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ereidsma's review against another edition
4.0
A lot of helpful information in a small book. I had never heard of flow in regards to work before and found it helpful.
anitaashland's review against another edition
3.0
The topic of how to find fulfilling work is such a first world problem that I was prepared for this to be a book worthy of dissing. Additionally, because none of the stories and advice in the first half of address people who have the responsibility of providing for children, and therefore don't have the luxury of taking a "radical sabbatical" and so forth, I was ready to toss it aside.
But then I came to the three exercises on pages 88-93. The first exercise asks you to spend 10 minutes making a map of sorts of all the jobs you've held. I went ahead and listed everything, from my part-time jobs in high school and college, the temp jobs in between my "real" jobs, and also my self-employment. It's the first time I've studied my work history in this way, rather than as something simply to put on a resume, and it was eye-opening. Another exercise asks you to list five jobs you might want to try if you have a year off to work any job you wanted. It was interesting to both the patterns and wild disparities. The third exercise is to write a half page personal advertisement about yourself wherein you describe your interests and motivations (but don't mention specific jobs) and then show it to 10 people you know in different walks of life and ask them to read it and recommend 2-3 different careers for you. I haven't done that exercise yet but can see how it could be helpful.
I liked the story of the poet Wallace Stevens. His day job was in insurance and he even declined a professor job at Harvard after he became famous. The Marie Curie story was interesting too.
Yep: "without work, all life goes rotten, but when work is soulless, life stifles and dies." - Albert Camus.
"Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. - Aristotle. That sounds good but how to achieve it? This book will at least spark a few ideas about vocation and career.
But then I came to the three exercises on pages 88-93. The first exercise asks you to spend 10 minutes making a map of sorts of all the jobs you've held. I went ahead and listed everything, from my part-time jobs in high school and college, the temp jobs in between my "real" jobs, and also my self-employment. It's the first time I've studied my work history in this way, rather than as something simply to put on a resume, and it was eye-opening. Another exercise asks you to list five jobs you might want to try if you have a year off to work any job you wanted. It was interesting to both the patterns and wild disparities. The third exercise is to write a half page personal advertisement about yourself wherein you describe your interests and motivations (but don't mention specific jobs) and then show it to 10 people you know in different walks of life and ask them to read it and recommend 2-3 different careers for you. I haven't done that exercise yet but can see how it could be helpful.
I liked the story of the poet Wallace Stevens. His day job was in insurance and he even declined a professor job at Harvard after he became famous. The Marie Curie story was interesting too.
Yep: "without work, all life goes rotten, but when work is soulless, life stifles and dies." - Albert Camus.
"Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. - Aristotle. That sounds good but how to achieve it? This book will at least spark a few ideas about vocation and career.
jiblits's review against another edition
4.0
I'd somewhat covered a lot of the ideas in this book with some of the recommended readings and quotes that the author uses within this short but sweet book.
While I've already made a career jump, reading this helped get me grounded and confident in my decision to not just leave my job but also leave what "I was good at".
This book also includes some exercises that helped me be constructive with my thoughts and ideas as to what I want to be doing in the future.
This doesn't have any answers, but helps tease out questions that we are maybe too shy or scared to ask ourselves.
While I've already made a career jump, reading this helped get me grounded and confident in my decision to not just leave my job but also leave what "I was good at".
This book also includes some exercises that helped me be constructive with my thoughts and ideas as to what I want to be doing in the future.
This doesn't have any answers, but helps tease out questions that we are maybe too shy or scared to ask ourselves.
davemmett's review against another edition
4.0
A nice quick read to help you find work that will be meaningful to you. I really liked the perspective that there isn't one 'right' job for everyone. The goal isn't to discover the best possible thing for you to do, because all other things aren't ideal: he more rationally explains how there are many possible fulfilling careers out there for everyone, the key is using your current context to find the option that will work right now.
ingridboring's review against another edition
5.0
I really appreciated this, I felt like i could relate to it a lot and it had feminist perspectives so that was well done imo!
burnt_milk's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I picked this up while sorting my family's book collection and it kinda feels like a cry for help for a person in their early 20's to read, but I'm glad I did. Some good and actionable advice in here with solid philosophical inputs and references. There's lots of prompts to encourage introspection of values and desires which I'll have to circle back to.
'...Our time here is short and we must be willing to take risks and make fools of ourselves, but never give up hope of a better world. The stakes are so much higher than any of the status or money rewards of the rat race.'
'...Our time here is short and we must be willing to take risks and make fools of ourselves, but never give up hope of a better world. The stakes are so much higher than any of the status or money rewards of the rat race.'