As part of a volunteer initiative to encourage kids to stay in school, I recently spoke at a local high school about my career path.  At the end of my story, I summed up the three most important things I’ve learned:
 

• If the Earth is all one big living system, then each of us has something unique and valuable to contribute.  Nature isn't wasteful.  Your life's work is to discover your life's work.

• See as much of the world as you can.  Pay attention to how people are different from you and how they are the same as you.  Notice the problems that get your attention.  This is an important part of discovering your life's work.

• Listen to your gut -- literally.  Your body will give you clues about whether a work situation (or any situation) is going well for you.  If it doesn't feel good, it might not be a good fit for you.  Find a job and a place where you feel really alive. 

 
Today, I read an article that confirmed the validity of this advice at an even deeper level than I had in mind.  
 
In Genetics in the Workplace, Case Western Reserve professor Scott Shane relates that scientists have proven the influence that genes have on “your job choice, work performance, work values, career, job satisfaction, and a variety of other aspects of life at the office.”  According to Shane, decades of research has revealed that “over one-third of the difference between people on virtually every employment-related dimension investigated…is genetic.”  The implication, he says, is that “your success in the work world depends on your ability to make the most of ‘what you’ve got.’”
 
My take on this?  We’re hard-wired for a certain kind of work and a certain set of work conditions.  Most of life is a bumpy ride in search of this groove of ours.  But we can rest assured that we’ll know it when we find it, because it’ll feel right -- all the way down to our genes.
 
Source: Genetics in the Workplace, by Scott Shane, Wharton magazine Spring 2010, p. 6-7.