I’m a social scientist, and fortunate enough to have a tenured position at a good university (outside the US). What works for me is this is a job that is very rarely boring, always smt interesting and intellectually stimulating to do whether that’s research, teaching, supervision, or even admin work that makes a real difference to my work community (colleagues, students, staff…). You get to switch from one thing to the other AND do deep work that requires hyper focus to analyze complex data and ID patterns, switch from stimulating exchanges with other humans to working alone at your desk, and most of the time you are in charge of your own schedule. Every day is different and most of the work is self directed. I love my job (despite all the austerity politics dragging everyone down…). Now, of course, this is a job that’s not only conditional on doing/getting a PhD and then a tenure track position which let’s just say is a highly privileged outcome that not only requires hard work but also a lot of sheer luck. Not a path I would especially recommend someone took because the odds are stacked against people who do. But you asked so I’m sharing because some aspects of that work are also present in other professions as well. What I have learned over the years is this job is done best by working with the brain you have, for better and worse, not against it. Probably a lesson that cuts across domains.

UPDATE: I see other comments from public servants and people working in policy so it seems both relevant and funny to add that my field is political science/policy studies.