{"id":7348,"date":"2026-04-24T11:43:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=7348"},"modified":"2026-04-24T11:43:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:43:50","slug":"jodi-kantor-urges-young-people-to-pursue-meaningful-work-not-a-life-directed-by-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=7348","title":{"rendered":"Jodi Kantor Urges Young People to Pursue Meaningful Work, Not a Life Directed by Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Investigative journalist <strong>Jodi Kantor<\/strong> has turned her attention from exposing major abuses of power to helping young people navigate one of the most difficult questions of modern life: how to find work they truly care about. In her new book, <em>How to Start<\/em>, Kantor argues that even in a world shaped by anxiety, instability, AI disruption, and economic pressure, people should not let fear become the guide for their future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The idea for the book emerged after Kantor was invited to deliver a commencement address at Columbia University during a period of intense turmoil on campus. When she spoke with students beforehand, she found that many were less focused on politics than on a deeper personal concern: how to begin building a meaningful life when so much around them feels broken. Their questions stayed with her and eventually became the foundation of the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kantor, best known for her reporting on Harvey Weinstein and the US Supreme Court, wrote the book during a time of personal transition that included illness, family change, and turning 50. She says those experiences pushed her to connect with readers more directly and to offer practical guidance, especially to a younger generation she sees as deeply burdened by dread and uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the heart of her message is a simple but forceful idea: people should pay attention not only to what frightens them, but to what genuinely draws them in. Kantor encourages readers to observe their daily lives closely, noting which tasks, people, and environments energize them and which leave them drained. In her view, positive curiosity is often a better compass than fear, because dread can distort judgment and make possibilities seem smaller than they really are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She does not ignore the realities facing younger workers. Kantor acknowledges the pressures of student debt, housing insecurity, and a harsh job market, but warns against building an entire life around avoidance and mere financial survival. While financial stability matters, she argues that a fulfilling career also requires some willingness to take risks, develop real craft, and build human relationships that can open doors in an increasingly impersonal hiring system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rather than offering easy optimism, Kantor presents her advice as a counterweight to a culture that increasingly tells young people to expect disappointment. Her core message is that they are not simply statistics in a broken system. They still have agency, and if they abandon the search for satisfying work before it begins, they make that fulfillment even harder to reach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Investigative journalist Jodi Kantor has turned her attention from exposing major abuses of power to helping young people navigate one of the most difficult questions of modern life: how to find work they truly care about. In her new book, How to Start, Kantor argues that even in a world shaped by anxiety, instability, AI [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7352,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7348\/revisions\/7352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}