Now What?: 90 Days to a New Life Direction [Hardcover]

Laura Berman Fortgang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 22, 2004

Now What? takes over where Po Bronson's What Should I Do with My Life? leaves off to provide a clear and infinitely practical ninety-day program for discovering a new direction for your life.

In Now What?, pioneering life coach Laura Berman Fortgang shares the process that she has used so successfully with hundreds of clients to help them make major changes in their lives. Whether it's moving on from a dead-end job, discovering an entirely new creative outlet, or answering the age-old question: "What am I meant to do with my life?"-this book shows how to identify what's missing in life, and how to set a clear course for realizing new dreams. Readers will learn from the success stories of Berman Fortgang's clients, including:

* a woman who left her unfulfilling job to discover the rewards of doing motivational work with professional athletes;
* a high-fashion shoe executive who found a more gratifying position helping adoption agencies around the world place children in need of homes; and
* a highly paid corporate consultant who became a minister.

For anyone who feels drawn toward a life-changing move but is not sure what exactly they want to do or how to move forward, this book provides a concrete, practical, and time-bound process for finding and pursuing a new path for your life. Full of inspiring and empowering exercises and tools, Now What? guides readers-day by day and step by step-through a ninety-day process that will lead to true life satisfaction and fulfillment.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Based on the assumption that many people are utterly dissatisfied in their lives, this straightforward volume attempts to help readers find what it is that they truly want and make a plan for getting it. Fortgang (Living Your Best Life) has designed a 90-day plan—with seven weeks (or 49 days) dedicated to discovering what it is they want, while the rest of the days are devoted to making it happen. She opens with a few anecdotes of clients for whom her strategy has worked; then she presents a sequence of chapters outlining week-by-week goals. In week one, for example, the focus is determining what the reader hates about her current situation, because "what you hate gives a name to what you want." In week eight, Fortgang addresses the idea that "fear, doubts, and lack of training are molehills compared to the stopping power of the mountain we call money"; she then offers viable solutions for removing lack of funds as an obstacle, and in week 12, there’s a guide to continuing where the book leaves off. Each chapter contains more anecdotes and specific exercises, which help make the goals practical and tangible and the idea of change seem possible.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Laura Berman Fortgang is a pioneer in the life coaching profession. The president and owner of InterCoach, Inc., a full-service life coach business that works with individuals, small businesses, and corporations, she is also the author of Living Your Best Life and Take Yourself to the Top.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher (April 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585423211
• ISBN-13: 978-1585423217
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #612,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creative Tips to Revise Your Compass, May 25, 2004

By 

Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Now What?: 90 Days to a New Life Direction (Hardcover)

Fortgang begins with a straightforward premise. In ninety days, you can set goals and begin to move in a new direction. Unlike many books of this genre, Now What does not overpromise. Ninety days won't find you in a new job or a new life -- but you'll have a better sense of where to go and how to get there.

I gave Now What five stars for easy reading and originality. I must admit I expected to find tired advice and exercises, but Fortgang offers mostly fresh ideas. And I agree with much of what she says.

For example, "Your purpose in life is right under your nose." So true! I've seen versions of these life purpose exercises before but she presents them well.

Overall, true to her coaching background, some of the best exercises relate to identifying what you really want to do. "I want to be someone who..."

I applaud Fortgang's definitions of needs and values. Needs are not optional and non-negotiable, e.g., the need for honesty. Values are "the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow." Needs bring out the worst in us when they're not met; values bring out the best.

But Fortgang goes beyond self-awareness, encouraging readers to check reality. She offers good advice for investigating various career fields: Talk to 3 people in 3 fields. And she's not afraid to ask clients, "What would you have to give up..."

Perhaps the very best exercises involve scenario-writing. Describe how your life will be in a year, then six months from now, then three months from now. These steps clarify the need for actions along the way.

Anyone contemplating a life change can have fun with these exercises. They'll help you change your thinking and uncover ideas. My major reservation comes from a warning in Herminia Ibarra's book, Working Identity. Often self-discovery tends to be easier than implementing change. If you're in a comfort zone, you'll need another book -- or a coach -- to get moving, even if you know where you want to be.

And there's a downside of a book that appeals to many people for many kinds of change. You have to take practical, specific tips with a grain of salt. For instance, Fortgang alludes to moving to a place with a lower cost of living -- but this type of move often contains hidden pitfalls. A lower cost of living means fewer options to earn money and less access to resources.

81 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What about the average Joe/Jane?, November 23, 2005

By 

Gobi55 (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Now What?: 90 Days to a New Life Direction (Hardcover)

Many of the examples the author used were of people who already had more than most people do (money, education, connections, high paying salaries that they are just tired of).

Check out Claire on page 11. She lives in London, wants a second home, is planning a weekend trip to the South of France, has a great job and benefits. Has a nice husband and home. What is her problem? Maybe she needs a shrink to figure out what her unhappiness really stems from but that's another book.

The author should have used cases concerning more ordinary folk. She seemed to be appealing to upper class, globe trotting, burnt out executives who are whining because they feel they are missing out on something. Maybe that cute little pony they didn't get as a child.

Claire...try yoga, buy a pony....get a grip.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Searching for a new life direction? This is the book for you!!, August 6, 2006

By 

Bonnie Thompson "Purpose Quest Coaching" (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Now What?: 90 Days to a New Life Direction (Mass Market Paperback)

I am a professional life coach and my primary focus is on life purpose and career. "Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction" is one the best tools out there for those seeking to find heart and meaning in their lives and work. I have been so impressed with the book that I have recommended it to clients ever since it first came out in hardback. This new paperback edition has even more valuable additions and I continue to recommend it highly.

I have been so impressed with the body of the author's work that I underwent specialized training with her to become an authorized Life Blueprint® Facilitator, coaching individuals and groups through the step-by-step NOW WHAT?(tm) program of intuitively guided questioning, exploration, and action designed to create the foundation for a more fulfilling life.

With or without a coach, this book will help guide you to finding your own "Life Blueprint" and a life of greater meaning, purpose and joy. This is a tremendous gift not only to you, but to the world!