Free Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life by Joshua Fields Millburn, Ryan Nicodemus

a career is one of the most dangerous things you can do if you want to find meaning in your life.
    Careers are dangerous because people invest so much of themselves into their careers that they establish an identity and a social status based upon where they work and what they do for a living. 
    Think about it: one of the first things a person asks you when you’re becoming acquainted is What do you do? On the surface, this seems like an innocent enough question, doesn’t it? But the implied question isn’t What do you do? which by itself is rather expansive and could encompass thousands of things ( I volunteer at soup kitchens , I work at Walmart , I enjoy fishing on the weekends , I exercise five days a week , I drink water , etc.); the implied question is What do you do for a living? or Where do you work? which is vastly different than the question itself. This “innocent” question actually says, I will judge you as a person by however you make your money, and I will assign a particular social status to you based on your occupation.
    People have to answer this question so often that they become rooted in their careers—they establish “what they do” as their core identity and give their occupations far more societal worth than they deserve. Once someone establishes their career as who they are as a person, it is incredibly hard to shed that identity, even if the person hates their career ( I don’t want to work here, but this is just who I am! ).
    Thankfully, there are better ways to answer the What do you do? question. We have found that people are programmed to ask this question without giving it any thought; it’s not much different than asking How are you doing? So the best thing to do is to get the other person to actually think about the mindless question they just posited. Whenever presented with this question, the two of us tend to answer with another question, such as, “That’s a rather expansive question. What do you mean by it?” or “That’s a rather expansive question; perhaps we could discuss it over a cup of coffee.” 
    Another way to answer this question is by stating what you’re passionate about, instead of spouting off what your vocation is. So, instead of saying, “I’m a Director of Operations,” say, “I’m passionate about writing [or scrap-booking or rock climbing or whatever you’re passionate about].” It’s nice to follow-up that statement with, “What are you passionate about?” Such a response completely redirects the conversation, changing its trajectory from what you do to what you’re both passionate about , which is far more interesting.
    Such responses immediately cause the person to reconsider the question, while at the same time help you remember that you are far more than your career. You are a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, a spouse, a lover, a healthy person, a growing person, a contributing person, a passionate person with a meaningful life. You are not your career.
    By changing your own thought process around this question, you can dig out those pernicious roots that every career has. Over time you can remove your identity from your career and into its appropriate place—your life. Your meaningful life should be your identity, not how you earn a paycheck.
     
    Joshua & Ryan's Passions
    Whether you follow our website or were just introduced to our writing with this book, you know our story by now. You know we worked fancy corporate careers with fancy titles and sizable paychecks. But therein lies a clue: we had careers . What level of passion do you think we had if we worked at our careers instead of living our mission ?
    Sure, we worked hard, slaving 70 or more hours a week for a corporation. Sure, we enjoyed certain aspects of our careers (viz. coaching and mentoring the large groups of people we led). And sure, we often felt fortunate to have such “nice” careers at a young age with no college degrees. But, ultimately, we weren’t