WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT?

Klijn presents a model for determining and achieving one’s true career aspirations in this self-help book.

The author—a professional speaker and coach, and a PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam—aims her book at the many people in the workforce who feel dissatisfied with their current job, either because they feel like they aren’t realizing their full potential or simply due to curiosity about other possible paths. “Considering that work constitutes a substantial part of our lives,” Klijn writes, “it’s wise to assess the type of work that resonates most with your desires.” In these pages, translated from the Dutch by the author and Molegraaf, Klijn drew on her own 17 years of experience in sales, marketing, and human resources,plus her establishment of a management training company, Klijn Creative Teaching,to create the Personal Energy at Work (or “PE@W”) model. The model encompasses physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual elements, and she examines the interplay of each using charts, graphs, and insets that relate relevant stories from her and others’ employment lives. Through the lens of PE@W, Klijn effectively examines a variety of personal factors that can generate conflict in the workplace. For instance, if someone values a sense of harmony in their life, they may seek to avoid confrontations at work; however, the author points out, it isn’t always beneficial to one’s career to avoid uncomfortable situations. While Klijn’s prose can be awkward at times (“In times of uncertainty, our decisions often gravitate towards the fear of negative outcomes”), the bulk of her thoughts on the working world are clear and thought provoking, particularly in her emphasis on the physical element of work. For instance, she points out that making decisions to ignore bodily cues, such as fatigue or stress, can have serious, wide-ranging effects. Workers contemplating something new may find much of value in these pages.

An often thoughtful and straightforward conception of the costs and benefits of change.