“To not have entirely wasted one’s life seems to be a worthy accomplishment, if only for myself,” wrote Charles Bukowski in his magnificent letter of gratitude to the man who helped him quit a soul-sucking day job to become a full-time writer. But the quest to find one’s calling is rarely easy — few people turn their childhood dreams into reality like Jane Goodall did or awaken one day early in life with Werner Herzog’s sense of “undivided duty” to propel them forward into a lifetime of fulfilling work. After all, even Van Gogh floundered to find his purpose.

When we find ourselves at the crossroads of safe and satisfying, we don’t always have the courage to let our inner life speak, much less to listen.

This terrific short animation based on philosopher Roman Krznaric’s How to Find Fulfilling Work (public library) — which I’ve previously covered at length — offers consolation to those who “have career crises, often on a Sunday evening,” by exploring the six pillars of finding a life-path that bridges money and meaning, sacrificing neither for the other:

A lack of confidence is at heart a misunderstanding of the way the world works. It’s an internalized feudalism, which imagines that only certain people — but not oneself — have the right, preordained, to get certain things.

Dive deeper here, then revisit the quirky vintage manifesto How to Avoid Work, the wise and wonderful Parker Palmer on how to define your own success, and this omnibus of ideas on how to find your purpose and do what you love.

For more such rapidly illuminating perspectives from The School of Life, see their excellent animations on what philosophy is for and what great books do for the soul.