Po Bronson’s new book, “What Should I Do With My Life?” The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question is now out and is excerpted for the cover story feature in the January issue of Fast Company. NPR’s Morning Edition ran a segment on it and they now have a online interview with Bronson up with a link to the audio. And this week’s issue of Time reviews the book: Hint: It’s Not Plastics.
I’ve not read the book but I like what I’ve read thus far. Including this:
Here are four wrong presumptions, which we have wrongly accepted as true:
(1) That money is the shortest route to freedom.
(2) That we can think (or analyze) our way to an answer of where we belong.
(3) That we are autonomous from the environment that surrounds us.
(4) That our biggest obstacles are external, rather than internal.
I also like that Bronson’s struggled with this issue of vocation himself. Here’s a clip from the NPR online interview:
Three years ago, I was wondering whether to get married again and have a family, or stay single and keep working on my writing career (which requires me to travel a lot and work many odd hours). I never thought I could do both. In these three years, I have done both -– the book is nothing less than a testament to me overcoming that fear. Not only is it the most important thing I’ve ever written, but my family was actively involved. My son, who’s not yet two, went on 17 trips during the reporting of the book, as I traveled across the country and both oceans to meet people in person. I no longer feel torn between these two loves. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in how I’ve answered this question in my life — mistakes both in my career and personal life — but writing this book was one of the few right things I’ve done.