Creating Your Life Collage: Strategies for Solving the Work/Life Dilemma - Softcover

McDonald, Kathy; Sirull, Beth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0609804103 ISBN 13: 9780609804100

Verlag: Random House USA Inc, 2000

Inhaltsangabe

Combining realistic advice with practical guidelines and inspiration, this helpful guide for women explains how to have a satisfying, financially successful career while juggling time for family, friends, spiritual needs, community service, hobbies, and fun. Original. 20,000 first printing.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Kathy McDonald and Beth Sirull both had successful corporate marketing careers before leaving to launch their own businesses. The authors have used many of the solutions they write about to create their own life collages, composed of various professional, volunteer, and personal pursuits. Both women live in the Chicago area with their husbands and children.

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man who feels overworked and overwhelmed, burned out and out of shape? As if your life has become one dimension -- work? Have hobbies and community activities fallen by the wayside? Based on the authors' own experiences and those of nearly 1,000 other women, Creating Your Life Collage is the first book to offer real solutions to these problems that are plaguing working women today.

Combining useful exercises with the inspiring stories of women who made significant changes in their lives, Creating Your Life Collage empowers the reader to design the solution to her work/life dilemma that works best for her -- whether it's how to better manage a full-time job, go part-time, become an entrepreneur, or take advantage of other creative and profitable alternatives to the daily grind. Speaking to all women, single and married, with and without children, Creating Your Life Collage helps women take control of their lives and arrange life's varied elements in jus

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The Conscious Life Collage -- A New Paradigm for Managing Your Whole Life

Remember making collages as a kid, combining images and colors to create a unique piece of art? A conscious life collage applies this artistic concept to life, creating a lifestyle thoughtfully composed of many roles, including career and family, but goes beyond to include hobbies, interests, spirituality, and community; unified to form a fruitful, fulfilling, and joyful life. Some women talk of "balancing" work and life (and most people read "life" as "family"). Balancing implies a two-dimensional, unsustainable precision where the slightest shift can put life out of kilter. In practice, balance is rarely achievable; women are left with a pervasive sense of dissonance. Other women speak of "juggling," which connotes a sense of the frantic, with balls precariously teetering. Collaging offers a new approach to work and life -- one that works for managing your whole life.

Most working women's lives are consumed by their work and everything that goes with it -- commuting, traveling, office politics, entertaining clients, and, of course, unrelenting demands and deadlines. Working women with children often find themselves squeezing their kids into an overcrowded calendar. For many women, something is missing. There is too little time for family, never mind hobbies, friendships, community service, and spirituality, among other activities. If just some of the time that work consumes can be reclaimed, a conscious life collage becomes possible.

Using the strategies in this book, you can redesign your work to reclaim this time. Then, you can rediscover old interests and explore new ones, consciously choosing how to spend your "new" time. Your conscious life collage is your own unique artwork. As your needs change, you can modify your collage, removing or reducing one element and introducing another. As one activity becomes more important, you may brighten its color. At the same time, another element may fade. The result is a life collage that is consciously assembled, representing the life you want, which evolves over time to meet your changing desires.

"How Can This Book Help Me?"

This book is based on three beliefs:
Many women feel that "something is missing" in their lives. They want to lead multifaceted lives, weaving professional, family, community, and personal roles into one fulfilling life.
There are many more options for redefining work than most women think. Many women have leveraged their creativity and ingenuity to manage and grow their careers without sacrificing everything else in their lives. The possibility exists for every woman to create a full life that works for her.
Women benefit from hearing other women's success stories. Too many women feel that they are all alone when faced with redesigning work. Despite what you may think, success stories abound. These stories must be shared and celebrated. Learning about what has worked for other women helps every woman craft a life that meets her needs. As women consider their journey to more dynamic lives, they will be reassured and inspired by the practical, emotional, and financial experiences of their peers.
This book is designed to help you create a multifaceted life that works for you -- your own unique life collage. Specifically, this book will:
Help you get unstuck. In Chapter 2, you will learn how to recognize the signs that it is time for a change. Do not languish in discomfort out of fear and uncertainty. No one is going to hand you this life -- you have to claim it, create it, and maintain it.
Help you face what stops you. Chapter 3 will help you identify the internal roadblocks that keep you from moving on. By sharing what has worked for other women, this book will help you recognize and face your roadblocks with confidence.
Help you consider options. This book examines the full spectrum of alternatives and will help you figure out which option will work best for you. Chapter 4 will help you begin to consider what is possible. In Chapters 5-8, you will explore ten different options for redesigning work to reclaim your life. You will benefit from the experiences, tips, triumphs, and pitfalls of women who have "been there and done that."
Help you rediscover your talents. In Chapters 9-11, you will look at your life after you have redesigned your work. You will identify those interests that have long been buried beneath your one-track career. Once you have redesigned your work, there will be room for the rest of your life collage. Learn to manage your collage to grow and evolve as you do.
Show you how you can help make a conscious life collage a reality for others. Once you have built your conscious life collage, you can help others do the same. Chapter 12 will give you ideas of what you, as an individual, as well as what employers, the government, and media can do to support people in creating work that works in their lives. Not only are individuals happier and more productive when they lead a multifaceted life, but communities also benefit when people take on multiple roles.
Provide inspiration and guidance. Throughout, this book will supply you with the inspiration and tools to make your chosen option a reality. You can redesign your work and reclaim your life.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Random House USA Inc
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2000
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0609804103
• ISBN 13: 9780609804100
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 321
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar