OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
There are some books we have to write because they mean so much. This is mine.
This is the self-help book I wrote for myself, and in following my own advice, I have changed my own career. I could never have foreseen this life change four years ago.
So I have rewritten the book with new insights and findings, as well as a new chapter on entrepreneurship. It's a completely new version so if you're stuck in a day job you hate, or you know someone who is, I hope you find this useful!
Click here to buy the book on Amazon.com
Click here to buy the book on Amazon.co.uk
If you are unhappy with your day job, you're not alone!
Do you hate your job?
Or do you just tolerate it day after day, knowing that you want to do something else but unsure what that something else is?
Would you like to love your job, and enjoy the work you do?
I spent 13 years as an IT business consultant in the corporate world, and much of that was spent questioning why I didn’t enjoy my work and attempting to figure out what I really wanted to do. This book is the result of that journey and contains strategies and tips for you to figure out your own path.
You’ll learn how to identify the current issues you have as well as how to improve your life right now. Then you can use the questionnaires to work out what you really want to do as well as the path to make the change.
“Don’t waste another minute – grab this book as soon as you can – it will help you take immediate action and start moving you towards the career and lifestyle of your dreams! Combining career change process maps with chapters on overcoming key obstacles such as mental barriers and money issues, this is a fantastic step-by-step road map that will meet you right where you are now. It provides solid strategies, tons of inspiration and a wealth of incredibly practical advice (the amazing resource section at the end of the book is one of the best I've ever come across). Joanna is living proof that this book works – now it's your turn!” Rikke Hansen, Career Change Expert and Coach, CareerConcierge.co.uk
Table of Contents and Free Chapters
Part 1: I hate my job
1) Identifying the problem
2) The results of an unhappy workplace- stress, depression and weight gain
Part 2: How to improve your current situation
3) Develop yourself
4) Coping with stress at work
5) Being valued and appreciated
6) Escaping the trap
7) Making money … and keeping hold of it
8) Being creative – click here to download this chapter
9) Escape is sometimes necessary
Part 3: How to change your career
10) What do you really want to do?
11) Entrepreneurship or working for yourself
12) The Career Change Process – click here to download this chapter
13) Setting and achieving your goals
14) Your Challenge … Your Future
Plus: Bonus Articles:
* Case Study Micro-Entrepreneur: How I run my business, The Creative Penn Limited
* On changing your life, writing and marketing a book. Transcript of interview with Joanna Penn. You can listen to this interview here.
* From affirmation to reality: the author's story
* The Smart Person's Guide to Quitting the Day Job
** Packed with strategies, tips and personal stories that will help you find the work you love. **
“Having made my own career change from corporate marketing into helping individuals make meaningful career transitions, I highly recommend Joanna Penn’s “How to Love Your Job or Find A New One”. It’s practical, easy to read and clearly demonstrates the most important aspects about making a change – that you actually have to be prepared to explore and create opportunities, test your ideas, navigate around and learn from “failures” to hone in on what really lights your fire. The exercises and Joanna’s personal journey which she shares in the book will help you get started in thinking about what you want, the consequences of change (and not changing) and even lifestyle considerations.” Kathleen Alexander, Business Startup and Career Change. Cleverfox.com.au
Cover design by Derek Murphy: Creativindie
Buy the book here
Click here to buy the book on Amazon.com (also available for borrowing with Amazon Prime)
Click here to buy the book on Amazon.co.uk
It's currently on KDP Select but I'll be releasing on other ebook stores later, and there may even be a print version on its way.
View Comments (10)
Thank you Joanna, once again, for providing such a positive example to the world. So many people--including authors!--see "quitting the day job" as some sort of pie-in-the-sky dream. Well, you are living proof that if you're willing to work hard and see it as a GOAL, not a "dream," then it IS possible! A blueprint like this is EXACTLY what's needed in today's market.
Thanks Ilana. I really wanted to rewrite this retrospectively. My dream has become a reality and I am right now sitting in New York at Thrillerfest, hobnobbing with authors and agents. Time to dream the next dream, and start the practical steps on the way to get there :)
Oh, wow! That is AWESOME. I do remember you mentioning in a post you'd be going to Thrillerfest. Enjoy, and may all your subsequent dreams come true!
I'm so happy you've achieved so many of your goals- and that you keep moving toward new ones! This is so exciting for you!
This is a topic that is really close to my heart! Wishing you all the success with it!
I Just bought it without hesitation. I'm in this exact situation right now. I have no passion for working as a web developer and I would love to be able to do what I love for a living.
Thanks so much for your support Gary, and you will be feeling as I did - that creativity is something that gets destroyed daily in the corporate world :) I do believe there is huge creative potential in programming and with technical stuff in general, but that it is best expressed outside the corporate structure! All the best with your potential career change. I know you've been around the blog for a long time now, so you've seen how slow my own change has been - but looking back, the time has flown by!
I agree, there is huge creative potential in web development/programming. But the thing I find is that I enjoy doing it much more when it's for one of my own projects or for a friends project. When I'm doing it as a full-time job it just seems so daunting.
And indeed I have been following the blog for some time, I think over two years now. I'm proud to know that you're profiting quite a bit from it now.
Great idea for a book, I'm looking forward to reading it. Always great to be inspired to dream by other writers. Thank you!
You could certainly see your expertise in the work you write.
The arena hopes for more passionate writers such as you
who are not afraid to say how they believe. At all times follow your heart.