Sparked

Have you ever woken up and wondered, is this really what I’m meant to do? Jonathan Fields’s Sparked begins with that very question. Fields argues that most of us wander through life half-alive in our work because we’ve lost our connection to what truly ignites us. He asserts that everyone possesses a unique inner imprint—what he calls a Sparketype—that defines the kind of effort that makes us come alive. Finding and understanding this Sparketype, he promises, can bridge the gap between simply surviving and fully thriving. Yet, as Fields cautions early in the book, this discovery isn’t about quitting your job tomorrow or blowing up your life—it’s about seeing where you already stand, understanding what energizes you, and designing ways to bring more of that spark into the life you already lead.

The Crisis of Meaning in Modern Work

Fields begins by observing what he calls a “crisis of discontent.” Millions of people type “What should I do with my life?” into Google every month. Beneath that search lies exhaustion, anxiety, and an absence of purpose. He believes this malaise isn’t a flaw in our character—it’s a consequence of losing touch with the deeper impulses that drive meaningful effort. We chase other people’s definitions of success, or accept the assumption that work must be draining. When the reward is only a paycheck, we slowly disconnect from the sense of vitality that meaningful effort once provided. The result: a workforce of capable, intelligent, and successful people quietly suffering through their own lives.

To reverse this, Fields identifies five universal domains that form the “sweet spot” of being Sparked: purpose (working toward something that matters), engagement (feeling energy while doing it), meaningfulness (recognizing the impact your effort has), expressed potential (getting to be fully yourself), and flow (that absorbing state where time disappears). When these five dimensions overlap, work feels like a calling rather than a grind.

From Personality Tests to Purpose DNA

Unlike personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs or the Enneagram, Sparketypes aren’t about describing what you’re like—they're about diagnosing the deeper why behind the work you do. The book introduces ten Sparketypes, each representing a fundamental human impulse: the Maven (lives to learn), the Maker (creates things), the Scientist (solves problems), the Essentialist (brings order), the Performer (enlivens moments), the Sage (teaches), the Warrior (leads others), the Advisor (guides), the Advocate (champions causes), and the Nurturer (cares for others). Fields compares these Sparketypes to DNA: we each express them uniquely, but the code itself operates at a foundational level.

Each person also has a Sparketype profile made up of three parts: the Primary Sparketype (the main source of motivation and energy), the Shadow Sparketype (a secondary impulse that supports or amplifies the primary), and the Anti-Sparketype (the kind of work that drains you). For example, Fields describes himself as a “Maker Primary with a Scientist Shadow”—he loves creating new things and solving puzzles that improve his creations—but his Anti-Sparketype, the Essentialist, finds no joy in systems and structure.

How Discovering Your Sparketype Reframes Everything

Discovering your Sparketype, says Fields, often feels like a homecoming. People report feeling “deeply seen” because the language finally gives shape to impulses they’ve felt but never articulated. A Maven who’s spent years being told to “focus” suddenly understands that her endless learning isn’t a flaw—it's how she’s wired. A Nurturer drained by a corporate sales role realizes it’s not laziness but the misalignment between her wiring and her environment. Each profile not only explains fulfillment and frustration but also provides clues to restructuring your work and personal life around activities that align with your intrinsic motivation.

Importantly, Fields reassures readers that finding your Sparketype doesn’t necessarily mean leaving your job or starting a company. Often, “coming alive” can happen right where you already are by adjusting how you engage with your current role. For example, a Scientist may redesign parts of their job to include more problem-solving or experimentation; a Performer may bring more enthusiasm into everyday meetings; a Sage might integrate more mentoring. Small “spark moves” can create disproportionate changes in energy and fulfillment.

Why This Matters

Fields’s ultimate thesis is that when individuals align their work with their Sparketype, everyone benefits—organizations thrive, creativity expands, and people reclaim the joy of contribution. Misalignment, on the other hand, leads to burnout, disengagement, and that quiet despair that fills offices and living rooms worldwide. Sparked functions as both diagnosis and treatment. It invites you to see yourself clearly, to acknowledge that your longing for meaningful effort is valid, and to use self-knowledge as a compass toward vitality. The journey begins with awareness—the spark that lights everything else.

At the heart of Sparked are ten Sparketypes—ten archetypes that represent humanity’s core motivations for effort. Each is a lens for understanding what work fills you with energy and why. While every person will express these impulses differently, knowing them helps you decode your drives and design a life that aligns with your nature.

The Intellectuals: Maven, Scientist, and Essentialist

The Maven “lives to learn.” They’re fueled by curiosity for its own sake, often losing hours chasing an idea down intellectual rabbit holes. Neil Pasricha, author of The Happiness Equation, exemplifies this; his endless fascination with human nature drives everything he writes. Scientists go a step further: they live to solve problems. Where the Maven gathers information, the Scientist thrives on puzzles and unanswered questions—think of Dr. Aviva Romm, a physician who reinvented women’s medicine through relentless inquiry. Finally, the Essentialist “creates order from chaos.” This type brings calm and clarity where complexity reigns, like Jenny Blake organizing her life and business by color-coded systems. These three intellectual types often form the process-oriented side of the spectrum: they find satisfaction in exploration, problem-solving, or structure-building more than in direct service.

The Creators and Performers: Maker and Performer

The Maker “makes ideas manifest.” Makers must create—songs, businesses, art, or systems—and feel discomfort when not producing. Fields himself is a Maker-Scientist; his joy lies in building tangible things, from companies to books. Makers like Max Levi Frieder of Artolution demonstrate how creation becomes service when it helps others find expression. The Performer “turns moments into magic.” They thrive on enlivening others through energy, emotion, and connection—whether on stage, in a classroom, or in a meeting. Doctor and coach Yvonne Ator rediscovered her Performer side while helping physicians avoid burnout, realizing she energized people far more through presence than through prescriptions. Both types remind us that making and sharing life’s creative experiences is as vital as thinking or feeling.

The Guides and Healers: Sage, Advisor, and Nurturer

The Sage “awakens insight.” They are natural teachers who feel alive when illuminating others. Professor Dan Lerner, for instance, finds joy when he sees understanding dawn in his students’ eyes. The Advisor “guides to grow” through intimate mentorship and listening rather than instruction; executive coach Karen Wright models this through empathetic yet challenging sessions that unlock clients’ potential. The Nurturer “says ‘I’ve got you.’” They give care and emotional support, from doctors to parents to community builders like writer Jen Pastiloff. These types share an orientation toward service—they draw energy from relationships and growth in others rather than from solitary achievement.

The Movers and Shakers: Warrior and Advocate

The Warrior “gathers and leads people.” Warriors love rallying groups toward meaningful goals, whether running a social movement or leading a corporate team. Fields spotlights leaders like Pam Slim, who founded K’é, a community lab where entrepreneurs of color learn to lead themselves and others. The Advocate “is your champion.” They shine lights on injustice and amplify causes, from Megan Devine’s grief revolution to Glennon Doyle’s Together Rising foundation. These types embody courageous service, using voice and empathy to mobilize change.

Integrating the Spectrum

Each Sparketype sits along what Fields calls the Satisfaction Spectrum. On one end, process-driven types (Maven, Maker, Scientist, Essentialist) find satisfaction in doing; on the other, service-driven types (Nurturer, Advocate, Advisor) find it in helping. In between sit the bridge-builders—Warriors, Performers, and Sages—who combine internal creation with external impact. Understanding your position on this spectrum frees you from guilt over what lights you up. If solving puzzles thrills you more than comforting someone, or vice versa, that doesn’t make you selfish—it makes you authentic. The magic starts when you stop fighting your wiring and start using it intentionally to design your work and life.

Once you know the ten Sparketypes, the next step is understanding your personal profile: your Primary, Shadow, and Anti-Sparketype. These three form your inner ecosystem of motivation, collaboration, and exhaustion. Together, they explain not just what energizes you but also how you use that energy—and what depletes it.

Primary: The Source of Your Energy

Your Primary Sparketype is the activity that makes you feel most alive. You’d do it even if nobody paid you, simply because it’s who you are. For Fields, that’s “making.” His life’s through-line—from building guitars as a teen to founding companies and writing books—shows that creation is his lifeblood. Likewise, a Performer might feel at peace only when engaging others, or a Scientist only when wrestling with a paradox. Identifying your Primary is like discovering the reliable current that powers everything else.

Shadow: The Amplifier

The Shadow Sparketype often appears immediately after the Primary and usually serves it. You may enjoy its work, but its true purpose is to enhance your Primary expression. The Maven/Maker hybrid Michael Karsouny, for example, paints not just for art’s sake but as a way to learn—his painting becomes his living laboratory. His Maker actions serve his Maven impulse to understand. Similarly, Fields’s Scientist Shadow exists to improve his creations; once the problem solves, he returns to making. Many people mistake the Shadow for a separate calling, but it’s better viewed as an ally that hones and completes your main drive.

Anti-Sparketype: The Energy Drain

If the Primary is flight, the Anti-Sparketype is gravity. It’s the kind of work that exhausts you, even when it shouldn’t. Fields calls it “your work lead weight.” For him, that’s the Essentialist. Systems and checklists drain his spirit, even though he can do them well. Identifying your Anti-Sparketype helps you recognize why some tasks feel disproportionately heavy. For instance, if your Anti is the Performer, client presentations may feel torturous; if it’s the Maker, creative projects might feel paralyzing. Knowing this isn’t permission to avoid responsibility—it’s guidance to allocate energy wisely, delegate when possible, and create recovery time.

Working with Your Profile

Fields encourages readers to look not only at each type individually but also at how they interact. Your Primary and Shadow collaborate; your Anti challenges. Together, they explain patterns like burnout, career shifts, and fulfillment gaps that once seemed mysterious. Over 500,000 people have taken the Sparketype Assessment, revealing fascinating pairings—Maven/Maker and Maker/Maven are the most common, showing humanity’s dual hunger for learning and creating. When you integrate this awareness, you stop fighting the flow of your own nature. Instead of forcing yourself to be what you’re not, you can harness your best energy, manage your drains, and finally build a career—and a life—that fits your unique design.

Fields knows that self-knowledge without action changes little. In the later chapters, he offers a blueprint for applying Sparketype insights in real life. The first rule: don’t blow everything up. Discovering you’re a Performer trapped in a spreadsheet job or a Scientist suffocating under routine doesn’t mean you should quit tomorrow. It means you’ve found your compass. The next step is to reimagine your current path before replacing it.

Start Where You Are

Fields warns against what he calls the “vocational nuclear option”—the impulsive decision to quit in the name of authenticity. It’s tempting, especially when your awakening hits like revelation. But big leaps made in emotional storms can lead to even greater instability. True change often starts with micro-reimaginings. Ask, “What if I could make this role more Sparked?” A Sage might mentor junior teammates in a corporate job; a Nurturer might integrate more empathy into customer service policies. These small changes often breathe unexpected life into existing work, as they align effort with intrinsic motivation.

Face the Stories You Tell Yourself

Many people sabotage their current work to justify leaving it. Fields cautions that you might be complicit in your dissatisfaction by focusing only on what’s wrong. Instead, he invites reflection: if this were the only job I’d ever do again, how could I make it fulfilling? Shifting from victimhood to ownership unlocks creativity. Often what changes isn’t the work itself, but your relationship with it.

Experiment Before You Escape

Fields’s Activation Framework includes three steps: Express, Reimagine, and Expand. “Express” means uncovering your Sparketype through your past experiences; “Reimagine” means adjusting your current responsibilities to allow those sparks to shine; “Expand” means broadening your definition of work so it includes side projects, hobbies, and acts of service. He shares the story of Sally Wolf, a media executive who discovered her Advisor-Nurturer profile. Instead of quitting her job, she started mentoring coworkers, found energy again, and eventually built a coaching career organically. Her Spark didn’t require reinvention—it required recognition.

The Blend That Sets You Free

Not everyone will make a living directly from their Sparketype—and that’s okay. Fields encourages crafting a blend between income-generating activity and Spark-generating activity. A Scientist might keep a steady day job while running creative experiments on the side; a Performer might teach or volunteer outside work. Expanding your definition of “work” to include unpaid or personal projects prevents your spark from extinguishing under the pressure of monetization. The goal isn’t perfection or escape—it’s alignment. When you do the work that suits your nature, whether in a lab, a kitchen, or a living room, you stop asking what you’re meant to do. You’re already doing it.

Ultimately, Sparked isn’t just about career discovery—it’s about reconnecting with your essential nature. Fields argues that when we abandon our innate impulses in the name of adulthood or responsibility, we create a silent epidemic of low-grade despair. Rediscovering your Sparketype means rediscovering yourself; it’s about coming home, not just getting ahead.

From Discontent to Aliveness

Society often tells us to suppress play, creativity, or curiosity in favor of productivity. As a result, Makers stop making, Performers stop performing, Advocates go silent, and Nurturers withdraw. The longer we ignore these impulses, the flatter our emotional landscape becomes. Fields reframes being Sparked not as indulgence but as responsibility. When people love their work, they don’t just feel better—they perform better, innovate more, and elevate everyone around them. Aliveness, then, becomes a form of leadership.

The Ripple Effect

Fields envisions a world of “lit-up humans” who ignite others through their presence. One person aligning with their Sparketype inspires colleagues, families, and even organizations to awaken their own. Leaders who know their team’s Sparketypes can assign roles more thoughtfully, transforming workplaces into ecosystems of engagement. He cites massive datasets from hundreds of thousands of assessments showing how this understanding improves retention, morale, and innovation. The impact radiates outward, creating what he calls a “movement of aliveness.”

Patience, Practice, and Purpose

Finally, Fields reminds readers that transformation takes time. Becoming Sparked isn’t an overnight leap; it’s a lifelong experiment in curiosity and courage. You refine your Sparketype through practice, not proclamation. Like deliberate practice in skill mastery (a concept echoed by psychologist Anders Ericsson), living your spark requires repetition, reflection, and gentleness with yourself. In the end, the Sparked life isn’t just about meaning at work—it’s the art of meaning everywhere. As Fields writes, “When we show up Sparked, the world comes alive with us.”