Customer Reviews

To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Love: The Spiritual Dimension of Entrepreneuring

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This book has been one of the most valuable books I have read on the topic of creating meaningful work. Sinetar artfully illustrates how entrepeneurs find their true vocation in their own wholeness--work as a natural expression of their authentic selves. The catch is...this takes time. Time in reflection. Time in retreat. Time in honest evaluation of one's values and skills. Meaningful, fulfilling work is a spiritual journey and I fear that, in our fast and faster world, a book about slow and stop will be overlooked. I actually purchased this book in 1998, but put it down because it didn't seem to "apply" to me. Picking it up again in 2001, I was ready to hear the truth about creating the work that I had always wanted.

I'm happy to say that I'm well on my way. I highly recommend this book as a light for your spiritual path.

What? The last reviewer of this book says the author wasnt focused? If she was anymore focused on the emotional, mental and spiritual processes that go about in keeping us from reaching our "soul" purpose, our brain would fry! Filled with lots of quick inspiring stories of ordinary people who made their dreams come true. She says "Responsible choice involves consequences not the least of which are relinquishments along the way. (page81) If you could just get that it would be worth 100 times the price of the book. She talks about how the creative process can even trigger chronic fatigue and other stressors. She clearly guides us thru the "What do I do next?" panic attack we have when we get stuck or defeated. Even better than her 1st book and that was great! As a personal consultant and coach I am always greatly interested in hearing how books effect people. Email me at:mince38@yahoo.com and let me know how you are enjoying this wonderful book. Personally, I would buy it for any person who is not living the perfect life they want! Its the 2nd best birthday gift you could give someone. In fact, we could even start a message board on this book.

Marc

Seems the "skills" and reality side of Do What You Love.... these are stories that show everyday people --not superstar Trump types -- in various stages of starting their own small ventures or shaping the life and values they love. Especially relevant to me is the story of Esther, the eighty-something woman who returned to ministerial college at seventy-something and now runs a little spiritual direction business out of her home. More power to Esther and anyone like her. Good stories for adult ed. course, too.

In "To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Love," Marsha Sinetar devotes a chapter each to exploring the attributes that she believes an entrepreneur possesses: inventive inclination, authentic focus, meaningful purpose, "figuring-out" skills, risk-taking effectiveness, strategic outlook, and high spiritual intelligence.

An "inventive inclination" is simply creativity combined with resourcefulness. Unleashing your inventive powers, she claims, involves asking "what," not "how." It's being open to possibilities.

Once we open our mind to creative possibilities, it's necessary then to focus authentically on who we are at heart. "Authentic people are activated by their inner truths," she writes. "When we're authentic," she claims, "others usually perceive us as such and will often go to great lengths to help us succeed ... When we're real, we're believable, credible." Authentic focus also requires focusing on our energy. "What good is it to identify your fascinations and goals if you're too tired or stressed out to pursue them? ... Vitality also translates into widened opportunities. People like to be around us when we're centered and enthused." By focusing on their own needs, Sinetar writes, entrepreneurs find ways to address others' needs and thereby profit.

"Meaningful purpose" delves deeper into the spiritual dimension of entrepreneuring. It involves both posing and answering the question, "What exactly do you want out of life?" "No one can tell you what your purposes are," Sinetar writes. It involves moving slowly, gaining balance, poise, and self-understanding. "This is a spiritual stance," she writes. She encourages her readers to grow in their "down" times and to develop discernment, which involves strict self-discipline. She also warns that "conscious choices are often costly ones." It is in delving into meaningful purpose that a rich personal transformation can take place. It involves making honest self-assessments.

By "figuring-out" skills, Sinetar implies that "entrepreneurs trust the mystery of the unknown. Rather than accepting imprisonment by what they don't understand, entrepreneurs strive to transcend their questions and limits." This is where a genuine love of learning is required. "Figuring out involves eliminating illusions." It involves expanding on what we want by answering the questions of where, when, for whom, and why, and listing the steps you're willing to take to explore the territory you want to inhabit.

"Part of creating work involves establishing a solid foundation of chance-taking skills," Sinetar writes. Wisely, she advises practicing in low risks before undertaking high risks. She writes about creating spaces in which to fail safely, to monitor our performance, to correct and improve ourselves. She then illustrates a stepladder of risk-taking skills, and differentiates risk-taking from impulsivity. "Begin small. Go slow. Build skill," she says. "Prudent risk-taking involves making contingency plans, asking `what if?' and assessing the probability of failure." By taking small, calculated risks, she says, discernment grows.

In exploring what a strategic outlook is, Sinetar writes that it involves first elevating oneself to the point of feeling entitled to have the life and work one enjoys. Strategy transcends a mere business plan, she writes. Eventually, our strategies ask us to think about where we'll find supportive, affordable resources for our objectives. Your decision to study whatever you don't understand becomes part of your strategy. She encourages her readers to research specific ways to add value to customers and clients and to consider how to position your product or service in the niche you hope to enter.

Finally, "discovering and creating vocation requires discernment," Sinetar writes. Once the above six skills have been considered, "our job is to unfold." A high spiritual intelligence recognizes that "we ourselves are the work." It involves accepting that we must change. A high spiritual intelligence realizes that "vocation comes as you discover and express your own identify." It views work as art, recognizing that we learn best when we're learning about ourselves. "Almost all gifted artists strive to mesh inner feelings or vision with marketplace realities," she writes. "Only actualizing adults find enough personal reward in such risks to accept the turmoil involved," including family and inner conflict, struggle, and doubts. Vocation is neither about career nor money, Sinetar writes; "it's doing God's will."

Often we read passages from how-to books which do not consider the true depth of enlightenment in the workplace. Marsha Sinetar in her book, does not try to prescribe a sollution yet rather lets the reader think outloud about the potential that is awaiting us in a place of Positive relection at the workplace.I found her approach refreshing and on the mark, her open ended questions are helpful and realistic. Less puffery than other "spiritual books"

Well written, powerfully concise and to the point.

For anyone who has been or is in a career transition, in the midsts of finding and/or creating a business of their own, for anyone who has been looking for the "answer" in what to do next and how, for anyone who has been exploring and trying all kinds of stuff but hasn't found "that thing" that you can call fulfilling work - READ THIS BOOK!

Marsha Sinetar puts what you are going through in a very affirming perspective.
Any crap you may be going through may actually be your gold!

I felt this book was more of a spirit-lifter than a guide to creating the work you love. The author clearly states early on that she will not give specifics on how to create a vocation for yourself which leaves only examples of those who have done so (many of whom have made lots of money before they 'started the work they love'). Positive-not practical. I currently am reading her 1st book, I hope it's better.

I enjoyed and reread this book. I found it to be very useful and full of ideas and help with some of my fears about taking on a new venture. I find her to be very inspiring and also helpful to keep me levelheaded and cautious in changing my life. She gave me a lot to think about and I actually bought the book for my daughter as a gift. I recommnend it completely. If you are looking for someone to hold your hand and tell you how to change your life this is not for you. She offers many ways that people do that but overall it is up to the individual to find what will work for them.

Jnetti

This book is the sequel to Sinetar's best seller "Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow." I recommend reading the former before reading this one.

This book deserves a read. It is interesting, thoughtful, well-researched, and the author herself is one-of-a-kind.

Here is how the book's introduction starts:

"When my book came out, it was a big hit. I was thrilled with its success but somewhat overwhelmed by the onslaught of reader mail that followed. Intelligent, well-educated readers expressed their unhappiness about their current work. They hadn't a clue 'how' to make the transition into their preferred careers. Collectively they pleaded for specific roadmaps to their destination..."

Will her readers find this book with sufficient roadmaps? I liked the guidance she gave but was left wanting more.

This book is developed around the stories of entrepreneurs of all ages and walks of life who have created the work they love. Sinetar has done extensive research on these success stories. I would like to have known for the sake of clarification if the author worked hands-on with any of these people to achieve their successes. If not, what was their source of inspiration?

Utilizing the success-story cases as models, Sinetar stresses the importance of:

1-Increasing one's self-esteem (via professional counseling if need be), as self-esteem is foundational to life and work
2-Listening to self to try to better discern one's own inner voice and preferences, large and small, a key to life and vocational direction
3-Utilizing such tools as meditation, prayer, and journaling as aids to expanded awareness and creativity
4-Experimenting with new products and services which better serve humanity and, in particular to vocation, one's customers
5-Assessing and improving one's own risk-taking proficiency
6-Starting small from where one is to develop new avenues of vocation
7-Studying all successes and failures
8-Coming to know that purely economic motives may not be the most reliable impulses to follow

Sinetar is a philosopher and very much a teacher, if not a minister, interweaving a point of inspiration here and there from Christianity as well as Buddhism.

She takes great pains to picture for us what self-actualization and true vocation leading to fulfillment ought to look like in ideal terms. Readers must keep in mind these are ideals to aim for, and the best-lived lives may have seemed ordinary or even "not enough" at times.

Regarding the book's structure, Sinetar's words convey meaning on many levels - the practical, philosophical, and psychological. Some academics forget that what is extremely simple and logical to them may not be so apparent to everyone else. However, the more I read Sinetar's works, the more I find it well worthwhile to meditate on her writings for deeper understanding.

If you enjoy the spoken word and seek inspiration, you may want to try the thought-provoking audio programs of Ms. Sinetar and listen to someone who can speak with pure elegance.

For additional exploration, I recommend:

-"Finding Your Own North Star" by Martha Beck
-"I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was" by Barbara Sher
-"Finding Your Perfect Work" by Paul Edwards
-"Creating the Work You Love" book and audio program by Rick Jarow