Creating Your Life Collage: Strategies for Solving the Work/Life Dilemma [Paperback]

Kathy McDonald (Author), Beth Sirull (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2000

Are you a woman 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 just the right way -- creating a life collage.

Women who want to create satisfying, financially rewarding careers that are not all consuming -- leaving time for family, friends, spirituality, community, hobbies, and just plain fun -- will find inspiration, practical help, and realistic advice in Creating Your Life Collage.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the latter third of the 20th century, when women entered the professional world in droves, they changed the face of corporate America by proving that they were as competent, creative, and productive as men. Many reveled in the seductive trappings of the high-powered life--large salaries, impressive titles, hefty responsibilities. As for the endless hours, unbearable stress, and empty personal lives, well, that's just the price one pays for career "satisfaction," right?

Not so, according to Kathy McDonald and Beth Sirull, two ex-corporate junkies who've been there, done that, and fled. Their helpful book sets out an intriguing, and extremely rational, proposition: women can escape overwhelmed, burnt-out career misery and go on to create creative, multidimensional lives without sacrificing family, personal enjoyment, or career fulfillment. Chock full of inspiring success stories--over 1,000 women were interviewed--this book sets out a clear, straightforward array of strategies designed to help women transform their narrow, unsatisfactory work lives. Learn to create what the authors term a "life collage"--a rich, multifaceted existence where work becomes more fulfilling and less demanding, leaving room for equally important aspects of life, whether they be spiritual, familial, physical, or creative.

Divided into three detailed sections, the book guides you through a series of useful exercises to help you decide if you're really ready for change, what shape that change might take, and how to implement your plan and support it over time. Is part-time work the best solution, or should you seek a different, less time-consuming job in your same company? What about moving into the nonprofit sector or starting your own business? All these options and more are thoroughly explored with a levelheaded frankness. Changing your work will not be easy, the authors warn, and there will be both tradeoffs and roadblocks to face. Fear may overwhelm you--whether it be of a potential reduction in income or the loss of your identity as a mover and shaker--but in the end, the rewards can be life transforming. As one woman commented about her change: "Before I left the law, my whole identity was bound up in being a lawyer. As I scaled back in work, I discovered a softer, more humane side of myself. I rediscovered the part of me that was drawn to ideas and self-expression, creativity."

If your work life has led to a deep sense that something is missing--if you feel "stuck" in a vicious cycle of all work and no play--then read this book. It asks some very hard, important questions and can help provide equally enlightening answers. --Marianne Painter

From the Inside Flap

Are you a woman 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 just the right way -- creating a life collage.

Women who want to create satisfying, financially rewarding careers that are not all consuming -- leaving time for family, friends, spirituality, community, hobbies, and just plain fun -- will find inspiration, practical help, and realistic advice in Creating Your Life Collage.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (March 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609804103
• ISBN-13: 978-0609804100
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #789,352 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical, Realistic Guide to Work/Life Balance, March 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Creating Your Life Collage: Strategies for Solving the Work/Life Dilemma (Paperback)

Finally, a book that gets beyond the academic theories that abound about why work/life balance is a problem or what the "demographics" are. Yes, we already know this is a problem! What I liked about the book is it focuses on solutions. Authors offer realistic suggestions and practical exercises. Book is nicely organized in a logical progression to achieve end balance. Also, the numerous anecdotes are good "evidence" and make the book more readable. Overall, excellent aid to help achieve what so many of us find difficult to reach. I strongly recommend this book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Resource for Everyone Seeking Creative Solutions, March 11, 2000

By 

J. Fuentes (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating Your Life Collage: Strategies for Solving the Work/Life Dilemma (Paperback)

I loved this book. It really helps you focus on the issues - the REAL issues - behind imbalance in your life and then guides you in the process of creating REAL solutions. The wonderful thing about Life Collage is that it guides the reader through simple, yet powerful exercises to help you change your life. It is thought-provoking and comprehensive, and it can help people at any stage or level in their career. I'd recommend this to all my friends who work, and all those who don't but have ever considered the alternative.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally there are solutions!, March 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Creating Your Life Collage: Strategies for Solving the Work/Life Dilemma (Paperback)

Typically self help books leave me cold, don't speak to me. But this book screamed my name, my story and the names and stories of all my friends. Clearly the concept of work vs. life is broken in today's world. And this book goes about teaching us all how to make changes and create a more well-rounded existence. I'm recommending it to everyone I know. The stories are inspiring snapshots about real people who sought real solutions. The exercises will help each person craft her own answers. This book truly presents 21st century solutions for a 21st century problem!