{"podcast":{"title":"Squiggly Careers","slug":"squiggly-careers-755233","podcast_index_feed_id":755233,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/APL9013254409","website_url":"http://www.amazingif.com/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/e52f6dce-340a-11f1-9553-87b22d7956a4/image/b446c05844a7a5d44164e3cba433ae00.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"AmazingIf","episode_count":585,"summary":"Squiggly Careers is a weekly podcast that will help you take control of your career development. Hosted by the founders of Amazing If (https://www.amazingif.com/), Sarah Ellis and Helen Tupper, together they cover all things work: from how to manage stress and overcome your confidence gremlins to micro-aggressions and discovering your strengths. Each episode is full of ideas, actions, hints, and tips that you can put into practice straight away. Every so often they take a break from talking to each other to interview other people who are leading the way in making work better. Past guests include entrepreneur and philanthropist Dame Stephanie Shirley, author of The Joy of Work Bruce Daisley, and neuroscience expert Amy Brann. The Squiggly Careers podcast has been recommended by Harvard Business Review, Stylist, Marie Claire and Management Today. For more ideas, tools and inspiration every week, you can also sign up to their newsletter Squiggly Careers in Action. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-09T14:17:12.363141+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/squiggly-careers-755233"},"episode":{"title":"#559 What to Do When Your Work Feels Pointless","slug":"559-what-to-do-when-your-work-feels-pointless","published_at":"2026-05-12T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/squiggly-careers-755233/559-what-to-do-when-your-work-feels-pointless","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/squiggly-careers-755233","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APL1407836313.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APL1407836313.mp3","summary":"Have you ever finished a week at work and wondered what you actually did that mattered? In this episode, Helen and Sarah borrow brilliance from David Graeber's book Bulls*it Jobs...and find it uncomfortably relatable. Helen and Sarah explore what pointless work actually looks like, why it's more common than most of us admit, and, crucially, what you can do if you find yourself in it. 🎯 What You'll Learn – What makes a job \"pointless\" according to Graeber's definition (and why it's more about your own assessment than anyone else's) – Why high-paid pointless jobs are often more draining than they sound – Five practical strategies for surviving and escaping a job that doesn't feel real (from scanning sideways to pitching yourself a new role) – Why treating your career as a series of experiences rather than an identity makes these moments easier to navigate – When to leave (and why calling it fast is increasingly the right move) 📚 Resources Mentioned Bullsh*it Jobs — David Graeber I Don't Want a Job (Not a Real Job) — Amy McNeese, The Pony Project For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/ 3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod 4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices","meta_description":"Have you ever finished a week at work and wondered what you actually did that mattered? In this episode, Helen and Sarah borrow brilliance from David Grae…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2258,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/squiggly-careers-755233/episodes/559-what-to-do-when-your-work-feels-pointless/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/squiggly-careers-755233/559-what-to-do-when-your-work-feels-pointless.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}