Customer Reviews

Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As a career/life coach who works with clients in midlife transition, I recommend this book to just about every client.
This is the ONE book to buy -- and I mean buy, not borrow! --
if you are undergoing a life transition.

Actually, despite the title, Martha Beck is a career counselor and the book focuses on career change. However, as Beck points out, relationships and personal questions can influence career change. Wisely she encourages readers to seek help from qualified therapists if personal issues cloud their careers -- but she is not afraid to tackle the tough emotional questions.
And her analysis of emotions would do credit to any personality or social psychologist. Fear, for instance, may not be fear at all.

Perhaps the best parts of the book are the chapter on intuition (a gem) and the five chapters that address the four stages of career change. Beck's view of intuition is sensible -- not New Age woo-woo but a way to gain deeper insight into our own motives. And describing the stages of transition, Beck gives us realistic indicators (those in phase 2 typically change their appearance!) as well as warnings about what to expect.

It's easy to miss the message between the lines, but Beck does hint that the path of change will not be an easy one. Unlike many authors, she dispenses with false cheer and hints of pain and sacrifice along the way. Change isn't magical. It can happen -- but you have to be realistic about yourself and your objectives.

That's a message I try to share with all my clients -- and I've sold so many copies of this book by word of mouth, I've been tempted to claim a share of the royalties. Don't miss it.

I am not a big fan of self-help books, but this one is exceptional AND fun to read. It also doesn't preach to you or talk down to you or assume that you're totally messed up. The advice is practical and the author's style is very engaging. Five stars to North Star.

This is the best book I have found on helping one discover what kind of work/career will truly bring them fulfillment. I've been looking for something like this for over 20 years, starting with "What Color is Your Parachute?", and followed by many more.

The book is great in that it not only provides a solid foundation and methods for helping this discovery, it also goes into the psychology that may hinder one's ability to do this, and offers real suggestions on what to do.

So many times I read what another reviewer calls "feel good books". I hate them too. They are a waste of time. This is the only book I've found that really offers something useful.

I read Po Bronson's "What Should I Do With My Life?", and loved it, because I saw how so many others also struggle with this issue, but was very disappointed that it didn't provide any thoughts or guidance to answer that question.

Until I read this book, I was coming to the conclusion that all of these self-help books are so much BS; now I have the atlas for my journey.

Thank you Martha Beck!

This book is amazing. Martha Beck writes with such common sense guides and she does so without being preachy. She a uses humor and style that is unbeatable. I couldn't put it down. I've already went out and bought copies for some friends. At any stage of your life you will find her techniques and suggestions helpful and informative. Of course if your a person who likes to blame the world and everybody in it for all your troubles then maybe you shouldn't bother to read it- but if you want to improve your quality of life and find happiness then this book will do the trick.

I tend to stay away from these books. But the reviews convinced me to take a look. I thought I was holding everything together and doing pretty well until I read "Finding Your Own North Star." Change is hard - make no mistake about that - but this book provides the encouragement and reinforcement that are required to get things going. Sometimes this is bitter medicine. Well worth the time and money if you have an inkling that life might offer more.

I read this in conjunction with Systemic Parenting: An Exploration of the Parenting Big Picture (Gaskill). Systemic Parenting is very similar to "Finding Your Own North Star," but focuses on what can be possible in the parent-child relationship. I think this is an important point to mention because our children are so enmeshed in our lives. I think Finding Your Own North Star kind of misses this point. It's important to keep our individual decisions in context to how they impact the family and our kids. Systemic Parenting helped fill this one gap in Finding Your Own North Star.

Both are exceptional resources.

This book provides a different perspective from the old positive thinking books that have been regurgitated over the past decades. In my book it stands amongst the ground-breaking books that have pioneered valuable paradigms -- namely Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self (in any situation) and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (passing from personal leadership to social effectiveness). Martha Beck's concept inspires personal expansion.

Beck writes in a good, non-patronizing, humorous way. Good self-help for people who find a lot of the self-help books annoying.

Of all the books I have read on the subject (dozens and dozens, Kate White, SWZ, Ban Breathnach, I could do anything if only.., do what you love and... ) this is, by far, the very best.
this one really digs into you to find, in every aspect of your life, what is truest to your essential self. You learn how to use your inner compass to make the best decision at any given time, no matter how small the choice.

Martha Beck is a great writer to start with - on top of that, her insights and ideas are enlightening. The book has short exercises (e.g. list three things that....) - the exercises are short enough to get you to do them but at the same time they really make you think. I recognize my north star and am making changes in my life to get back on course. This book is simply terrific - throughout reading it I could really relate to what she had identified.

I admit I have not finished this book yet and not done the exercises suggested, but this book is so thought provoking and helpful to those of us who have no idea what to do with our lives. Instead of some namby pamby self-tests (which I do like taking though) or limited lists of career choices out there, this is a book that forces you to look at your whole life, how you got where you are now, and where you want to be in the future.

It's probably a good read as well for those who are happy with their work, but not with other aspects of their lives since many of the suggestions and exercises have nothing to do with career.