The Atlantic

Research about changing jobs illuminates trends that can guide your decision making, help lower uncertainty, and manage your expectations, Arthur Brooks writes. ⁠https://lnkd.in/en6zHD-S ⁠ Research has established that #job satisfaction usually does indeed rise when people start new #employment. But at the six-month mark on average, an inflection occurs, depending on the “career orientation” of the job changer. People with a self-oriented #career orientation—defined as those who see themselves as independently responsible for managing their career—have more churn and less job satisfaction than those with an organization-oriented career orientation—those who prioritize loyalty and security, and envision their career as part of a greater whole. Research also shows that people who are generally happier tend to be more adaptable in their career. In fact, happiness is the most significant predictor of being able to make the best of professional changes. ⁠ ⁠ If you are considering a change of job but feel paralyzed by fear of the unknown, the research offers a few practical lessons to help assuage your anxiety, Brooks continues. First, manage your expectations: The change most likely won’t make you worse off, but don’t romanticize it. If your expectations are too high, you will be disappointed; then you might find yourself on the job market over and over again, stuck in a cycle of unmet hopes. Next, look for happiness outside of work. When things are good in the rest of your life, they seem more stable and less bothersome at the job.⁠ ⁠ Last, jump before you’re pushed. Getting fired or laid off from work commonly provokes frustration, guilt, embarrassment, and anger—and is likely to coincide with less satisfaction when you find a new job. “Sometimes, losing your job comes as a complete surprise, but advance warning can take such forms as a change of management, a hiring freeze, or a switch in product line,” Brooks writes. “If you stay alert, you have a better chance of leaving on your own terms.”⁠ Read more: ⁠https://lnkd.in/en6zHD-S

A stark enthusiasm gap has opened up in a longtime Democratic stronghold in Georgia.

When I move pieces on a board, reality is held at bay—and I do not think of death, Cory Leadbeater writes:

In the psychogeography of Southern California, "the big one" lies like a sleeping monster deep beneath the Earth's surface, writes Ross Andersen. Scientists are still trying to predict when it will wake up:

A new attitude of moral unease toward international travel is pervasive, Chelsea Leu writes. Would we be doing the world a favor if we just stayed home?

“The O.C.” is a self-aware and heartwarming teen show that also helped create a new archetype of the heartthrob, @IsabelFattal writes in the Sunday Daily:

“Most of us need look no further than the people in our own lives who remind us about the possibilities for late-in-life success,” Isabelfattal writes in the Wonder Reader. Explore the secrets of the late bloomer in this roundup of stories:

Having a creative block is an invisible psychological torment, Chelsea Leu writes. It’s like quicksand: The harder you try to dig your way out of it, the more your own lack of inspiration overwhelms you—but there is a way out. The eight books on this list “depict writers, artists, and other creators struggling with stalled projects, or discuss the mysterious source of ideas, and together they form a clearer picture of the affliction,” Leu writes. “Blocks tend to crop up when we put undue pressure on ourselves to perform or to attempt lofty tasks.” These authors give practical advice or “describe feeling stuck with such precision and humor that they remind us that we’re not alone and the state won’t last forever.” See the list: https://lnkd.in/ekrcG5K6

Plenty of people believe that caring for a pet has health benefits, just like eating veggies or exercising regularly. But scientific evidence suggesting that pets can make people healthier is, at best, inconclusive, Michael Schulson writes for Undark Magazine:

To compete with ultracheap sites like Shein and Temu, Amazon is doing something uncharacteristic: slowing down, writes Louise Matsakis.