Author: Joe Carroll
Publisher: www.Career-Coach-Now.com. 157 pages
Book Review by Paiso Jamakar
This is an awesome book. It is not just about getting your first or your next job. If you read closely and understand the points that Joe Carroll makes, this can be a life-changer for you. More about that after the second paragraph.
Now, if you’re just desperate to get a job, any job, just to make money to survive, then I suppose you can quickly get a job in a supermarket, a fast-food restaurant or anywhere you see a “Help Wanted” ad or sign. Get that job and relieve yourself of immediate stress. Then read this book, and take the actions Joe Carroll suggests not only to find your “great” job, but to have it aligned with your life’s purpose.
Life’s purpose? What has that got to do with just getting a job? Everything. When you discover what it is that you love to do (your passion) based on what you are good at (your talents), you can then discover and define what it is you really want to do on earth (your purpose) and make this a better place to live on. And when you get a job and build a career that aligns these values, you find self-fulfillment, Joe points out in this eye-opening book.
If a large income is part of what you define as happiness, it can be yours. If great wealth (different from periodic income) is a component of your being happy, then you can have it too. And I suppose the most important value for you and most people – if doing what you love doing best and making good money at makes you happy – then yes, you can definitely have it.
So, you do not need to struggle anymore in your job search when you discover your own missing link. “The missing ink between a successful job search and career management is self-fulfillment. Self-fulfillment is driven, in part by your passions, talents and purpose in life,” writes Joe Carroll.
I recently looked at Amazon’s “Best Sellers in Books” list. This is based on purchase volume of all books offered on their website. The book that had stayed on this list for the longest time was “Strengths Finder” – for an amazing 1,537 days, or more than four years and two months. Even a little longer than the Stephen Covey bestseller “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” which was on this list for 1,499 days.
I suppose a lot of people are trying to find their strengths – what they’re good at. And usually (but not always) what people are good at are activities they’ve done for a long time and enjoy them. If you enjoy building your body for example, you’ve probably learned how to do it from books, videos, etc. and achieved good results evidenced by your strong, well-sculpted body. You probably would enjoy helping others build their bodies. You would enjoy a job in a gym.
So if you’re struggling to find a job, much of the reason has to do with first, not having asked yourself as to what you love doing and what strengths you have, or believe you have. To ascertain your belief about your strengths with realty, there are many ways to do that through tests, interviews, etc.
After doing the above, ask yourself what is your calling in life. Then find a job, develop a career and build a life around your calling. The calling will put meaning in your life. With your self-examination you will discover your life purpose.
He writes: “I am about to share with you in this book the blueprint for accomplishing your highest potential in three short months. Some of the secrets may result in an epiphany, revelation or catalyst for change in your life.” Then he reveals a brilliant quote that may have been written by Plato or Socrates, but historians are not sure:
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Joe Carroll essentially points out this is the path to self-fulfillment, which can bring you happiness, along with all your components of happiness, some of which we have named above. He says it is important to “examine your life in great detail.”
I need not write in this book review the different aspects of this book to make my primary assertion that it is well worth reading not just to help you get a great job, but to find that all-important meaning in your life. I end this review by quoting what we find to be the most important point made in this book:
“You are here on this place we call earth to get your act together. It is in your interest to be the best you can be. A good chunk of this book will seek to get you to examine your life in great detail because your life is worth living.”
