Looking for answers, Piazza Duomo, Milan.
Boomer, I happened upon this book when I was deciding whether or not to retire.
I’d spent a career spending less than I earned and investing the rest. no longer needed the cash to work. My career had pretty well run its course. I was still treated well. After all, they’d given me a year-off to live in Italy.
I know.
I was almost jealous of myself.
But it was clear. The clock was ticking. It was time to figure out what I’d do next. And then I happened upon this book:
by Jeri Sedlar and Rick Miners.
It’s targeted to Boomers who, having completed their main career, are now considering an encore career—either paid or unpaid. Encore careers include working 9 to 5 for someone else, working for oneself, or volunteering and community service.
To effectively plan an encore career, the authors contend that we need to identify the motivating factors that give our work meaning. They call these motivating factors “drivers”—of which they’ve identified 87 of them.
Drivers include power, prestige, passion, intellectual stimulation, making a difference, work place friendships, etc. From there, the authors present a series of questions and lists to help us drill-down to the type of job we may be seeking.
They suggest we ask ourselves six questions.
- What are my top 5 drivers?
- What are my top 10 life accomplishments?
- What drivers did my accomplishments fulfill?
- What strengths or skills did I use to achieve my accomplishments? (Here they provide a lengthy lists of strengths and skills, noting that strengths are what we’re born with and skills are what we learn).
- What are my interests and dreams?
- How can I use my drivers, accomplishments, strengths and skills to tap into these interests and dreams for a suitable encore career?
I can see why this book has sold so well.
I found its content quite useful. I read it before deciding to return to my job. By answering the above questions and understanding my drivers, I found myself better able to enjoy the job I already had. (Your mileage my vary.)
After I “retired,” I re-read it and it helped me determine I wanted to blog.
As such, I recommend this book.
Having said this, I must also report that this book could have been better organized. I found it somewhat disjointed. The information is there. You just have to find it.
Have a look at other online reviews.