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Should you chase your dream job? A 10-year study weighs in

A 10-year study of snowsport instructors offers a reality check for anyone dreaming of ditching the office job to chase their passion full-time. The result was fulfilment, yes, but not without trade-offs.

What stood out:

• Instructors found real meaning, personal growth, and satisfaction in their work
  

• But most earned just enough to scrape by, and many burned out from the physical and mental demands
  

• Unlike digital nomads seeking more leisure, these folks were chasing purpose, winter to winter, gear in tow
  

• Some eventually returned to traditional jobs when the lifestyle became too precarious

It’s a timely reminder as more people seek meaningful work over money: purpose feels good, but it often comes with a price tag.

Why it matters:
If you’re planning your escape from the 9-to-5, this study suggests it’s worth asking: Can you handle the instability that might come with the meaning?

Read the full study here 👈

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Psychedelics = improved psychological flexibility 

A new study in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs found that people who had intense psychedelic experiences, especially the kind that felt mystical or meaningful, showed lasting improvements in psychological flexibility. That’s your brain’s ability to sit with difficult thoughts or feelings without spiralling, and still do what matters to you.

Here’s what stood out:

• The deeper the ‘mystical’ experience, the bigger the shift
  

• People who were less flexible to begin with improved more
  

• Ayahuasca and psilocybin came out stronger than LSD
  

• Self-exploration and therapeutic use > just taking it for fun
  

• Surprisingly, dose didn’t really change the outcome

Researchers think it might come down to psychedelics opening up the brain to new patterns, or maybe it’s just what happens when something hits you hard enough to shake loose the stuff that’s been holding you back.

Why it matters:
If future research backs this up, it makes a solid case for psychedelics actually helping people loosen the grip of rigid thinking.

Read the full story here (paywalled) 👈

What we really look for when judging attractiveness 

A new eye-tracking study revealed that where we look on someone’s face can strongly influence how attractive we find them and it varies by both our gender and the gender of the face we’re judging.

What they found:

• When men rated women, more time staring at the mouth predicted higher attractiveness scores
  

• When women rated men, it was the eyes and hair that stole attention and bumped up ratings
  

• Even when people weren’t asked to rate attractiveness, the areas they looked at still followed similar patterns

So while we think we just get a vibe from someone’s face, our eyes are already zeroing in on specific features tied to what we find attractive.

Why it matters:
It’s a subtle reminder that beauty really is in the eye (and gaze pattern) of the beholder and for anyone working in aesthetics, where the eye lingers might be where the magic needs to happen.

Read the study here 👈

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See you in the next one,

Dan from Cognitive Crumbs