How To Start (Even When You Don't Know Where You're Going)
4/27/202655 min
As work becomes the place we look for identity, stability, and meaning, the stakes feel higher than ever. Esther invites you in for a live conversation between friends, New York Times journalist Jodi Kantor and facilitator and author Priya Parker. A question echoes through the room: how do you start when you don’t know where you’re going? This is a conversation about uncertainty, ambition, and finding the courage to begin anyway. My annual Sessions Live two-day live event is coming up next month! Through clinical, cultural, and creative perspectives, Sessions Live 2026: Cultivating Aliveness: Desire & Its Disruptions explores how relationships are evolving, and how we can translate those insights into practice. Whether you’re a practicing clinician or curious mind, you’ll discover fresh insights and takeaways to help you connect and thrive. Come see me live on May 15th and 16th in NYC! Podcast listeners get a special discount with the code FRIENDSLIVE to get $100 off an in-person ticket, or FRIENDSVIRTUAL for $50 off a virtual ticket at checkout on the Sessions Live ticket page. For Jodi Kantor's new book How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work visit https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jodi-kantor/how-to-start/9780316609555/ To pre-order Priya Parker's upcoming book The Art of Fighting: The Transformative Power of Conflict visit https://www.priyaparker.com/priya-parker-books Also, please join me on Entre Nous, my new home on Substack for anyone who wants to live, love, and work with more connection and imagination. I invite you to sign up and become a free or paid member at estherperel.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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First 90 secondsEsther Perel· Host0:00
I'm often asked how I started my career. So of course, when Jodi Kantor, author of How to Start, investigative journalist for The New York Times, asked me to join her and Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering, in a conversation about how to start our work life, our careers, I was instantly intrigued. There's so much to tell about how to start. I actually really like the, the focus on the starting rather than, uh, even anything that follows afterwards. So we showed up on stage and basically asked questions about the book to Jodi, like, "What made you wanna write a book for young people finishing college or school and wanting to know how to start?" What was special about the audience was how intergenerational it was, because everyone is concerned by the question of work today. Whether you have just paid for the college of your child, whether you are yourself in transition in your mid-40s, or whether you are just starting, it is actually a collective question at every age level. So my friend Priya Parker, who is a consummate group facilitator, set the intention for the evening and facilitated the conversation.
Priya Parker· Guest1:24
[audience applauding] We are