This is the 10% Happier Podcast, I'm Dan Harris.

Hello again, one of the central themes in my life and in my work has been the balance

between happiness and ambition.

When you boost your calm quotient without losing your professional edge, today we've

got a guest who challenges a lot of my deep conditioning around this subject.

I have for better or worse, often defined myself by my work.

One of the first questions I ask people when I meet them is what do you do?

I even ask kids sometimes, what do you want to do when you grow up?

My guest today argues that it is psychologically dangerous to define yourself by your work.

Now, he is not anti-ambition, it's just that he thinks that for many of us, things are out of

whack. In particular, he's worried that we often get too focused on the dream job.

Simone Stahlsoff is the author of a new book called The Good Enough Job. He's a writer, designer,

and workplace expert from San Francisco. He is a former design lead at the global innovation firm

IDO and a graduate of Stanford and the University of Pennsylvania. We talk about his argument for

diversifying our sources of what makes a meaningful life, how passion for your job should not be a

stand-in for pay or security, and how to balance the pursuit of meaningful work without letting

it take over your whole life. I should say this is episode one of a big four-part series we're

launching today called Sainley Ambitious. We thought Labor Day would be a good time to kick

this thing off. Over the next two weeks, we've got episodes about how to integrate mindfulness

into work and how to handle big emotions at the office and how to redefine success and more.

I think you're going to like it. Hit me up on Twitter or via the 10% happier website or the app

with your feedback. I want to hear it. Unrelated, a little plug here. I want to put in a mention

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