Originally found at NPR's Hidden Brain podcast, by Shankar Vedantam

Why do you work? Popular wisdom says your answer depends on what your job is.

But psychologist [and AOM Scholar] Amy Wrzesniewski at Yale University finds it may have more to do with how we think about our work.

“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,” said Wrzesniewski, who researches how people find meaning in the work that they do.

Across a diverse array of jobs — from secretaries to custodians to computer programmers — Wrzesniewski finds people are about equally split in whether they say they have a “job,” a “career,” or a “calling.”

Continue reading this article and listen to the podcast at NPR’s Hidden Brain.

Learn more about the AOM Scholars and explore their work:

• Amy Wrzesniewski, New York University, University of Michigan
• Jane E. Dutton, New York University, University of Michigan