Zen and the Art of Making a Living: A Practical Guide to Creative Career Design

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I recommend those young people to read this book before they embark on the career life. This is also good book for those who are interested to spend their effort to quest for their life's work at any stage of life, it is never too late to start!! Identifying what moves you, your passion and purpose, is the place to start. After all, if you don’t know what you are aiming for, your chances of hitting it aren’t very good. Many who can’t or won’t admit what they want to do hide behind the “impossible” meme. Since the desires of the soul must subordinate themselves to the demands of money—why even bother identifying those desires? This is a rationalization—not an argument. It’s clearly possible for people to make a living doing what they love to do, since many are doing it every day. The real question is: Can you do it? Once we admit what we want in our hearts, we immediately confront another challenge. At one of my workshops, the group listened intently to a young woman who stood speaking before them. With obvious joy and elation, she was telling the group what her true passion was. She described the profound sense of freedom she felt in proclaiming before others what she really wanted to do with her life. She was describing how she had come to this realization and what it meant to her, when, suddenly, she stopped abruptly and said, “I feel scared.” She turned from the group toward me and asked, “Is that normal?” I assured her that she was expressing something I’d heard many times before (and since). When we reveal our heart’s desire with respect to work, we feel an emotional vulnerability not unlike what we feel in our first confessions of love for a would-be partner. In contrast to the responses of a would-be lover, we have much more—though far from complete—control over our career destinies. Still, it’s worth pointing out that there is a marked emotional difference between claiming what we would really love to do and discussing the merits of a good job or sensible career. Yet it is only after making that claim that we have a chance of creating a life where what we do matches what we are at the deepest levels. More than twenty years ago, I began this work with the conviction that people of all ages and professional levels were ready to embrace the challenge of creating work they truly love. Through good economic times and bad, I’ve seen this conviction borne out in the lives of countless dedicated individuals who have found their own ways to put their passions to work. The success of this book and, even more, the many letters and comments I’ve received from readers who’ve found it helpful in mapping their own journeys to fulfilling work have been truly gratifying. This revised edition has given me an opportunity to sharpen and clarify my thoughts on a number of topics. Considerable revisions have been made throughout. The entire text has been updated, and a lot of new material has been added. For those familiar with this book, the bibliography and most of the Web resources that appeared in its previous incarnations have been greatly expanded and put online (empoweryou.com), where they can more easily be kept current. First and foremost, give yourself a chance to be the one of those, whose intentions are widely presented. Honesty is the embodiment of happiness, a quote that should stay in your recollection.

The most innovative, unconventional, and profoundly practical career guide available--newly revised and updated Lccn 2009019516 Ocr ABBYY FineReader 11.0 (Extended OCR) Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.11 Ocr_module_version 0.0.14 Old_pallet IA12321 Openlibrary_edition Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2018-08-20 00:23:13 Associated-names Boldt, Laurence G. Zen and the art of making a living in the post-modern world Bookplateleaf 0006 Boxid IA1321622 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set china External-identifier

Still, there's no doubt that even those who are searching for concrete answers and discrete steps to finding deep satisfaction with work will find a great deal of value in this book. For example, Boldt uses nearly every argument possible to convince the reader to ignore the concept of work as a means of making money so that we can enjoy our nonworking portions of life. The reader comes away knowing not just that work can be fun, but that something is wrong if it isn't satisfying. Laurence G. Boldt is a career consultant and an author born on November 18 th , 1954. He is the author of several inner healing types of books like Zen Sou, The Tao of Abundance and others. Laurance has also given speeches on happiness all across the U.S. “Zen and the Art of Making a Living Summary” In fact, nothing other than happiness matters that much. With all due respect to any career, you must remember that a job is nothing more than a way to earn a living. Putting it in front of everything will bring you in a position to beg, as we mentioned earlier. Transform your life with Zen For good thoughts... towards men, are little better than dreams, except they be put into action; and that cannot be, without power and place." -- Francis Bacon All great teachers say that the road to happiness begins with the recognition "that beyond the transient desires of ego there lie deeper desires for love and service to all mankind." Most of us don't go this route because we "are too busy running down approval alley." We try to please others, and pleasing is calculated while "compassion comes from the heart."

The best answers come from the heart, not the head.To play the game, you must understand the rules.Peace comes from within, not from other people.Wait for the perfect time to make a change and you'll wait forever.Fear of failure can stand in the way of your dreams.Until you find what you love, love what you do.Giving up is not an option. It's a normal career book with a bunch of zen babble. You have the "philosophy" aspects which take up most of the book, but the actual career advice is just the usual "discover your values, make a list of your talents, etc" that you get in these books. I receive this book from my Dearest Friend Kerrie Kephart, in a moment I loose my job and I felt hopeless. I remembered what she wrote to me: "and fly your wings my batterflie". It was like a light in a dark room for me. It helps me to discover that I love to work with people, that somehow I need the contention of a institution, the lessons from the warriors, the sage, the students and... Get into too many philosofal ideas mixed with a recipes of looking for a job, was a cool breeze in a hot summer day. William Shakespeare once wrote, "Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt." Fear of falling short often prevents people from seeking their true calling.After fifteen years, 4,000 clients and authorship of my own career counseling program, this is simply the best book in its field that I have ever seen! I have reviewed almost all career counseling books, programs and strategies available. None is better than Zen and the Art of Making a Living." You already assume what Laurence G. Boldt has to say and expect from you! Your dedication, your self-respect, and your belief to make that final push into happiness. The Zen state is all about that, bliss and everlasting peace. The book is organized as a play with sections denoting "prologue", acts and scenes within acts. The major acts include: (1) Act 1: The Quest for Life's Work, (2) Act II: The Game of Life's Work, (3) Act III: The Battle for Life's Work and Act IV: The School of Life's Work. Act I is to create and define the tapestry of one's life and shape it actively and creatively- not based on societal convention but based on joy, service to mankind and a hero's spirit. Act I involves vision questing, clarifying values, pointing to purpose, targeting talents and marking mission objectives. Act II is identifying your new career or work. It involves reality testing, careful evaluation and visualization. Act III involves implementing your strategy to achieve your life's work: "taking it to the street", marketing strategies, "sailing the entrepreneurship", "wielding the free lance", looking at non-profit opportunities or landing the right job "street smarts". Act IV is involved with getting there, transitional strategies, training skills, self image, enlisting support and finally loving what you do til you are doing what you love. This book is highly recommended and should have a transforming and beneficial effect on your life. For over three decades, author Laurence Boldt, has been helping people to live their dreams, through his work as a writer, speaker, and career consultant. He is the founder of EmpowerYOU.com and author of five books, including the bestselling career classic Zen and the Art of Making a Living. This groundbreaking work has been credited by many with revolutionizing the career field, offering a new a vision of work and a new technology of vocational guidance. Boldt's other books include the bestselling How to Find the Work You Love, The Tao of Abundance, Zen Soup and How to Be, Do or Have Anything.

It's hard to imagine that Boldt has forgotten anything in this massive, unconventional volume. He shows a strong understanding of the need for a new view of work in Western cultures. "So often today, white-collar workers are hired for their brains alone, blue-collar and service workers for their bodies only, as though these could be detached from the beings who possess them," he writes. "As a consequence, there is so much emotional pain around work in our culture. This pain spills over into virtually every aspect of life. Families, relationships, and communities are deeply affected by it. We can't really blame anyone for this, or at least, it does us no good to do so. Freedom can't be demanded from others—it must be created for ourselves."Zen tells us that if we want to be free to play, we must be done with the agitation of envy and shame. otherwise, we can be triggered, through prize and ridicule, into performing like trained monkeys -- without ever knowing how or why"