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

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