanks so much for having me

I was reading one of your papers recently and I was struck by an excerpt that you had at the top

One came from a corporate securities lawyer and one came from a taxidermist and I was struck by what the two of them said

Can you tell me what they said?

Sure, so the corporate securities lawyer was bemoaning the fact that his job as he saw it was I think his words were a deal with the devil

That he did the job not because he liked it

But because it allowed him to stay geographically in an area that worked for his family and so on and in contrast the taxidermist was talking about

...