Taking action is one of the most valuable message I want to share. I've spent far too long thinking about what I could be doing, or trying to come up with how I can create careers from my passions. But in the end I'll never really know what I like until I try things out.
I asks a few simple questions along the way, with a few tasks that help uncover the career motivations, like whether you prioritise success, respect, passion, talent, money or making a difference in your career decisions. He then advocates taking action to discover the work you find fulfilling through actually trying out different jobs. Rather than sitting at home reflecting on what you might want to do, follow someone around for a few days who does a job you think you might like, or interview people about their careers and what they enjoy about them.
The practicalities of doing fulfilling work are also explored. I love the story of the Pulitzer prize winning poet, Wallace Stevens, who continued working at an insurance agency despite being offered a faculty position at Harvard. It is just one example of different ways we can view our working life. It made me think that perhaps I don't need to find the perfect career - I just need to find one that is good enough, and allows me to pursue other interests in my free time.
Here are some of the things that went through my head: "That is so true! Why hasn't anyone said this before? Finally, I know the history of careers! I'm reading this too quickly, I'd better slow down or I won't remember it all!".
This is the thinking person's guide to changing careers or finding fulfilling work. It will help you find your place in the history of work, understand what academics have uncovered in their research, and provide an action-orientated path to feeling fulfilled in your career.
Now I just have to start doing..
