Tessa West: Your Job Is A Marriage & How To Uplevel Your Relationship Together

Aug 19, 2024

In this discussion, Dr. Tessa West, a Professor of Psychology at NYU and author of 'Job Therapy', draws intriguing parallels between work and marriage, highlighting both as vital to our identity and self-worth. She explores workplace relationships and their emotional complexities, emphasizing the importance of nurturing a positive work culture. Tessa also discusses the unseen stressors impacting happiness at work, the significance of personal motivations, and the need for self-assessment in achieving career satisfaction. Tune in for profound insights that could transform your professional life!

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Intro

00:00 • 4min

Workplace Relationships: Love and Frustration

04:27 • 9min

Understanding Unhappiness and Daily Stressors

13:02 • 5min

Unseen Stresses: Balancing Life and Work

18:24 • 9min

Exploring Identity and Autonomy in Career Satisfaction

27:03 • 4min

Navigating Personal Motivations and Workplace Dynamics

31:32 • 19min

Navigating Personal and Professional Evolution

50:26 • 18min

Navigating Career Satisfaction Through Self-Exploration and Conversations

01:08:27 • 4min

Mastering Networking for Job Success

01:12:11 • 8min

Navigating the Complexities of Job Satisfaction and Self-Improvement

01:20:07 • 5min

We are all going to work. For most of our lives. We applaud people for their anniversaries. “Oh, you’ve been married for 10 years, congratulations.” Or the big celebration you have for a couple who has been married for 50 years! Well, most of us will work for nearly 50 years. I had my first consistent job at about 13, started my first business at 15, and my intent is to live till I’m 90 and work till then. That would put me at 75 years of working. You will also spend more time with your work than your spouse if you don’t include sleeping. So in essence, the greatest marriage of your life will be your work. What kind of relationship will you have with this primary spouse? My guest is Dr. Tessa West, who is a Professor of Psychology at New York University where she is a leading expert on the science of social relationships. She has over 100 academic

publications and is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal. Her work has been

covered by Scientific American, the New York Times, Financial Times, The Guardian,

CNN, CNBC, ABC World News, TIME, Bloomberg, HBR, Fast Company, and the US

Supreme Court. Her first book was Jerks at Work and now she’s published a book titled, Job Therapy: Finding Work That Works For You. In the book she posits the comparison between our work and a marriage. She says at the core we have deep, intimate feelings about our work and it is a primary ingredient in our self image and overall drive for life. This is where I dug in with Tessa. With all the focus on the topic of work I’ve had, I’ve never really gone down the trail of looking to our feelings and emotions and core relationship with it. This conversation will forever change how I view my relationship with my work. Find Tessa at tessawestauthor.com

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