Now listen to part of a lecture in a psychology class.

(male professor)
OK, so this comes up a lot when people make career decisions. A friend of mine from college always wanted to be a film reviewer. He was a film major and he loved movies. Most of all, he loved to write about movies. So, when he graduated, he looked for a job as a film reviewer for a newspaper, because as a film reviewer, he gets to see films for free and would be paid to write about them.

That’s what he loved! But, he couldn’t find the job as a film reviewer. So, he took a position as a news reporter instead, for a newspaper, investigating stories, writing about events, what news reporters do.

Now, at first, my friend wasn’t sure if he’d be any good at this. He’d never been as a news reporter before. But, eventually, he adjusted and gained confidence and he got used to the job. And he realized he was actually a pretty good reporter.

Anyway, here’s the thing: after a few years, the film reviewer for the paper where he worked quit, and my friend was offered her job. This was his dream, right? Here’s opportunity to be a film reviewer had finally come! And the new job would actually pay more, too.

But, did he take the job? No! He turned it down. He told me he’d gotten used to being a news reporter and he just didn’t want to try something else. It seemed like too big a change, since, well, there was a chance the new job might not work out.