How to Start, Jodi Kantor
How to Start, Jodi Kantor
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How to Start
Discovering Your Life's Work

Author: Jodi Kantor

Narrator: Jodi Kantor

Unabridged: 2 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/21/2026


Synopsis

With warmth, honesty, and inspired wisdom, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Jodi Kantor expands on her triumphant Columbia University commencement address, tackling the question, "How, in this environment, is anyone supposed to find and start their life's work?”

Jodi Kantor’s groundbreaking reporting has toppled media magnates, sparked reform worldwide, and foretold many of the unsettling changes we see in the workplace today. But before all of this, Kantor was kicked off her college newspaper. Society expects perfection, but Kantor knows those first professional steps are often rocky. She also knows that young people are facing new and frightening terrain, with political upheaval, skyrocketing costs of living, and the unknowns of AI.
 
Kantor casts aside platitudes and false hope to offer tangible help. Work is how we spend much of our time. It’s our engine of progress: how cancer therapies are invented, political campaigns won, thrilling art created and matched with an audience. Instead of letting cynicism take over, Kantor identifies two principles to help young people discover their life’s work: craft and need. By pairing the two, they can navigate tough, sensitive choices: how to think about money. How much risk to take on. When to buck what others are saying.
 
Powerful and provocative, How to Start is a statement of faith for young people as they make their way through uncertain times, offering wisdom, strategy, and a set of aspirations to launch their careers and last their whole lives.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Rachel on April 24, 2026

In "How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work," accomplished journalist Jodi Kantor offers advice to new college graduates. Kantor endeavors to be simultaneously hopeful and realistic, and she mostly pulls it off. I work in public higher education and I'm a parent of two college students. This crop......more

Goodreads review by Sara on April 21, 2026

This book incredibly relevant. The reasons she discusses why people are discouraged by their career prospects are the VERY same and SPECIFIC things that I have seen recently in the workplace. Despite the sense of hopelessness about career prospects she does bring in the light. She does this by telli......more

Goodreads review by Tab on April 27, 2026

I am the exact target audience for this book (about to graduate, struggling to find my purpose, and generally feeling hopeless at the state of the world and the job market) and unfortunately I found it to be pretty unhelpful I really respect Jodi and the journalistic work she’s done but I kept looki......more

Goodreads review by Daryl on April 25, 2026

I heard the NPR interview and thought it might be a good gift for my graduating nieces and nephew, but I wanted to read it first to see how useful it was. Meh. There are lots of anecdotes that I suspect suffer from survivorship bias, and the useful tips and information are pretty sparse. I think it w......more

Goodreads review by Ruth on April 23, 2026

Terrific. Would make a great college graduation gift.......more


Quotes

“In this current storm of unease and uncertainty, Kantor’s wisdom is a jolt of hope. Full of practical advice and hard truths, this book is a must read for anyone at the beginning of a career journey.”—Shonda Rhimes, producer, TV writer, and author of Year of Yes

“Kantor doesn’t show us how to do it her way; she shows us how to find our own way. Young people, people starting over, and those wondering what comes next will love and appreciate this inspiring yet practical guide.”—Ashley C. Ford, author of Somebody’s Daughter

“Kantor has written the antidote to both toxic hustle culture and passive despair. She doesn't sugarcoat the brutal realities facing young people today, but she refuses to accept defeat. Drawing on decades of investigative reporting and her own hard-won experience, she charts a path between cynicism and naivety. Smart, practical, and moving. A clear-eyed, generous book for confusing times.”—Jennette McCurdy, author of Half His Age and I’m Glad My Mom Died

"A model of real, grounded, hard-headed optimism in these days of crisis and anxiety – useful not only for new graduates but for all of us."—Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks

“The moment of starting is so important – and so challenging. Kantor makes it easier, with practical suggestions and real-life examples. I dog-eared passages to send to my daughters immediately.”—Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project

“I loved it. LOVED IT. I will be gifting copies to every emerging adult I know.”—Jessica Lahey, author of The Gift of Failure