{"id":516,"date":"2019-07-03T23:54:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T03:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=516"},"modified":"2026-01-19T23:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T03:05:12","slug":"the-minimalists-career-guide-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-minimalists-career-guide-job\/","title":{"rendered":"The Minimalists’ Career Guide (Summary)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Want to turn your career around and focus on your passions? Learn career advice<\/a> directly from The Minimalists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Minimalist Mindset About Careers vs Passions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many people expect a career to be more fulfilling than a job. They believe it\u2019s the ticket to a meaningful life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, having a career often sidetracks you from that goal. The reason is that people invest in their careers to the point of assuming an identity and social status based on their job title<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our cultural norms aid and abet this tendency. One of the first things people ask when getting acquainted is, \u201cWhat do you do?\u201d This seems innocuous, but the implied question is, \u201cWhat do you do for a living?\u201d\u2014and you know you\u2019ll be judged (assigned a social status) based on your occupation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to The Minimalists, once you believe your career is who you are<\/a>, it\u2019s difficult to give up that identity even if you come to hate your career.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(A better way to answer the \u201cwhat do you do\u201d question is to reply with what you\u2019re passionate about. For instance, \u201cI\u2019m passionate about cooking; what are you passionate about?\u201d It leads to more interesting conversations than the typical answer along the lines of \u201cI\u2019m a director of operations.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is, you\u2019re far more than your career; you have passions that you can pursue for a meaningful life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can be difficult to find your passions because you tend to get stuck in the daily grind<\/strong>, held back by four main anchors: identity, status, certainty, and money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Anchor of Identity<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Your occupation is an anchor holding you back<\/a> when you believe it defines who you are as a person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to The Minimalists, when your job or career becomes your identity, it\u2019s difficult to do anything else<\/strong>. That\u2019s why many people stay in the same industry when they change jobs. It\u2019s hard to realize you are much more than your vocation and\/or your stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua and Ryan worked to come up with more meaningful identities than their corporate titles. They had to publicly identify themselves with new labels, such as mentor, leader, contributor, and minimalist. These identities are transferable to whatever they do, unlike their career identities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you remove the anchor of identity, you can remove other anchors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Anchor of Status<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As people climb the corporate ladder<\/a>, get more tenure, and become more comfortable in their careers, a feeling of status becomes part of their career identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A perceived loss of status makes people feel ashamed, useless, or depressed<\/strong> when they lose their job<\/strong>. They feel insignificant without it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to The Minimalists, People associate their job with status because it\u2019s something they have some control over. If you work hard, you\u2019re rewarded with awards, praise, perceived power, promotion. Society programs us to want instant results, and puts more emphasis on career and money than status of any other kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the most important things in life (health, relationships, passion) are more difficult to control and don\u2019t provide instant gratification<\/a>. They don\u2019t confer status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, stay-at-home dads don\u2019t get much respect\u2014they might be deemed lazy\u2014because they aren\u2019t making a lot of money or advancing a career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TheMinimalists.com founders Joshua and Ryan removed the anchor of status by placing less value on what people thought about their jobs, and also by showing people why their new identities were more important<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a more positive idea of status, you can embrace more variety in your life, and give up some of the certainty (comfort in the familiar) that\u2019s weighing you down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Anchor of Certainty<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Everyone needs some level of certainty. For instance, you must be certain your ceiling isn\u2019t going to collapse while you sleep, or that an approaching car won\u2019t run over you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But aside from our basic needs for safety, the level of certainty people need varies from person to person. For instance, a race car driver needs less certainty than the average person. But we all need to be able to step outside our comfort zones \u2014 and remove the anchor of certainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainty feels comfortable but can be the reason you don\u2019t make changes you want to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t want to trade your comfort today for something that could be less comfortable tomorrow.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two ways to motivate yourself<\/a> to change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n