The Shit Sandwich Test
Find your calling by identifying which struggles you actually enjoy enduring
Mark Manson flips the conventional self-help question from what do you want to what are you willing to struggle for. Every pursuit in life comes with its own unique set of problems and frustrations - its shit sandwich. The key to finding your true calling is not identifying what makes you happy but identifying which problems you enjoy solving, which struggles feel natural rather than grinding. Manson discovered this when he realized that practicing guitar for six hours felt like torture while writing for hours felt effortless - not because writing was easy but because the specific type of struggle inherent in writing was one he naturally gravitated toward. When you find the struggle that does not feel like struggle to you but looks like insanity to others, you have found your thing. This is fundamentally different from following your passion because passion focuses on the reward while this framework focuses on which pain you are willing to embrace.
- Every worthwhile pursuit comes with its own unique set of problems
- Your calling is defined by which problems you enjoy solving, not which rewards you desire
- If the struggle feels natural to you but looks crazy to others, you have found your thing
- Passion focuses on the reward - the shit sandwich test focuses on the process
- List Your Desired OutcomesWrite down everything you think you want in life - the career, the relationships, the lifestyle, the achievements. This is the standard goal-setting exercise that everyone does. But this is just the starting point, not the destination. These outcomes represent the rewards, not the full picture of what pursuing them actually requires.Pro tipBe honest about whether your desired outcomes are truly yours or inherited from parents, culture, or social media
- Identify the Shit Sandwich for EachFor every desired outcome, write down the specific daily struggles, frustrations, and unglamorous work required to achieve it. What does the actual day-to-day look like? The entrepreneur deals with rejection, financial uncertainty, and 80-hour weeks. The writer deals with blank pages, self-doubt, and endless revision. The athlete deals with physical pain, dietary restriction, and recovery boredom.Pro tipTalk to people who are already living your desired outcome and ask them about their worst days, not their best
- Notice Which Struggles Feel NaturalPay attention to which struggles you gravitate toward without needing motivation, discipline, or willpower. These are the activities where you lose track of time, where the effort feels engaging rather than depleting. If you find yourself naturally returning to a particular type of struggle even when no one is watching or rewarding you, that is your signal.Pro tipThe music school test: if someone asks how you manage to do something difficult and you genuinely do not understand the question, you have found your thingWarningDo not confuse comfort with calling - some struggle should be present, it should just feel like your kind of struggle
James Clear spent years forcing himself through six-hour guitar practice sessions in music school, hating every minute. Meanwhile, a fellow student who went on to win multiple Grammys practiced the same hours but could not understand why Manson found it difficult. Years later, when Manson was writing blog posts of 10-20 pages multiple times per week, people asked him the same confused questions about his work ethic. The parallel hit him: writing was his natural struggle, music was not.
Manson discovered this principle during music school when he confronted a fellow student who was clearly destined for success. He asked the student how he managed to practice six hours a day. The student looked at him confused and said he just practices - it did not require management or motivation. Years later, when Manson was blogging, people asked him the exact same questions about his writing output, and he realized the answer was identical - he just wrote. The struggle of writing came naturally to him in a way that the struggle of music practice never did.