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Rich Book Sneaky Peaky

5 August 2013

Any day now my new book, called Riding the Rocket, will be sent to the printers in time to hit the shops for the end of August. As ever it has been a rush to complete the proof reading, tweak the cover and amend the original artwork we’ve used to illustrate the models and tools.

The book is subtitled: How to manage your modern career.

It’s based on years of career coaching experience and is full of real life stories and tips and tools. If you want to choose a career, or make a change, or excel at work, or avoid killing your career then this book is for you.

Over the last few weeks I’ve read the book three times to check and re-check the content, remove tiny typos and tweak the text. This is the bit of the process that I like least because line editing is a time consuming task that requires intense concentration for hours on end. The end result is a great book, but the process is no fun!

Who would be a writer?

This year the main book is supported by a companion ebook that contains additional unique content and a preview of the new material. It’s called Building the Rocket and will be available on Kindle in the next ten days. 

Until then, here are some thoughts about career management, taken from Riding the Rocket, to get us thinking about the nature of careers:

Richard’s reflection on the nature of careers
1. I’m the common denominator.
2. I’m a good person with skill and talent.
3. It can take a few false starts to find out about yourself and what you like and what you’re good at.
4. You have to listen to people.
5. It is possible to change course.
6. Loving what you do matters.
7. That it will turn out alright in the end.

We all have more power than we realise and we can take a breath, find our voice and be proactive in asserting ourselves. The responsibility for managing our career is ours and ours alone. Therefore, we have permission to manage our lives for our benefit.

As a mentor once said to me:

‘When you think about life and careers Richard the best place to be is – happy in the middle.’

At first I was a bit dismissive of this sentiment, but having thought about it, I can see that it is more subtle and more powerful than I first realised. So, this week ask yourself if you’re happy in the middle and what changes you could make to get there?

Have fun!

Next week: Three tips from the book ‘Priceless’ …it really made me think about how I price products and services.