5 drawbacks to following your passion

  After earning bachelor’s degrees in engineering and sociology, I was determined to do what I love. I headed straight to graduate school to investigate the social problems that frightened and fascinated me.

  For almost a decade, I told everyone I encountered – students, cousins, baristas at the coffee shop I frequented – that they should do the same. “Follow your passion,” I counseled. “You can figure out the employment stuff later.”

The illusion of success

  Reach for the stars. Pursue goals beyond your grasp. These are good life strategies. We never know how much we can accomplish until we try.

   But what happens when we’re told we must reach the stars or suffer consequences?

Forget the American Dream – millions of working Americans still can’t afford food and rent

  The Biden administration is likely celebrating a better-than-expected jobs report, which showed surging employment and wages. However, for millions of working Americans, being employed doesn’t guarantee a living income.

  As scholars interested in the well-being of workers, we believe that the economy runs better when people aren’t forced to choose between paying rent, buying food, or getting medicine. Yet too many are compelled to do just that.

Michael Josephson: The illusion of success

  Reach for the stars. Pursue goals beyond your grasp. These are good life strategies. We never know how much we can accomplish until we try.

  But what happens when we’re told we must reach the stars or suffer consequences?

Michael Josephson: It’s your job to enjoy your job

  Labor Day is, first and foremost, a day off from work to do something you enjoy, or to catch up on domestic tasks awaiting your attention.

  It’s also an ideal time to think about the role that work plays in your life.

  For some, work is a necessary evil. It’s doing what they have to do to make a decent living. For others, work is doing what they want to do to make good life.