How to Reverse-Engineer a Career You Love

Discover how to reverse-engineer a fulfilling career in this 37-minute talk by Gartner's EVP of Product, Ken Davis. Explore the concept of rewiring your brain through practice, delve into the 10,000-hour rule, and learn about the four key dimensions to consider when determining your ideal career path. Examine the pre-conditions for entering a state of flow and understand the importance of daily interactions in your work life. Investigate the impact of "contagious" behaviors and emotions in the workplace, and learn about setting ambitious goals through the concept of Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). Analyze the tradeoffs you're willing to make in your career and consider four critical questions to ask yourself. Gain insights into effective career decision-making strategies, drawing parallels with venture capital firms' methods for identifying promising opportunities. Explore various time investment approaches for learning and testing career hypotheses, using examples from MIT Physics graduates to illustrate diverse career paths.

Intro
George Dantzig - 1939
Practice rewires your brain
The 10,000 hour rule - Anders Ericson
How do you find a career you will love?
Four key dimensions to think about what you want
Four pre-conditions for entering flow
Experience sampling method - Finding flow
What type of interactions do you need daily?
2. The bad apple experiment
Mirror neurons
All of the following are "contagious"
Big hairy audacious goals (BHAG)
John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961
BHAGs in business
Ben Franklin
What tradeoffs are you willing to make?
Four critical questions to ask yourself
Venture Capital firms are excellent at finding needle in the haystack
Analogy for career choices
MIT Physics graduates
Range of time investments to learn/test hypothesis
Pulling it all together