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Don’t Keep Your Day Job’s Back-of-Book Description
From the creator of the #1 podcast “Don’t Keep Your Day Job,” an inspiring book about turning your passion into profit
The pursuit of happiness is all about finding our purpose. We don’t want to just go to work and build someone else’s dream, we want to do our life’s work. But how do we find out what we’re supposed to contribute? What are those key ingredients that push those who succeed to launch their ideas high into the sky, while the rest of us remain stuck on the ground?
Don’t Keep Your Day Job will get you fired up, ready to rip it open and use your zone of genius to add a little more sparkle to this world. Cathy Heller, host of the popular podcast Don’t Keep Your Day Job, shares wisdom, anecdotes, and practical suggestions from successful creative entrepreneurs and experts, including actress Jenna Fischer on rejection, Gretchen Rubin on the keys to happiness, Jen Sincero on having your best badass life, and so much more. You’ll learn essential steps like how to build your side hustle, how to find your tribe, how to reach for what you truly deserve, and how to ultimately turn your passion into profit and build a life you love.
My Thoughts
Full disclosure, I was given a free copy of Don’t’ Keep Your Day Job: How to Turn Your Passion into Your Career in exchange for my honest review.
I have to say… I feel like I have mixed thoughts about this book. It seemed right up my ally since I appreciate self-development books and the idea of following your passions. But it didn’t quite grab me in the way I had hoped.
To begin with, the first quarter of the book kind of felt like an endless string of inspirational quotes, with no clear objective. Well, unless the objective was to get you pumped about living a better life and ditching a corporate routine. In which case she nailed it! If I was unhappy in my job or feeling lost, I might have felt really uplifted… but since I’m not either of those things I just kind of wondered where it was going.
The book was full of examples of people who have succeeded in turning a passion into a profitable career, and that’s always nice and inspiring to read about. But the examples didn’t really explain the steps they took to do so. And since the title includes ‘how to turn your passion into your career’, I expected more actionable steps that new entrepreneurs could take.
There was one chapter that provided steps and tips for starting a podcast! That’s pretty cool… if your passion involves podcasting. And hey – I love podcasts! As a listener, I find them enjoyable and captivating. For an entrepreneur, I can see how they would be valuable and a great way to get content out there.. but what if your passion is more artistic or service-based? In other words, what if your passion has nothing to do with podcasting?
Speaking of podcasts, before she wrote this book, Cathy Heller created a podcast of her own with the same title. While I have not listened to it myself, I get the sense that a large portion of the material in Don’t Keep Your Day Job is pulled from episodes of the show. Which sort of begs the question, why buy the book when you could just listen to the podcast?
Buy It Now!
Favorite Quotes From the Book Don’t Keep Your Day Job
“The phrase “day job” is a synonym for the system that’s told us to stay in line. Most people spend their lives building someone else’s dream. I want you to build your dream.”
“Why did it have to be an ‘either-or’ when it could be a ‘yes and’?”
“We live the lives we’re willing to tolerate.”
“You don’t know what lies ahead unless you go looking. You don’t know who you are until you start asking.”
“…patience is massively underrated when it comes to launching a successful business. Far too many people think that all it takes is a good idea, but good ideas become great when you have actual data informing the refinement stage.”
In Conclusion
3 stars from me. I think Don’t Keep Your Day Job: How to Turn Your Passion into Your Career is a lovely book for people who maybe sense that they are not happy in their current 9 to 5 situation and have the time and resources to make a change. If that doesn’t sound like you, then you might not appreciate the book.
On the other hand, if that does sound like you, this book will likely give you the motivation and inspiration to start making plans and exploring options. But then you’ll probably still need some other books to tell you the real ‘how-to’ of it all.
I intend to check out the podcast, too, at least a few episodes. The woman clearly has a knack for inspiring people and who doesn’t appreciate that every now and then?!
Thanks so much for checking out this review! You can find more book reviews here. Be sure to share with those who you think would like it and pin your favorite quote below!
