The evidence on how to find the right career for you thumbnail
The evidence on how to find the right career for you
80000hours.org
Generally being known as a person who gets shit done and is great at what they do can open all sorts of (often surprising) opportunities. Asking “What am I good at?” needlessly narrows your options. It’s better to ask: “What could I become good at?” So to a large degree, your abilities are built rat
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  • Generally being known as a person who gets shit done and is great at what they do can open all sorts of (often surprising) opportunities.
  • Asking “What am I good at?” needlessly narrows your options. It’s better to ask: “What could I become good at?”
  • So to a large degree, your abilities are built rather than “discovered.” Darwin, Lincoln, and Oprah all failed early in their careers, then went on to completely dominate their fields. Albert Einstein’s 1895 schoolmaster’s report reads, “He will never amount to anything.”
  • Personal fit is even more important than most people think, because it increases your impact, job satisfaction, and career capital. Research shows that it’s hard to work out what you’re going to be good at ahead of time. Career tests, trying to introspect, or just “going with your gut” seem like poor ways of figuring this out.
  • A small percentage of the workers in any given domain is responsible for the bulk of the work. Generally, the top 10% of the most prolific elite can be credited with around 50% of all contributions, whereas the bottom 50% of the least productive workers can claim only 15% of the total work, and the most productive contributor is usually about 100 t...

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