What Should I Do With My Life? [Paperback]

The bad news is that there doesn't really seem to be an escape from the doubt. One common thread running through all the stories is, that nobody seemed to unquestioningly accept wherever they were at right now as their final destination.

The book opens with the story of Za Rinpoche, who got a letter from the Dalai Lama when he was 17, explaining that he was the reincarnation of a who, along with his five brothers, had ruled a poor and remote region of Tibet six lifetimes ago. There you go: Your place in the scheme of all things, straight from the Dalai Lama. He studied for twelve years, and is now 32 and lives in the US. And even he is not free of doubt.

So what hope is there for the rest of us? Will we ever find this one spot meant for us, where everything makes sense?

The book contains story after story of people who have faced the question in widely different ways. From the New York investment banker who became a catfish farmer in the South to the spokesman for an Oil company who quit because of their unethical business methods, and went to the opposition - a government agency monitoring oil companies.

And the stories are presented very matter of factly, with few value judgements. Po does let his own opinions of peoples choices shine through, but he never condemns them. He shows a deep understanding of the circumstances that lead people to their decisions - even the bad decisions.

In this way, the book offers very little specific advice. You might say, that it offers no help for us to find out what we should do with our lives, but that would be wrong in my opinion. Reading the stories, shows us some of the situations that other people have faced, and how they've handled them. And there's real inspiration in that.

I was moved by many of the stories, and found myself cheering the people on, hoping for them to make the right choices. And this is the true magic of this book. Po Bronson went a lot further than just interviewing the people in the book - he entered their lives. As he puts it, he slept on their couches, went to parties and weddings, dined with their families, and in this way got close to them.

This openness is also apparent in the way he shares his own story, which is equally inspirational: How he walked away from a 300.000$ a year job offer, to pursue a highly uncertain carreer as a writer. Remember, this was before he'd had anything published.

This book is an easy, enjoyable read. The stories are all fairly short, and all of them are interesting. The idea for the book is wonderfully simple and beautifully realized. There is no doubt, that Po Bronson has a gift for this sort of project. Read it!

The book’s greatest strength is the author. He is a gifted writer and when the reader encounters the many people he interviews, it is more like listening to a person talk than reading a text. He is a person who not only listens, but knows the questions to ask, when to interject, and when to remain quiet. The easy to read chapters flow quite well, and give the reader much to think about afterward. He uses different people who are at different stages in life, and the author seems to respect most of the people he includes. He is hardly sentimental, and this book is not gushy. It is real and for most of the people included, there is still a great deal of unfinished business in their lives.

For me, the book had two weaknesses, but I am willing to bet that for many readers, these would be strengths. First, I believe the book lacked diversity. It seemed as if most of the people interviewed, or at least included in the book were white males with a smattering of white females. Most were in their thirties or early forties, and most seemed to be somewhat privileged, or at least had opportunities open to them. This is not a book to find too many Horatio Alger tales. While many of these people do make radical life changes, they also seem to have a plan they can fall back on, based upon the advantages they have had in life. The author alludes to this very fact at one point in the book, but does not change the focus. Perhaps this is because he knows his focus audience rather well. Another weakness is that the book focuses almost solely on jobs and changing one’s job in order to be happy. Very little attention is given to other factors that give life meaning such as family, faith, or enjoyment that enriches life. While the author does not downplay the importance of these things in life, it is clear he wants to show that having a lousy job that has to be endured in order to enjoy other aspects in life is a copout, even though many people remain at jobs they do not care for because other aspects of their lives are in order. Bronson seem to be arguing that since people today often times have the opportunity to take advantage of opportunities previous generations lacked, and that many people today have had extended periods of youth, it is quite possible that people in the future will not be trying to reclaim a lost youth as many did in the generation that preceded the late baby boomers/early generation X. Though I find the lack of diversity and over focus on work as weaknesses, the author presents that material in such a way that in a few years, I may be look at this book differently and see him as prophetic.

People hoping to make changes in their life direction will undoubtedly find this book helpful. Those of us who are satisfied with our jobs will also find this book helpful because it does get a person thinking about what matters most in life, and Bronson encourages people to look within before looking outside of ourselves, always timely advice.

It helps you to begin to relook at your own life, your past experiences, your current skills, to pay attention to what your life is telling you. What clues have you missed which you could pay attention to? Where are the keys to your own lifes purpose?

This is a book that doesn't talk down to you, doesn't come up with the same old exercises to work through. What it does do is show you what others have been through. That there isn't an easy answer to the question, and yet if you begin to learn from these other peoples experiences and pay attention to your own life, the answer may already be with you. Confused? Read it and you'll see.

This great book does not give you The Answer, but helps you to REALLY LOOK at The Question.