The title of this blog post may be somewhat of a misnomer, because WordPress won’t allow me to italicize or underline words in that title. It’s not referring to finding fulfilling work vs. settling on drudgery that pays the bills; it’s referring to the School of Life’s book and video How to Find Fulfilling Work and how it compares to a few other resources of the same ilk.

Imagine five parallel universes, in each of which you could have a whole year off to pursue absolutely any career you desired. Now think of five different jobs you might want to try out in each of these universes.—from How to Find Fulfilling work

While the book How to Find Fulfilling Work and its accompanying summary video (below) offer some good thought-prodding perspectives, I’ve found that beyond the exercises offered in the book, How to Find Fulfilling Work is not as directly actionable as the guidance given in Do More Great Work and Finding Your Element. Those two books contain nicely guided activities aimed at leading you to specific and useful insights. Also, Simon Sinek’s Why Discovery Course is an invaluable approach to the “know yourself” portion of  How to Find Fulfilling Work‘s recommendations, and Simon Sinek’s discussion of The Golden Circle in Start With Why (and his now classic TEDx Talk, embedded below) provides an excellent framework for understanding not only our own nature but that of organizations and movements.

How to Find Fulfilling Work is a good starting point, but readers of it should go beyond it by taking its advice to “think a lot” and structure that thought with additional resources.

What helpful resources for self-actualization and career fulfillment have you found?