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What Should I Do With My Life?
Given all that, I figured What Should I Do With My Life? was pretty much written for me. The book tells the true stories of dozens of people who made hard decisions and gave up careers, educations, and lifestyles in order to give themselves reasons to get up every morning, and maybe to find true happiness. In researching the book, Po Bronson interviewed nearly a thousand people all over the US, and got to know some of them very well. He intertwines their stories with his own personal tale, and often pauses between stories to reflect on everything he saw and learned while writing the book.
So how's the book? Good and bad.
I had hoped to distill some great truth from these stories -- to leave with a clear sense of the changes I have to make, and with the resolve to make them. No dice. To be fair, Bronson never promises any such thing; in fact, he promises quite the opposite. And rightfully so. There are certainly no silver bullets here.
But my real problem with What Should I Do With My Life? is that I couldn't identify with so many of its subjects, and eventually that turned me off. It felt like four out of five people had law degrees or worked in finance or politics. Very few were geeks, or even grunt-level office 9-to-5'ers. In his introduction Bronson says "the people in this book are ordinary people," but it didn't feel that way. An ex-doctor whose father was a famous cardiologist; a Hollywood production executive; an established Hollywood screenwriter; CFOs, CEOs; guys that sold startups for millions. A PhD marine biologist who "quit and became a dentist." Wowie.
Even Bronson's generalizations alienated me. The "we" that define ourselves by our salary or possessions or career achievements -- that's not my "we." I think (hope?) Bronson has spent so much time in Silicon Valley culture that he's over-projecting. Maybe I'm not ambitious enough, but I've never been a careerist and neither have my friends. So when Bronson steps back so say we need to fight the urge to justify ourselves by our status, I think "who's 'we'? I never had that urge." I've never had anything to prove to anyone but myself; yet I still feel trapped by some of the life/career decisions I've made.
Now, the book doesn't focus solely on outstanding people. It's just that once I noticed all the med school and law degrees and sold-her-third-startup, I couldn't not notice them anymore, and I'd say to myself "maybe this book isn't for me after all. I'm nothing like these people."
But enough bitching. There's some great stuff in the book as well and some stories really connected with me: the attorney turned trucker; the husband/wife team that bought a tree farm; the would-be Olympic athlete who had to give it up for motherhood; and more. Better yet, some concepts stayed with me. For instance, the this-should-be-obvious concept that local cultures shape expectations and self-worth differently. "In Los Angeles, if you say you're a musician, you're asked ... are you, or will you be, successful? In New Orleans, if you say you're a musician, then people accept that you're a musician, even if you jam one night a week at some dive with no audience." Nice.
My favorite concept from this book is one of Bronson's closing points: the reminder that all you get is a glimmer. The rest is all you and your willingness to to see where that glimmer takes you. I've lived this -- it's true in the creation of good software, it's true in making records, it's true in any creative pursuit. Eureka moments rarely happen, so don't wait around for one.
I found myself flying through this book -- it's written in a nice, casual tone and it's an easy read. But reading quickly was a mistake. I suggest reading a chapter or two at a time, then putting the book down to digest it. Otherwise it's too easy for people and stories to blur together or be forgotten entirely. Maybe that's why the online excerpts were so compelling -- I was left with 2 pages to think about instead of 75.
Okay, so Po Bronson didn't provide the answers to all my problems. But he got me to frame my "what am I doing to do" question better, and he got me to take it seriously. That's worth $15 right there. It's also uplifting to read about people who have found their bliss. There is hope!
I'll lend this book to a lot of friends and I'll probably buy copies for a few as well. It's worth a read.
Whether or not you buy the book, I strongly recommend reading the aforementioned NPR interview and excerpted chapter. Those alone address some great points and will get you thinking.
You can purchase What Should I Do With My Life? from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page. You may also want to visit Po Bronson homepage: pobronson.com."
Inspiring, yes. Instructional, not IMHO.
That's where the "junk" expenses come into play. How much do you spend on junk? On name brand stuff when store brand will do just as well? Stop smoking. Really... it'll be good for you and you'll save a ton of money, and it will probably help in making you a happier person. Learn to be a penney pincher and you can afford to save $100-$150 a month. Heck, do temps part time for a bit and you'll make that much easy.
yes, you can be anything - if you are willing to pay the price to achieve it.
You don't even have to be especially smart for it - just VERY VERY persistent.
I know someone who took five years to get into veterinary school, and even more to finish it, because she was not rich and not especially bright, but she was very very persistent.
It also helps to know what kind of price you need to pay - what kind of sacrifices you are expected to make, and what does failure mean if it does not pan out.
It's also really important to know who can help you in your quest, and what can harm you.
of course if you are a realist you already know this. For the rest of the people there are always books like this.
This statistic blows me away.
Much of this is the genesis for the Simple Living or Voluntary Simplicity movement that is beginning to see a surge in the US.
The guiding idea is that you can have a happier more fulfilled life if you pull out of the rat race. There are tons of tools to help you along this path.
My wife and I are looking at pursuing it even more vigorously as we look at starting a family. In all probability, we will be able to have one of us stay home with our kids with just a few life changes made now.
Learn to be a penney pincher and you can afford to save $100-$150 a month
I would go so far as to say, you can afford to save 10% of your earnings without taking on an extra job. Join a Voluntary Simplicity circle and work with a group of peers to find ways to unclutter your financial life.
Extraordinarily most people that make these changes are able to shift their lives to follow what is most important to them and many are much happier.
Good luck.
A quick word of advice to add to the review: this is not Studs Terkel's Working, this is not a lot of randomly assembled vignettes into jobs -- read the book in order. If, like me, you're inclined to cherry-pick excerpts from things that look like anthologies, don't. It's not several dozen little unconnected stories, they're actually arranged in an order to make a point. If you read them out of order, you often miss the point he was getting to. He also will make an analogy in one story (the "inner table" for example) and then refer to it subsequently, without further explanation. Read it like a novel.
-*- Any technology indistinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced -*-
as a matter of fact, I've managed to pay my house off in 11 years (last May) after pushing my finances and paying every extra bit I could when I could.
The stress in IT sucks... and lately it has gotten much worse. But, as it stands now, I manage to bank at least $1K/month. I've got enough in the bank to be able to be unemployed for a year (or more, if I count being able to go on unemployment if/when I get canned).
I always joke that my goal is to quit and buy a wood lathe and make furniture for a living. But, reality sinks in... I would like to be able to retire early, and the more I can save now the better off I will be in the future. I recently bumped my 401K up to the (new this year) 25% max, and I'm still living comfortably.
A lot of people don't have it so good.. I think of that often when I think about leaving (more often lately). Reality is, though, that after the first month or so I'd probably be going stir-crazy from not working.