Everyone has a calling with a unique purpose to fulfill in the world. Heeding it is about deliberately choosing a way of life and work consistent with individual gifts, passions, and values. Through powerful stories and a guided exploration of 52 possible callings, Whistle While You Work helps readers discover how to make a living doing what they were born to do. The authors provide a framework for embracing a very abstract subject in a systematic, practical, and fun way. And their Calling Cards "TM" help readers develop answers to profound life questions as they learn to "listen with the third ear" to cultivate a mode of searching that isn't limited to the merely tangible.
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Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
In Whistle While You Work, Richard Leider and David Shapiro counter the clichéd query about what you want to be when you grow up with a more intriguing question: "What is your life's calling?" The authors define calling as "the inner urge to give our gifts away in service to something we are passionate about in an environment that is consistent with our values." Drawing upon psychologist James Hillman's metaphor of the acorn programmed to grow into an oak tree, Leider and Shapiro guide readers to discover their "core gifts" and the work they were born to do. Each chapter describes a conversation with a cabdriver in a different city to introduce a key idea about the process of heeding your life's calling. These lively conversations are followed by stories of individuals--from a Motorola executive to a building security guard--who have identified their calling. The stories are paired with bulls-eye exercises that allow readers to discover their calling. Tools include "calling cards" to identify core gifts, a "calling journal" and the "calendar/checkbook" exercise to align values with time management.
The book would have been strengthened with more narrative about the relationship between choosing a calling and maintaining a positive cash flow. Yet the clarity and conviction of its approach sets this book apart from other do-what-you-love career books. It is an eloquent and practical blueprint for being at home in the world by making a living with your uniqueness. --Barbara Mackoff
From Publishers Weekly
"If we're spending our precious hours feeling half-alive as we drag ourselves through tasks that we abhor, then we're wasting our most precious commodity of all: time," warn Leider and Shapiro, coauthors of the bestselling Repacking Your Bags, in this intelligent and inspirational guide to discovering meaningful work. For those stuck in a job rut, they propose self-directed exercises to assess personal gifts and aptitudes, passions and values, so that readers can define their "calling," which the authors define as "the inner urge to give our gifts away." They also provide engaging stories of a wide variety of workers who have found ways to express their individual callings within conventional job titles. Leider and Shapiro maintain that when a calling serves to promote one of our passions in an environment consistent with our core values, we maximize our chances for infusing work with joy and meaning. Despite their enthusiasm, Leider and Shapiro acknowledge that all workers have to take responsibility for having "courageous conversations" with themselves, and they do not downplay readers' resistance to confronting tough realities, change and risk. Emphasizing their own successes and those of the others who have found their callings, the authors remind readers that "the only regrets we really have are the risks we didn't take." (Apr.)Forecast: With workplaces growing more impersonal, job-satisfaction ratings sinking and the economy stagnating, this lively and commonsensical guide, with its hopeful message and lack of jargon, could prove irresistible to readers who pick it up and its attractive price makes it accessible to workers at all salary levels.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
66 of 67 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Leider and Shapiro have done it again, writing a book that speaks to a crucial issue in many people's lives. "What do I want to be when I grow up" is a question many of us are asking, at an age when one would think the question had been long answered. Like all of Dick Leider's books, this one is a very pleasant and calming read, filled with interesting stories and sound advice. Whistle While You Work, in combination with the Calling Cards, can give great insight for each individual into what type of work would be most rewarding, and what work environment most suitable. This is a very informative book.
34 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A must read no matter what stage of life you are at. This book can best be described as a guided journey, where critical questions are posed that lead the reader to reflect on where they are at in life with work and where they desire to be. One of the best aspects of this book was the real life stories of working professionals. These testimentaries fit very nicely into the general theme and flow of the book. Don't think twice about putting the whistle in your work!
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Whistle While You Work speaks to what I hear daily from friends and colleagues, i.e., work without passion drains energy from life and nibbles away at the soul. This book takes a straightforward approach to how you can be personally responsible for discovering what work will suit you so well that work/energy/passion meld into one. Leider and Shapiro make the ultimate dream of "good work" seem possible, attainable and sustainable. The calling card exercise works so don't pass it up!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Repetitive information about "calling"-- stopped halfway through
I always read books even if they're not that great, but this was so repetitive and used so many examples that illustrated so little that I got so bored and stopped. Read more
Published on January 2, 2010 by J. Pang
Very useful tool to find your calling
I've read other books about finding life's purpose and calling, but they often do not give you the tool just to do that. This book does! Read more
Published on June 26, 2008 by Inge Santoso
what it does best
This book helped me put a Name Tag on my life's calling.
I also found out how often I am able to use it in my job (only 10% of the time). Read more
I also found out how often I am able to use it in my job (only 10% of the time). Read more
Published on June 18, 2007 by S. J. Ulrich
Fluff That Makes You Feel Good
Books like this do everything in their power to get your drive going. And every time I read one (which isn't often), I do feel good about myself. Read more
Published on March 11, 2003 by Paul J. Mazzoni
To question your careeer, this is a must read
Get control of your career and your expectations of what career means in your life. This book does a great job of guiding you along as you question where you are in life and where... Read more
Published on February 28, 2002 by Brent Sykes
Davey is a great guy
Davey is a great guy. He rides his bike all over Seattle. He wears really cool glasses too. I'm honored to be mentioned in the book. Dave is a great writer and philosopher. Read more
Published on December 17, 2001 by Robert A. Schulman
A Must Read To Make Better Life Choices!
A must read in making choices along your career journey to find your calling. Based on John Holland's Theory, this is a very useful book to help laypersons' to apply the Theory in... Read more
Published on November 24, 2001 by kkant@singnet.com.sg
Light-hearted but hard-headed
This is an energizing and level-headed treatment of a subject that often gets much too "New Agey". Read more
Published on February 21, 2001 by Michael Crowley
Truly Inspirational!
This book is a rare gift. It helps you ask and answer the questions that adults rarely ask anymore, "What do I want to be when I grow up? Read more
Published on February 21, 2001
FIND A JOB YOU LOVE!
Confucius once wrote: "Find a job you love, and you will never have to work another day in your life. Read more
Published on January 26, 2001 by C. Neck
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Think about your own life and the complex turn of events that led you to where you are today. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
heeding our calling Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Snow White, Bill Strickland, Pilgrim Center, Walt Disney, Pearl Harbor New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Think about your own life and the complex turn of events that led you to where you are today. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
heeding our calling Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Snow White, Bill Strickland, Pilgrim Center, Walt Disney, Pearl Harbor New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 15
books:
See all 15 books this book cites
- Repacking Your Bags: Lighten Your Load for the Rest of Your Life by Richard J. Leider in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Meaning of Life by Hugh Moorhead on page 72
- Nicomachean Ethics (Library of Essential Reading) by Aristotle on page 70
- Theodore Roosevelt (First Biographies (Capstone Hardcover)) by Judy Emerson on page 73
- The Power of Purpose: Creating Meaning in Your Life and Work by Richard J Leider in Back Matter
See all 15 books this book cites
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