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Welcome back to our new feature Inspirational Person of the Month. The idea is we get to talk to an inspirational person and ask them just one question.  And this month’s inspirational person is Dr. Barry Schwartz.

More on the question later, first let me introduce Barry Schwartz.

Dr Schwartz is an American Psychologist and professor of psychology at Swarthmore College.  I first came across Barry Schwartz’s work on practical wisdom after watching his ted talk on practical wisdom which he gave in 2009. I was so inspired by his message about autonomy, practical wisdom and morality, I wrote a blog about it (see previous blog: The Master Virtue). His talk is very engaging but also his message is enlightening, highlighting the importance of giving people sufficient flexibility to enable them to demonstrate virtue over self-interest. (You can read more about this in the Wired article if you’re interested).

Schwartz has also written about the implications of the abundance of choice in Western society.  His book The Paradox of Choice, seeks to highlight that more can sometimes feel like less, when we are faced with too much choice. Research suggests that too much choice may lead the individual to inaction and ultimately dissatisfaction. Too many options, paradoxically, decrease our freedom to choose because we may become less inclined to make a choice at all in the face of so many options. Or if we do choose, we fear we might be disappointed that our choice was, inevitably, less than perfect. Damned if you choose, damned if you don’t.  Interesting stuff.

So the question we asked Dr Schwartz went something like this:

What is the one best piece of advice in your career/life you’ve ever
received?

And his response:

Thank you Odette.  I would say the best piece of advice I got when it came to choosing a career was to “think small.”  What this meant was to think carefully about the day-to-day life I would live in one or another job, rather than about such things as career trajectories and possible long-term achievements.  I followed that advice, and have never had a single regret.

Barry

What stood out to me from Dr. Schwartz’s words, is that he did not highlight aiming for the sky, or thinking anything was possible. Actually the reverse. Instead, he suggests that by focusing on the day-to-day reality of the job role, rather than future possibilities, decision-making is based on the small things, the detail.

By focusing attention on what you will actually be doing in the job, career choice is more likely to be grounded in reality rather than an unlived fantasy of future possible rewards.  And in the long-run, when it comes right down to it, that may turn out to be a little more satisfying.