How To!: Hit “Reset” on Your Career

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Slate Podcasts

Society & Culture, News

4.6 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Our listener Abdullah has reached a plateau. A mid-career manager at a large electronics engineering corporation, he feels intellectually unstimulated. Even though Abdullah has a stable job with seniority, he dreams of going back to school, and pursuing his true passion: economics. But with a family to support, should Abdullah make a risky leap? On this episode of How To!, host Carvell Wallace is joined by Freakonomics co-author and University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt. Well-known for out-of-the-box thinking, Levitt shares surprising tips (including a simple coin flip strategy) that can help anyone on the edge of a huge decision. If you liked this episode, check out: How To Know When to Quit Your Job Do you have a question we can help you solve? Send us a note at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001. We might invite you on the show! Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. Podcast production by Kevin Bendis, Derek John, Joel Meyer, and Rosemary Belson. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on How To!. Sign up now at slate.com/howtoplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I got to tell you one thing though, young people in high school say, wow, I read your book
0:06.2	Freakonomics and now I want to study economics.
0:09.6	And I always hold my breath a little bit in that cringe because what we write about
0:14.6	in Freakonomics and what one studies, especially if you go to do PhD level economics, have
0:20.9	very little in common.
0:23.0	And I always worry that we're misleading people, take them down a path which is really pretty
0:28.5	painful.
0:30.8	Welcome to How To.
0:31.8	I'm Carbo Wallace.
0:34.8	Have you ever found yourself stuck in a job?
0:37.0	It's like you work so hard, you take so much time to build a career and get to the place
0:40.8	that you were dreaming about.
0:42.3	And then when you're there, you suddenly notice that it feels stale and pointless.
0:48.2	And then the panic sets in.
0:50.4	It's like I've made a huge mistake.
0:53.1	I've devoted years, maybe even a decade to something that I don't even like.
0:58.0	So what now?
0:59.0	Well, this week's listener found himself in exactly that kind of predicament.
1:05.7	My name is Abdallah from the United Arab Emirates.
1:08.8	I'm an engineer with an electronics engineering degree.
1:12.2	I have been working as an engineer for more than 10 years now.
1:16.5	The challenge that I'm facing now is I feel that I have reached kind of a plateau in my
	...

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