Unfollow your passion How to create a life that matters to you

Trespicio expands on her popular 2015 TEDx talk, "Stop Searching For Your Passion." She urges people to do less, act more, and unlearn the "old beliefs and dumb ideas" defining western and patriarchal notions of success and productivity. Each chapter unearths the myths surrounding what it means to be successful and details alternative ways to view passion and personal worth. The book is particularly illuminating when Trespicio draws on her personal experience to introduce each topic and explains how it has informed the way she thinks about passion and success. Trespicio also uses metaphors and cute humor to further clarify her ideas, making the overall read relatable. The book's most interesting directives include dumping bucket lists, breaking commitments, and making room for boredom. Each chapter ends with writing prompts, to help readers examine their beliefs and unearth their true desires. This book is an especially meaningful and much-needed read as the workplace continues to change in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. For readers who enjoyed Jenny Odell's How to Do Nothing (2019).

Viral TEDx speaker and "brand adviser" Trespicio urges readers--especially women--to free themselves from "the tyranny of dopey ideas" that set "contradictory" goals toward a life well lived, and instead discover what they truly "want and need." With a light touch, Trespicio dismantles hoary admonitions such as to "get out of your comfort zone." There's no need to climb Mt. Everest, she suggests, when volunteering for new work roles or trying out a fresh skill can be challenging enough. Trespicio breezily covers such topics as choosing one's own agenda, dumping the expectations of a "bucket list," not overpacking the (emotional) baggage, and ignoring that "inner critic, the unbearable Karen of brain." Journaling and other exercises reinforce her lessons on how to transform a comfort zone into a "greenhouse... where living things thrive." For example, she suggests pasting up a "skill cloud" of Post-It notes as an effective method to visualize how many abilities one already possesses. Stories of successes and failures from Trespicio's own life (from playing the sax in grade school to getting laid off from a job) blend with anecdotes from others on how to face adversity: as Trespicio recalls, "luggage was lost and life went on." It's a rare book that can effectively mix words from Viktor Frankl and Dilbert, but this one pulls it off. Trespicio dishes pragmatic advice with finesse. (Dec.)