Customer Reviews

Repacking Your Bags: Lighten Your Load for the Rest of Your Life

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I put this book on the top of my list of books that needn't be read. A four page pamphlet would have been a more appropriate forum.

In fact, four lines would do it:

1. Simplify--you don't need everything you've accumulated, including material goods, attitudes, beliefs, and relationships.

2. Learn to enjoy the process, and quit focusing on the ultimate goal.

3. Humor is a basic food group: make sure you have some every day.

4. At the end of each day you should be able to say "this was a day well lived."

For those wishing guidelines and inspiration for a new direction in life, there are a number of better titles. The advice here is mostly recycled from other sources. The author uses the metaphor of "re-packing your bags" for discarding whatever's worn out or excessive or redundant in your life to facilitate moving on. The material is fairly low-key and soft-focus, not that useful. The book design and production was done on the cheap too, it seems.

Lots of us are now facing career and life changes whether through layoffs or a sense of "It's time." This book can help you crystallize your own goals, your own vision for what you want to be and do. It's different for everyone.

But what do you say when you get that interview question, or one like it? A successful answer is one that differentiates you from other candidates while striking a chord in the interviewer that speaks to the employer's own goals and values.

I've had similar questions--"Where do you want to be in 10 years?" Twelve years ago I had the answer, and I've done most of it and more in my career, and was proud of it. Lots of my achievements have furthered the business of the companies that employed me.

An interviewer may look for an answer that reflected the kind of job you do. If it's sales or production, then your answer may be "Consistently beating my daily, weekly, quarterly and annual forecasts." If it's design, "Consistently stretching the boundaries of what is possible while keeping my feet firm in what we can plausibly implement with high quality standards." If it's customer service, you might be mentioning similar high quality standards while keeping people happy. And so on. And you elaborate.

But that's not all there is, is there? Right now I'm ready to follow the advice in the book:

"Living in the Place you Belong,
with the People you Love,
doing the Right Work,
on Purpose."

Defining and elaborating each of the four is up to you, but it's a good starting point for those kinds of questions. Periodically reviewing your vision of success is also supposed to be a good way to avoid mid-life crises. Because you will grow in your work and life, you will change your mind about certain things. The idea is to define your life for yourself.

I recommend this book to get you to ask yourself the right questions, identify unnecessary baggage, and embark on your journey.

Exlains how 4 essentials(your work, where you live, your relationships and your life's purpose)have everything to do with achieving a satisfying lifestyle. Interestingly written. Not pedantic. Provides a guide to assessing where you are and where you want to go. A must-read for anyone over 40. Can't wait to read "The Power of Purpose."

This book is directed to those who want to unburden and redefine their lives. Authors Richard J. Leider and David A. Shapiro encourage readers to re-evaluate their daily lives: relationships, work places, home, and purpose. They present their suggestions for the metaphorical "unpacking and repacking" of life's excess "baggage" in an easy-to-read, sensitive, and even humorous way. Suggestions and exercises encourage you to reexamine what is truly important. Though sometimes redundant, they provide encouraging, thought-provoking material. Reading this book may cause you to have a mid-life crisis "on purpose" and begin to live like Thoreau, "deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life." We [...] recommend this book for those who want to simplify their lives and reassess their priorities.

This book is a pleasant, amusing, readable way of addressing the major issues that confront one at midlife: Am I living a life that accords with my values, ideals, and talents? If not, what specifically needs to be changed so I can achieve this? I found the "unpacking" metaphor especially appealing because (as an ardent traveler) I well know the real-life value of traveling light; it was rather astonishing to me to discover how much of a pack rat I've been in other aspects of my life! On the other hand, as a single person with many friends but no life partner (and no desire for one), I found that the authors' couple orientation rendered many of the exercises virtually useless for me. I agree that love is an important part of a full, satisfying life, but defining love as marriage, or the equivalent, seems ridiculously confining! Otherwise, the book is a pleasure to read, and most of the exercises gave me useful insights, so I recommend it with reservations.

I enjoyed reading through this book. The stories of their life experiences were interesting. The exercises are somewhat helpful, but the benefit of this book is limited. For most of the book, it is assumed that you have already met your life partner for your journey. For those of us that have not, this book is only partly helpful. I found it a very frustrating read especially during the "Relationship Bags" section and each section thereafter. I did find it refreshing, however, that no religious inferences or direct references were made in any part of this book. It's difficult to find self exploration books that don't in someway "sell" a religion.

This book is amazing. This is a great book for someone that is in a transitional stage of their life (as I am) or someone that is looking to change careers. Some of the things that it talks about (i.e. getting rid of the things you no longer need, asking yourself what you want to do with the rest of your life) are things that I had already thought about before reading the book, however, the authors gave me a more structured way to think about it.

"Repacking Your Bags" provides me with great pointers in how to 'Live passionately for today & purposefully for tomorrow'. It is greatly engaging, & has inspired & guided me to align the four essential elements (relationship, work, place, purpose) of a happy life.

Rather than prescribing a formula for happiness and fulfillment, Dick sets out a map that guides one's own inner journey. The reflective exercises make this book a tool for personal learning.