Why It’s Worth It | You know that feeling when you’re a kid, completely absorbed in building a fort or painting or just creating something from nothing? Turns out that the nine-year-old version of you knew something crucial about what makes life worth living. We just spend the next few decades forgetting it, then wonder why work feels like death by a thousand paper cuts.

Dan Harris explores this universal amnesia with Jonathan Fields, who went from being a securities lawyer working 100-hour weeks to opening a yoga studio in Hell’s Kitchen eight weeks after 9/11. Jonathan’s journey began when an infection literally ate a hole through his intestines from the outside in, landing him in emergency surgery. Sometimes our bodies have to scream at us before we’ll listen to what we already know: we’re living a life that should belong to someone else. 

The conversation centers on Jonathan’s concept of SPARKetypes – those core impulses that have been with us since childhood that make us feel alive. After studying nearly 900,000 people worldwide, Jonathan identified just ten of these types: the Maker (who creates), the Maven (who learns), the Scientist (who figures things out), and others. Dan immediately recognizes himself as a Maker with a Performer shadow – he wakes up thinking about creating, performs when needed, but would rather jump off a building than deal with the Essentialist work of systems and details (his anti-SPARKetype).

Here’s what’s brilliant: Jonathan isn’t promising that discovering your SPARKetype will magically transform your life overnight. Instead, he offers a progression of options based on your circumstances. If you value security or are living paycheck to paycheck, start with tiny tweaks. Can you bring yourself to the same work differently? One hospital janitor sees himself as “just cleaning”; another sees himself as part of the care team that keeps patients healthy. Same job, radically different experience.

The harder conversation comes when Dan asks about uncertainty – that unwelcome companion that shows up the moment you consider aligning your life with what actually matters to you. Jonathan shares research showing we’re not actually wired to fear uncertainty itself. When people make uncertain choices privately, with no social consequences, the bias vanishes. What terrifies us is being judged for choosing the unknown path and failing publicly. We’re not afraid of the outcome; we’re afraid of being cast out of the tribe.

Both men bond over their meditation practices and shared tinnitus experiences. Jonathan’s story is particularly powerful: when a loud, high-pitched sound began tearing through his head 24/7 with no cure available, he had to literally make friends with the thing destroying him. By “abandoning hope” – not in a fatalistic way, but by accepting this might be permanent – he could finally work with reality instead of against it. The sound that once consumed him now barely exists unless someone asks about it.

Background | In this episode, Dan Harris sits down with Jonathan Fields, host of The Good Life Project podcast and author of SPARKED: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work That Makes You Come Alive, who brings hard-won wisdom about aligning life with what matters to the conversation.

• The childhood thread: Look back to ages 9-10. What did you love doing that required effort, but you did anyway, just for the feeling? That’s your SPARKetype showing itself before culture told you it wasn’t practical. The through-line between building forts and building businesses reveals more than any career assessment.
• Four domains of work: Stop limiting thinking about “work” to what pays the bills. Your SPARKetype shows up in leisure, learning, paid work, and home life roles. If your job can’t accommodate your impulse to create or solve or nurture, find it in one of the other domains. Prioritizing those 15 minutes before kids wake up differently … using them to journal or learn or make something … might save your soul.
• Chunking the impossible:  Break the journey of dumping the soul-crushing job into microscopic steps. Read one book, attend one workshop, have one conversation. Each tiny validation makes the next step possible. Life, inch by inch, really is a cinch; yard by yard will destroy you.
• Certainty anchors: People who thrive in creative uncertainty lean on heavy routines at other times … often eating the same lunch daily, wearing a “uniform” of clothes daily, and exercising/meditating at the same time every day. They’re dropping anchors everywhere they can, so when they step into the void of creation, they’re not completely worn out from thousands of micro-decisions. Automating the mundane frees up energy for what matters.
• Normalizing through community: Find your “parallel playmates” – people also stepping into uncertainty, even if pursuing different goals. Silicon Valley figured this out with accelerators, while artists have known it forever with their shared studios. We aren’t not weird for wanting “more”; we just need people who get us. 
• Exercise as play: Stop exercising on machines while mindlessly watching screens to survive the experience. What movement requires a full presence? Playing catch engages the mind. Add the people we love, and exercise becomes something we can’t wait to do.
• Abandoning hope as freedom:  When Jonathan accepted his tinnitus might be permanent, he could finally work with it instead of against it. Sometimes, surrender is the most powerful move available.

Source | 10% Happier: Are You Spending Your Life on Things You Actually Enjoy and Care About? – Episode 983 (March 21, 2025)

About | Dan Harris is a former national news reporter who turned to meditation to manage the stressors of a high-pressure on-air career. A self-dubbed “fidgety skeptic,” he brings a practical perspective to a seemingly abstract practice. Dan currently hosts the 10% Happier (TPH) podcast, which delivers conversations with meditation teachers, researchers, and even the odd celebrity. He is also a former co-founder of the Happier meditation app. Dan’s over-arching philosophy is simple yet profound: he believes happiness is a skill that can be learned.