Save the Story · Chapter 7 of 10

Work & purpose

what you spent your working hours doing — and why. Scan a square or tap Record — the paperback stays on the table; the voice stays in the app.

01 · start here
What's the thing you most enjoyed building, making, or growing in your life?
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02
What did you imagine yourself doing for work, when you were ten?
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03
Tell me about a job you loved, and a job you hated, in equal detail.
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04
What's the best boss you ever had like — at their best, on a good day?
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05
What's the worst boss you ever had like — at their worst?
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06
Tell me about a piece of work you're quietly proud of, even if no one made a fuss at the time.
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07
Was there a project that took everything you had — and then some?
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08
What kind of worker were you in your prime?
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09
Tell me about a moment your work made a real difference to a real person.
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10
Was there a piece of work you wish you'd been brave enough to do — and didn't?
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11
Tell me about the day you started your most important job.
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12
Tell me about the day you left a job that had defined you for years.
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13
Was there a teacher of your craft — formal or otherwise — who taught you how to be good at what you did?
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14
What did you find boring, repetitive, or unglamorous about your work — and how did you keep doing it well?
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15
Tell me about the longest you ever stayed in a single role — and why.
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16
Was there a year your work and your life felt like one continuous fight?
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17
What did money from work mean to you across your career — survival, freedom, identity, comparison?
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18
Tell me about a craft, hobby, or unpaid practice that became as important as your job.
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19
Was there a time you helped someone get into their own working life — a child, a niece, a junior colleague?
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20
What did retirement, semi-retirement, or stopping look like — when, why, and how did you handle the first year?
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21
Tell me about a time you were unemployed, between jobs, or seriously broke.
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22
Was there a piece of work — an idea, a process, a product, a way of doing things — that outlived you in the place you did it?
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23
What's a question someone newer to your line of work has asked you, that made you think harder than you expected to?
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24
If you could go back and choose a different career path with no penalties, would you?
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