What’s your excuse for not pursuing your dream job?

Almost every job-seeker has heard motivational talks and read uplifting stories about following your passion. And yet, too many people decide not to do so. It’s hard, and you’ll make a fool of yourself. You’re afraid – so you make excuses.

And according to economics professor Larry Smith, those excuses are the reason you’ll fail to have a great career.

Instead, you’ll end up spending your career in the “high-workload, high-stress, bloodsucking, soul-destroying kinds of jobs”, as Smith so bluntly puts it in his TED talk, which has more than 4.5 million views and counting.

But there’s a way to ensure you don’t end up walking that path:

‘Unless.’

Smith dubs the word the most evocative in the English language, and one that’ll allow you to step out of the shadows of another terrifying phrase: “If only I had…”

So if you want to shake things up this year and take a stab at following your passion to a dream ethical job, check out Smith’s talk – it just might be the push you need to find your ‘unless’.