Mindset Frameworks For Career Happiness

Recently, I came across this amazing interview where Ali Abdaal interviews Steven Bartlett. Ali is a productivity expert, YouTuber, podcaster, entrepreneur and author. Steven is an entrepreneur and the host and founder of the famous podcast channel ‘The Diary of a CEO' and the author of the book by the same name. The takeaways were superb, and I highly recommend this video to you if you are interested in a freelance career or entrepreneurship.

Principles of Career Happiness

In this video, Steven mentions five points for career happiness:

1. Challenge: Jobs should become incrementally more difficult to keep people motivated.

2. Progress Principle: You need to feel a sense of forward motion in your career. Even small improvements or wins can boost motivation, create a positive team environment, and contribute to the feeling of progress.

3. Subjectively Meaningful Goal: You should have a personal reason that makes you feel your work is worthwhile. Employees should have a personal reason for working at a company. These reasons will vary from person to person, but each employee should feel that the work is worthwhile.

4. Autonomy and Control: Employees need to feel like they have autonomy and control over their work. Lack of autonomy can negatively impact both physical and psychological well-being.

5. Supportive Community: Employees need to work with a group of people that they like. This can make difficult or challenging work more bearable.

Steven argues that these five points are more important than the particular career or job, and this framework is valid across different jobs and industries. When these elements are present in a job, it can lead to a sense of balance and fulfilment.

Ali Abdaal then outlines his own framework for enjoyable work, which he calls "Feel-Good Productivity". It is built around three key elements, which he calls the "3 Ps": Power, Play, and People.

1. Power: Ali Abdaal's concept of "Power" actually combines a few different elements:

   1. Autonomy and Control: This echoes Bartlett's emphasis on autonomy and is a key theme in Ali's book, "Feel-Good Productivity". He believes that feeling in control of one's work and having a sense of ownership over decisions leads to greater empowerment and job satisfaction.

   2. Improvement and Progress: Experiencing a sense of improvement, growth, and "levelling up" within one's work contributes to a feeling of "Power".

2. Play: Ali sees "Play" as an important, though not strictly essential, element of enjoyable work. This is explained as work should feel light, and not a burden. If you can approach work with a spirit of playfulness, lightness, and ease, you can experience greater joy in your tasks.

3. People: This is related to the important role of positive social connections in creating a fulfilling work experience. The "People" element of this framework is about working within a supportive community of colleagues who are enjoyable to be around.

In addition to these three core components, Ali also explores the idea of Purpose in his book, which he considers as "alignment" with one's core values. Although 'Purpose' is not explicitly a part of the "3 Ps" framework, Ali agrees that it is important for creating a sense of meaning in one's work. But I found it interesting that he says that he deliberately put "Purpose" at the end, because if you start with finding "Purpose", or start with the "Why" (a la Simon Sinek), then there is a risk of getting overwhelmed. How do you start finding a purpose in a not-so-grand job? I completely agree with this. Sometimes, you just need to get going, start doing, and perhaps think of some superficial and shallow why's, and once you have the other aspects mentioned above going well for you, then you can contemplate the "purpose" and then on it will keep you going. And down the road, your journey may also redefine it in return.

Also Read: My experience with freelancing with diability and career happiness

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Check these books out

Diary of a CEO, by Steven Bartlett

Feel-Good Productivity : How to Do More of What Matters to You by Ali Abdaal

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