Peak Careers

Professional Development for Career Practitioners

Book Reviews

Do What You Love and Other Lies About Success and Happiness

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By Miya Tokumitsu

This book came recommended to me (can’t remember who but I have a e-note with lots of book recommendations) and I recommended it to my book club in our career counselors Facebook group.

The used book I bought is filled with highlights, sticky notes, and hand written scribbles on the inside cover and throughout the book.

It was actually quite funny because some pages had nearly the entire page highlighted or underlined 🙂

As a career service provider I was looking for advice on what to do but this is more about why our society is so fixated on the mantra “Do What You Love (DWYL)” and the downsides of it.

Some of the results of this mantra mean that there are many people with college degrees, doing work they thought would be work they love once they got their degree, and instead they are doing work that does not require a college degree and they also have huge student loans.

Companies love to lure people in to do work they love only to pay them little like child care, or interns, or adjunct faculty, then pay them little while the owners make money. All the while many of these people believing they are doing what they love but never can move up to make more money.

Many of these jobs that fit into the DWYL category are minimum wage and people are not able to raise a family on it. The DWYL mantra clearly favors the rich who can afford to send their children to college (who cares if the college costs $60,000 / year), and then find a job for their son/daughter to do.

She rails on all kinds of systemic things like temp agencies as paying little, offering hope of full-time work but never getting it. But I don’t buy all her arguments. I see lots of people who get FT jobs from internships as well as FT jobs from temp agencies.

She makes good points about how this idea feeds the higher education institutions and many companies who promise a future but don’t deliver…except to make millions for the owners. But apprenticeships have been around for centuries and they worked out

There clearly is an elitist and socio-economic thing going on in the US in particular that benefits the wealthy, but some of these systems are still great, like temp agencies, and adjunct. But higher education needs to figure out how to operate their schools AND pay faculty a living wage.

I have more thoughts on this and hope to come back to it soon.

Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives our Success

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By Adam Grant

Very thought-provoking book which challenged some of my thinking on who winners and losers might be. His premise is that people are either “givers, matchers, or takers.”

Givers: People who are willing to give of their time, network, expertise, and money to others with no expectation of receiving anything back.

Matchers: Pretty much what the name implies…people who will give but are expecting something in return.

Takers: They tend to plow you over on their way to the top. There have been some very successful “takers” over the years like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and such, but they may not have been the most well-liked that is for sure.

Adam Grant gives numerous examples supported by research throughout the book. The most amazing statistic is that givers often end up at the bottom of the success ladder…and at the top. It depends upon what type of “giver” you are. If you give too much, sometimes it is at your own detriment and some people will take advantage of you.

Bottom line though, Grant makes a persuasive argument to support the idea that “givers” will come out ahead in the end. Sometimes it will take a few year before you see the results, but it is best to “give” with no expectations of return, build your reputation, and give more. People will remember you and support you as you move forward and in times of need. (I think of It’s a Wonderful Life with George Bailey).

One example is how “givers” in Med School often did poorly in their first two years as they spend more time helping others which means less time for studying. But the final two years of Med School requires more collaboration and this is where they truly shine. By the end of their studies, they are often at the top of their class.

My mother always said it was better to “give” than “receive” and I think she was on to something. Thanks Mom, RIP.

Where the Crawdads Sing

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By Delia Owens 

I loved this book. It is about an underdog who, in many ways, does not have a chance to survive, but then continues to figure out how to survive. She loves nature, is all alone, searches for love, has been left to fend for herself so much she trusts no one. But she still survives.

A beautiful book about people, survival, and filled with surprises. There is a reason this book has been on the Best Seller list for so long. I don’t want to write too much more so will simply say…read this one.

My Books in 2021

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Each December I share the books I have read in the past year and also interview other bibliophiles as a way to share even more books. Check out the interview for 2021 here.

The Adventure of Finding Me in New Zealand

Besides all the books that I’ve read, I am still excited that my second book came out this year too! The Adventure of Finding Me in New Zealand is about my near death experience while traveling in New Zealand in 1983-84.

Here are the books that I’ve read this past year. First I list the books I read to be a better career coach, next historical & nonfiction books, and then my recreational reading. Each of the books will link to a short summary of the book. I do this so when someone asks about one of these books, I can send them the link to get the title and author correct. I also do it to remind myself of which books I’ve read. More than once, I bought a book only to find that I had read it already. Now I can check my list 🙂

Books to make me a better coach

Help Wanted: An A to Z Guide to Cope with the Ups and Downs of the Job Search by Karen Litzinger

The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker

Switchers by Dawn Graham

Designing Your Work Life: How to Thrive and Change and Find Happiness at Work. By Burnett, B., & Evans,D.

StoryTraining: Selecting and Shaping Stories That Connect, by Hadiya Nurriddin.

Your Stories Don’t Define You. How You Tell Them Will. By Sarah Elkins

Historical & Nonfiction

To Wake The Giant by Jeff Shaara

Elephantoms: Tracking the Elephant by Lyall Watson

Journey on the Crest: Walking 2600 Miles from Mexico to Canada by Cindy Ross

Greenlights By Matthew McConaughey

Mountain Madness: Scott Fischer, Mount Everest & a Life Lived on High. By Robert Birkby

Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Thomas Flexner

Books to entertain me and make me more interesting…I hope.

The Poacher’s Son by Paul Doiron

Bad Little Fall’s by Paul Doiron (and soon his book Trespasser)

Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John LeCarre

If you are still reading this and want to see my book reviews from 2020, you can check them out here.

I also enjoy talking with other bibliophiles, so I recently interviewed three others in this interview on their favorite books in 2021. Watch/Listen to the interview.

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move and The Adventure of Finding Me in New Zealand. He is also the recipient of the 2020 Kenneth C. Hoyt Award from the National Career Development Association and the Mid-Atlantic Career Counseling Association’s Professional Contribution’s Award in 2020.

Sign up to receive my TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON. You will also receive the career practitioner’s weekly email on a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. (Sign up)

Books by Paul Doiron

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I plan to read a bunch of Paul Doiron’s books so I will simply list them here like I have done with a couple other authors rather than write a review of each book.

The Poacher’s Son -Doiron’s first book and first one I read. Loved it. (November 2021)

Trespasser – A woman dies. Somehow it is tied to another woman’s death a few years before…and somehow Mike Bowditch the Maine Game Warden is involved. (December 2021)

Bad Little Falls – Another great story of Mike Bowditch the Maine Game Warden who finds himself in trouble again. This time he is Down East near Machias in the winter with a couple of frozen guys in a bog, one lives…or maybe he doesn’t. I love that Doiron writes about Maine in the woods and he tells a great crime scene style story and I spend most of the book trying to figure out “who done it”…only to be surprised again at the ending. (December 2021)

Massacre Pond – Someone killed a bunch of moose and left the right where they dropped. All the usual suspects were there but the police and warder service could not figure it out…until Mike Bowditch gets involved in his own special way. (February 2022)

The Bone Orchard – Holy crap, he quits the Warden service. No this can’t be! Don’t worry, he still has a gun and works in the woods. And don’t worry, he has a nose for trouble finding him or Bowditch finding the trouble. This may be my favorite so far, I never saw the twists and turns…I even cried a couple of times. (March 2022)

The Bear Trap – This book is not available in print and is a short story based upon the Great Pond hermit who lived in the Belgrade Lakes area for 30 years. He stole from camps so he could live in the woods. Doiron adds an interesting twist. It is available for free at Amazon. (April 2022)

The Precipice – Murders on the Appalachian Trail and Bowditch is on the search and rescue team but, of course, it gets more complicated than that. Lots of suspects in this one…but who did it? (I know 🙂 (April 2022)

Widowmaker – There is a wolf involved with this one. Not quite sure why, but there is. And yes, a bunch of people die…some by accident, some by a guy…or is it a group of guys? (May 2022)

Knife Creek – I skipped a couple of books because Bull Moose didn’t have them. So now he has a new girlfriend. Someone who didn’t care for him one bit in Massacre Pond. This was a real thriller of a book that in some places scared the crap out of me :O Sorry, I nearly swear there. I could not figure out how we was going to get out of the last predicament he was in. There really seemed like no way out, but of course, Mike Bowditch did it. Or did he?(June 2022)

Rabid – (available online /audio) Yikes! Short story about a guy who gets bit by a bat and his Vietnamese wife who he brought back after the war seems extremely nervous about him getting rabies…for a good reason. (July 2022)

Stay Hidden -This book takes place on Maquoit Island off the coast of Maine near Brunswick. And yes, someone dies. It ain’t who you think it is and someone on the island knows who done it. Mike Bowditch has to deal with the island people who often dislike (hate) each other but refuse to help mainlanders. (July 2022)

Backtrack – (Kindle only short story)

Almost Midnight – His buddy Billy Cronk is having issues in prison and Mike tries to help. But things quickly get out of control. Oh yeah, and his wolf reappears from Widowmaker. Because I have not read them in order, I’m missing some of the love problems he’s had but the stories are still great. (September 2022)

The Imposter – (Kindle only short story)

One Last Lie – Oh my! Charley Stevens, the retired warden and father-figure to Mike has a lie? And then he disappears for days without telling anyone where he’s going! And yes, someone dies…but you probably already guessed that 🙂 (October 2022)

The Caretaker – (Kindle only short story)

Dead by Dawn – He’s dead for sure…no way can he get out of this mess. As always so many twists and turns you don’t know what’s really going on until the end. We’ve got a wolf, a trailer park, snowmobiles racing, people getting shot, and ….some bad people don’t make the end of the book. I could not put this one down at the end. (December 2022)

Skin and Bones –

Hatchet Island – Mike Bowditch ends up on a couple of islands off the coast of Maine. He’s more at home in the woods but his girlfriend Stacey loves to sea kayak and they end up paddling out to an island for an overnight trip away and to see an old friend on Baker Island. As luck would have it, a couple of people are dead and Stacey and Mike in thrown into solving the crime (s) …yes, there may be more than one crime. It’s always a good “who done it?” mystery in the Doiron books. (May 2024)

Help Wanted: An A to Z Guide to Cope with the Ups and Downs of the Job Search

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By Karen Litzinger, MA,LPC

Have you ever worked with a client who was the Debbie Downer or Negative Nick of job searching? I have. Sometimes the negativity is understandable if they had just recently been laid off and had no idea it was coming. Other times, people are just stuck and don’t know how to get out of their funk.

This book is such an uplifting book for the job searcher who is struggling. I love how Karen uses the alphabet to make over 26 great points (Yes, she uses all the letters and some letters multiple times) about common reasons people might be in a negative way.

Each “letter” begins with an inspirational quote. Here’s one for Persistence by Julie Andrews; “Persistence is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.”

This is followed by great advice from Karen on the importance of persistence with specific things to think about.

Each letter then ends with an affirmation to help people change their mindset. “I persist with grit and rise to the occasion.”

I love this book. Notice I didn’t say “loved” like I’ll never go back to it. I will keep this book on my shelf and flip it open occasionally just for those moments I might need it.

I will also be recommending this to future clients who are stuck in their job search to help them be more positive and inspired to move forward.

Thank you Karen for a wonderful uplifting book! Get your copy at https://karenscareercoaching.com/help-wanted/