Coffee chats: What people love about the work they do
About this video
Three professionals share what they love about their work. A brain surgery worker loves seeing patients recover overnight, a policy advocate loves uplifting communities and shaping systems, and a startup founder loves turning an idea into something real with fast feedback.
You'll be able to
- describe different reasons people find their work rewarding.
- compare kinds of satisfaction, like helping others, creating things and quick feedback.
- name what kind of reward might matter most to me.
Key words
- Instant gratification
- Getting a good feeling or result right away instead of waiting.
- Advocate
- To speak up and work in support of a person, group or cause.
- Policy
- Rules or plans made by governments or organizations that shape how things work.
- Startup
- A new, usually small company trying to build a new product or service.
Transcript
(bright music) - For instance, some people would come in with like, let's say, a bleed in their brain where they cannot even move any of their extremities. They cannot do anything, they're uptrended, they are intubated, you know, and you take them to the OR and you evacuate that blood.
And then the next day you see them and then they're, like, moving all their extremities. They're like literally talking to you back. I think is the most rewarding experience, like, you would ever see because there's that instant gratification, right?
- I think growing up, I never really envisioned myself working in politics or policy, but to be in a capital building where I get paid to advocate on behalf of communities is an experience that I don't take for granted. But I think it also makes me feel so excited to go to work every single day knowing that I'm uplifting community and their voice.
And that intersection where community and policy come together is so impactful, where it really fills my cup to be able to say that I'm working on policy that directly shapes the systems that we live in. And I think it's incredible to be able to say that. And that's what I really enjoy the most.
- And the most satisfaction I would say comes from the sense of self-causation, which is the, almost like a sensation of being able to create something that's just an idea and turn that into something real. It's like from zero to one, that's like super exciting.
And the turnaround in a small startup is so quick that you feel this instant feedback, this adrenaline. (bright music)
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