Do you jump out of bed every morning and rush to a job you love? Or is your work just a way to pay the bills? Whether you are a seasoned professional in search of a career change or just starting out, let This book guide you to more engaging, fulfilling work. Based on breakthrough techniques developed by the author’s award-winning career coaching organization, Rockport Institute, This book has changed the lives of thousands.
This completely revised and updated new edition offers more than fifty self-tests, diagnostic tools, and the acclaimed Rockport Career Design Method to help you choose an entirely new career, an entrepreneurial path, or the ideal job in your present field. You’ll learn:
• How to design your new career step-by-step—a realistic, attainable career that fits your talents, personality, goals, and interests — a new career you will love.
• How to deal successfully with the “Yeahbut” negative thoughts and obstacles that keep you going back to the same old ill-fitting job, day after day.
• How to land the perfect job in your new field using personal marketing and networking (even for those who hate to network).
At once comprehensive, insightful, practical, and empowering, This book will be your personal career coach, expertly guiding you through the process of moving forward from your present uncertainty to designing a career that fits you elegantly, perfectly, like a custom-made suit.
Excerpt:
This book contains inquiries as a way to generate clues about what is important to you. These inquiries are tools that provide a useful way to ask good questions and choose definite components and elements of your future work. Here's the first.
Remember back to your childhood, back to the beginning of the journey. Remember your childhood visions of the future.
What were those dreams? What were those wild fantasies of yours? What seemingly perfect careers did you imagine as you were growing up?
How did you feel when you imagined yourself in the midst of one of these fantasies? Feel now what it felt like then.
If you were like most of us, you dreamed of an exciting future where you were passionately engaged in life. Perhaps you dreamed of being a rock star or a professional athlete, a detective, of the first empress of the galaxy. You might have envisioned yourself as a brilliant surgeon, as an artist, or swinging from a vine over a bottomless chasm. Wiser now, you might smile at the naivete of childhood dreams. Your vision may not have been reasonable or practical, but it was certainly passionate. It put you in the midst of a life that was fully lived.
How well does the word "work" fit with your childhood dream job? Doesn't it seem strangely out of place? The way these fantasies usually occur seems to fit better into the category of "adventurous vacation" or "getting paid to play". Our dream jobs are more play than work. When people dream of being a lawer, they aren't thinking about being buried under endless piles of deadly dull paperwork or having to defend an unscrupulous client. In our dreams of being a fireman, we are fighting the fire, not repacking the hoses or passing long nights in the firehouse playing endless games of pinochle with two cards missing from the deck.
When you get down to the very skinny truth, under all the sophisticated conversation and pretense, no one really wants to work if that includes a life of suffering. One definition of the work "work" that is not in the dictionary, but nevertheless is part of our internal dictionary, goes something like "Work - something I would rather do less of" or "something I have to do when I would rather do something else." Underneath all the serious reasons people give t oexplain why want to change careers, lead a company, write a book, or drive an eighteen-wheeler, there is an essential, powerful motivation that's not discussed in polite, sophisticated company. They want to do something they are passionate about. They want satisfaction, an adventurer. And they want to have fun.
Reader E. Chen from New York, NY says, "I read this book (previous version) about eight years ago when I was switching careers. I was 25 and knew that I wanted to do something different, but didn't know what. I had read a LOT of career books ( What Color Is Your Parachute?, books about finding a job that suited your creativity, etc.) and this is the only one I consider worth keeping. In fact, I just had to buy the Kindle version because I bought several copies to lend⁄give, and can't remember where my latest copy is. But I don't mind buying it again because I have gotten so much benefit out of this book. I would lend and re-buy it 10 times without complaint.
"While it's probably not the case for everyone, I can attest that this book was a major tool in helping me change my life for the better. I didn't need a lot of convincing to tell me I needed to switch careers, but I was sorely lacking in guidance on how to best accomplish my goals - or even what my goals should be. This book really helped clarify a lot of things for me, by helping me to examine who I am and what I want - not just out of a career but my life. I think it's a pretty great tool that anyone can use, because it doesn't give you a bunch of quizzes or try to categorize you. It just asks you to take a long, hard look at what you want and what you are willing to do to achieve that.
"I kept a notebook as I was reading it (it's definitely a workbook type of thing that takes some time to get through) and what struck me 3 years later was that my job was everything that I had initially said I wanted. Now, the job I jumped to when I first switched industries was not my perfect job - but by having a clear idea of what I wanted in the long run, I was able to make the right choices that led me to my "mega-goal," as the book says. Even when getting to the right choice meant turning down some job offers that seemed like they *could* have been the right choice, but in hindsight definitely weren't.
I am now re-reading the book because though I am relatively satisfied with my current job, I feel that it's time to take the next step in my career growth. Thanks to This book I know am in the right industry (and maybe even the right organization), and am in the luxurious position of finding my next perfect job. It was so helpful the first time around, I'm eager to see how it can help me now that I'm in a mid-career stage."
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