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

This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vittantham. 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.

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.

Thank you 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.

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